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Professional fundraiser to pay penalty for alleged violations of charitable solicitations law

Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s reorganized Consumer Protection Section has reached a settlement with Donorworx, Inc., a professional fundraiser, to resolve alleged violations of the Virginia Solicitation of Contributions Law (VSOC Law) which governs the solicitation of contributions by, or on behalf of, charitable organizations and includes certain registration, reporting, and disclosure requirements. Continue reading “Virginia: Consumer Protection Settlement Reached with Donorworx, Inc.”

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office has reached settlements resolving investigations into the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, which also operated as the American Veteran Support Foundation (the “NVVF”), its former President and Founder, John Thomas Burch, Jr. (“Burch”), and its Vice President, David Kaufman (“Kaufman”). NVVF has operated nationwide since 1992 and began soliciting in New York in approximately 2008.  By 2014, NVVF was collecting nearly $9 million nationwide from its fundraising campaigns, soliciting small dollar donations from the public through direct mail and phone calls — purportedly to help Vietnam Veterans.  Nearly all of the money raised through its direct mail campaigns was instead used to pay its fundraisers.  For example, in 2014, $7.7 million of the $8.6 million raised was used to pay NVVF’s fundraisers.  The fraction that actually made it to NVVF was further reduced by a pattern of abuse, mismanagement and misspending by NVVF’s former President, Burch. Continue reading “New York Attorney General Announces Settlements With Vietnam Veteran’s Charity And Its Founder For Squandering Millions In Donations”

(KUTV) As Get Gephardt first reported in April, John Adrian said he felt ripped off. The AR-15 assault rifle he ordered from the Utah Gun Safety Council was not the gun that had been advertised, it took nearly a year to arrive and it could not be written off as a charitable donation as had been promised. Continue reading “KUTV: Utah gun safety organization admits to breaking consumer, charity laws”