And another junk charity tries to get money from me. A telemarketer for the "Foundation for American Veterans" called me, explained that they buy stuff for veterans, and asked me if I'd send money their way if they sent me an envelope. At that point I feverishly tried to get information from Guidestar.org so I could verbally throw some facts back at him. Too slow, so I fell back on asking for their IRS form 990 and pointed out that they're required by law to provide it to me on my request. The telemarketer quickly thanked me for my time and hung up.

Guidestar tells me there isn't yet a 2009 form 990, so I looked at the 2008 form. Here are the interesting bits:

• They received $4,973,876 in contributions
• They spent a combined $4,307,725 on professional fundraising and collection services
• They spent $483,557 on grants and contributions to other organizations and individuals
• The Secretary/Treasurer was paid more than the organization gave out in grants, assistance, and member benefits combined.

There are a couple of odd things in there if you poke around, including a loan to an officer. Oops.

These junk charities try to extract money from you by attempting to make you feel like you're contributing to a worthy cause. If that doesn't work, they try to guilt you. They don't like answering thoughtful questions, and not one of them will willingly provide its IRS form 990. In fact, many, if not most, of these organizations aren't even legally charities--by no means does this mean they're bad, it just means that they play by different rules than bona fide charities, and you can't write the gifts off on your tax return. Foundation for American Veterans is a 501(c)19 organization, which though tax exempt, is not charitable.

As always, give to the organizations that you know make a real difference in people's lives, and make sure to research the others to make sure you're not giving to a dud. Knowing that 90 cents out of every dollar given pays for telemarketers, collection, and staff salaries, would you contribute to an organization like this one?