Posted on 01/28/2016 1:19:00 PM PST by conservativejoy
Rather than going directly to veterans groups, 100% of online donations on Trump's pro-veterans site will go directly to Trump's personal foundation.
After ducking the final Republican presidential debate heading into next week's Iowa caucuses, GOP front-runner Donald Trump announced that he would hold his own pro-veterans event during the debate to raise money for veterans. Trump even set up a special website to solicit donations to help veterans.
"Honor their valor," the website, donaldtrumpforvets.com, states. "Donate now to help our Veterans."
The website, which is nothing more than a single page with stock photos and a credit card donation form, claims that "100% of your donations will go directly to Veterans needs."
There's only one problem: 100% of the money raised on the site goes directly to Donald Trump's personal non-profit foundation, according to a disclosure listed at the bottom of the page.
"The Donald J Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization," the disclosure reads. "An email confirmation with a summary of your donation will be sent to the email address provided above."
Trump Non Profit Vets
Confirmation e-mails sent to individuals who contributed via the website confirm that rather than going directly to veterans, all contributions made from the site go directly to Donald Trump's personal foundation.
"The Donald J Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and acknowledges that no goods or services were provided to you in return for your contribution," the confirmation e-mail states. "This letter is your receipt and should be kept with your tax records."
A separate confirmation page that loads after donations are made on the site contains the same language noting that the contribution was made to the Donald J Trump Foundation, not to a distinct veterans organization with a history of directly supporting veterans and their families.
According to the domain registry information for Trump's site, the domain was not registered until Thursday morning. The firm that registered the domain, Florida-based Parscale Media, also designed Trump's official presidential campaign website.
Trump's personal non-profit foundation, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, does not have a history of donating much money to veterans or to veterans' causes. According to a recent analysis of the organization's spending history by the Weekly Standard, Trump's non-profit donated more money to the Clinton Foundation than it did to veterans causes.
Between 2009 and 2013, Trump's non-profit donated between $100,001 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation. Over the same period of time, Trump's group gave only $57,000 to veterans groups. A 2015 analysis by Forbes noted that barely 1 percent of the Donald J. Trump Foundation's $5.5 million worth of donations betwen 2009 and 2013 went to organizations that support military veterans:
The Donald J. Trump Foundation has donated $5.5 million to 298 charities between 2009 and 2013 (the most recent year available), according to the non-profit's 990 tax forms from those years. Of that, only $57,000 has been donated to seven organizations that directly benefit military veterans or their families, Forbes found. Wounded Warriors was not among the organizations Trump's foundation gave to in that time period.
Forbes also found that Trump, who we estimate is worth $4.5 billion, has not made personal contributions to his foundation during the same time period. We reached out to his spokespeople for comment, but did not hear back before publishing.
Trump made waves last July when he attacked Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam prisoner of war who was imprisoned for years in the infamous Hanoi Hilton torture camp, for being captured by enemy troops.
"I don't like losers," Trump said during an event moderated by GOP focus group guru Frank Luntz. Trump was referring to McCain.
But he's a war hero," moderator Frank Luntz interjected. "He's a war hero!"
"He's not a 'war hero,'" Trump responded. "He's a 'war hero' because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you."
The Donald J. Trump Foundation has donated very little to veterans over the years, but it has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clintons and big name Democrats.
We’ll see how much actually goes to veterans from this. A spokesman for Wounded Warriors said they had not been contacted yet.
I don't have a bubble to burst.....I was responding to the article.
Doesn't matter if it's 100% or 50% going out, you have no way of knowing where your donation went versus an event set up which goes directly to the charity the funds are raised for.
I guess Trump will "pick" which Veteran's charity he's going to give the money to later? What if he picks Wounded Warrior and that's not where I wanted my money to go because there are questions about it's ethics?
Thanks, Bernie!
The money is accounted for as a specific fund and will be removed periodically and transferred to the receiving party. Trumps people are well trained in fund accounting. There will be no problems.
The writer is totally ignorant concerning fund accounting.
Yep, I'm used to being called a "racist" if I speak out about Obama....so I don't think your calling me a "nut" is going to make me pack up my toys and go home like someone else I could mention.
I never said Trump needed the money...I said it was a scam to run it through his foundation instead of setting it up correctly.
Donors have no idea who they are giving their money to until the Foundation cuts a check. I would say that's NUTS........but hey, I'm just a racist.
$380,000 raised now and it hasn’t even started!
That is so wonderful. Thank you for the heads up and please continue. I appreciate it more then you can imagine.
Sounds like a great job. There’s a lot of kids that were immature in high school and it’s harder for them to find their footing later, even if they are just as bright and motivated as others. (My son is one of those). i’m glad you were able to turn one around.
Were you in the military during that position?
I had one class of motivated kids - AP calculus - and going to that class was a pleasure. I would’ve taught it for free. Unfortunately you couldn’t pay me enough to teach the other kids who couldn’t care less but had parents paying an outrageous tuition so expected A’s - and a liberal administration, at least as far as standards went. They even lied to parents! All the teachers knew.
So I did a Trump. (new verb) I left and quit wasting my time and principles.
“Doesn’t matter if it’s 100% or 50% going out, you have no way of knowing where your donation went versus an event set up which goes directly to the charity the funds are raised for.”
Since you whining people are posting how much went to veterans in the past, you will know how much goes now and compare it to the amount collected.
Easy.
Ok, I will!
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean you just helped one cadet!
The problem they have is anything to do with the ‘T’ word.
Oh no. I didn’t take it that way at all. I was just giving some background on the school. No I think you are great. Enjoy tonight.
Thank you, very much. I am disgusted. So is TRUMP.
TRUMP 2016
He made 6 million plus for several vet charities. As long as he shows the money donated and where it went there is no issue.
I haven't read what everyone else is saying, but I wasn't whining, I was voicing my opinion.
After the "fund raiser", I'm laughing my tail off. A candidate whose theme is "Make America Great Again" just raked in millions of dollars out of American pockets without them even questioning who he was going to give the money to. I'm sorry.....that's just too funny.
Oh brother. Yes, his friends who donated millions really just gave Trump the money. What?? Sheesh. He had 24 hours to set this whole thing up. He studied the charities and picked ones that cost less to run and benefitted the wounded military the most. I believe he said he handpicked 15 charities and he will be the one to divvy up the donations.
I am sure it will be clarified and above board. But this was all set up within 24 hours. It was a good thing he did, and no, he isn’t going to use the money for himself.
Trump SAID he carefully picked around 15 charities who don’t carry a lot of cost. I believe he was, without saying so, singling out Wounded Warriors because of the scandal that they don’t pass much on to the wounded.
If I didn’t know how much money would be raised, I wouldn’t commit to specific groups either. If he picked only 1 group, they’d get a ridiculous amount of money.
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