Hollywood Celebs Cashing In On Charities (BARF Alert)

PABAAH: Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood ^

[discostu]

Then only give money to places that have never used a celebrity spokeman or given some "award" to a celebrity, or at least look in their books to see if it was paid for. Bill Cosby didn't advertise for Jello for free why should he advertise for anything else for free? That's what those events are you know, advertisements; they're a way to get the charities name out in the public and get money in.

[HairOfTheDog]

Charities would not exist if we expected all their work to be done by volunteers. There are a few volunteers around charities, but not always volunteers that can do the job that needs done.

And public speakers are a business, not a charity.

Those two concepts aren't that hard to understand.

[discostu]

What you're not understanding is that it isn't "charity work", it's a job. They're just like anybody else that has a JOB at the charity: they expect to get paid for their labor. If they want to do it as actual charity work then they use they're set appearance fee to calculate their in kind donation for their taxes. But not all work done for charities is charity work, quite a substantial amount of it is done as paying jobs for people with it as part of their career.

[discostu]

It depends on what kind of work you wanted to do for them
http://www.habitat.org/hr/

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Charities would not exist if everyone demanded to be paid for services renderred. Your idea of charity goes against the very meaning. Is it really too hard for you to understand that? Get it through your head. If they can't do it for free (again, that is the very definition of charity), then they are despicable human beings and they do not deserve my money, given to their sponsors or through "charities" themselves.

[HairOfTheDog]

But not all work done for charities is charity work

Right. I think it is a surprise to him, but hardly any work at charitable organizations is unsalaried. The work of charitable organizations is hired, just like any other job. It has to be like that if the job is to be held to any standard.... volunteers don't have to show up on time, have skills, or commit to coming back tomorrow.

[HairOfTheDog]

You have never stepped in the door of a charity have you?

[discostu]

I've got a friend that's a bookkeeper and has done most of his career for charities/ non-profits, plus I worked on accounting software for NPOs for a few years (which involved a fair amount of shmoozing and going to some events, plus digging into the books to make realistic test cases). Charities don't work at all like most people think they do, especially not the good ones. To run a charity well you need people that behave professionally, to get people to behave professionally you need people that are professionals, to get pros you generally need to pay them. Not just celebrities to host fundraisers but accountants, IT guys, janitors, receptionists and sometimes even doctors. If you need somebody to be a 40 hour a week guy with a schedule and deadlines and stuff you better be prepared to call that somebody an employee.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I'm not going to argue with you anymore. It's you people that are dragging the country down. You are a sickening individual. How the hell can you stand for this? People donate to a charity to help the less fortunate, not to give Camryn Mannheim her own Harley! If you support that, I have no idea what's wrong with you.

[HairOfTheDog]

I am dragging the country down? - I don't think so darlin'....

I am too charming and optimistic.

[GOPJ]

My point is that it is about the ethics. Lots of these Hollywood types don't raise much money. They're "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" types. A big firm wants a speaker, but wants to write off the fee. So they hit up a local charity for mutual benefit. They both win and the innocent taxpayer picks up the tab for the party.

Charities are lots of fun, great tax breaks, and wonderful ways to give liberals jobs, but they're not ethical on any playing field. And yeah, I know that some are good and wonderful, but many are plain old rip-offs. The media gives a pass because charities are "liberal". For me? I'm tired of giving these folks tax exempt status to play good people for fools.

This isn't so much about where any particular charity is good, but whether it is ethical for them to hire a $75,000 speaker to keynote a function where they can raise a couple million in operating funds.

[JenB]

Dear me, Hair, you were too polite and wasted too much time there. People who think that 2+2=5 can't be argued with...

[WinOne4TheGipper]

It's official. I've been used by the City of Buda and the Historical Society. How was I to know that charity doesn't mean charity? I should've charged them. Screw the betterment of the community or being able to say I contributed to making the town a better place. It's about me. It's about what I want. Everyone else be damned. Thank you for that very important life lesson.

[HairOfTheDog]

So... how do you fix it? - by taxing them?

I am 'all about' lower tax burdens, but I don't think whether the agency pays taxes on their income plays into whether the the agency behaves ethically... It would only affect how much money they have to raise to pay it.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Left coast and pretty close to the other one. Kind of makes me wonder...

[HairOfTheDog]

Are you calling me home? - OK..... I'm comin....

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Tonken solicited donations for phony events, then diverted the money to bank accounts with names falsely suggesting they were charitable organizations.
And charitable organizations solicited donations, claiming they'd go to the less fortunate, but the ended up in the hands of celebrity @$$holes.

[HairOfTheDog]

Or they weren't charities at all. That is why they got busted big time. They broke the law.

What we have been talking about here is not breaking the law.

You are thread jumping, btw. For lurkers, that is from the other thread he pinged me to.

[ecurbh]

Left coast and pretty close to the other one. Kind of makes me wonder...

JenB in Pennsylvania. HairOfTheDog in Washington. Hmmm... try ~unfolding~ that map of the US there, buddy.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Alright. There is a bit of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, IIRC) touching the water. So? I was assuming JenB doesn't lve in Philly.