Posted on 03/18/2010 12:54:44 PM PDT by TRY ONE
For the last several years, Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance “charity” have conducted “Freedom Concerts” across America. They’ve told you that they are raising money to pay for the college tuition of the children of fallen soldiers and to pay severely wounded war vets. And on Friday Night, Hannity will be honored with an award for this “Outstanding Community Service by a Radio Talk Show Host” at Talkers Magazine’s convention.
But it’s all a huge scam.
(Excerpt) Read more at debbieschlussel.com ...
Oliver North, a man who not only talks the talk but walks the walk, founded the "Freedom Alliance".
Nothing more needs to be said about that.
Sean Hannity is probably one of the most honest, down to earth, regular guys on radio (IMHO). In fact he is probably too much of a good guy sometimes. He damn sure doesn't need a scam for making money.
Debbie Schlussel is now a confirmed tool of the left considering the timing of this piece of crap article.
Get a damn grip people and give rational thinking a try before falling for Commie Obammie inspired BS!
I miss Marty.
Didn't Schlussel say that this meant only $0.09 of each dollar goes to the charity? Well, she was dead wrong on that so far.
I went back and checked. Schlussel actually does not say that a low "fund-raising efficiency" is bad. She says that Charity Navigator computed it incorrectly by counting program expenses as going to the charity. (The tax forms show that the figure should be much higher.)
Precisely. If true, he should sue.
But I don't think he will. How does one "distort" an IRS form?
I'm not a fan of Hannity. He's a whiner and he's sanctimonious. In my opinion he's a self-styled politically correct conservative who prepares for his show each day by putting his finger in the wind to see what the right opinion will be for his nightly sermon to the choir. He gives away the game from time to time when he instantly reverses his supposedly deeply held beliefs when he sees he guessed wrong about the conservative consensus.
Even ignoring this apparent charity outrage, I don't think he helps the cause.
Human nature can be ugly, and this thread is a perfect example of that.
Gee, guess you're right!
What change in headlines? I have seen nothing about this anywhere else.
As I wrote, these forms are not hard to read and understand,
“The IRS form has a section where disbursements to other programs are itemized. There are none.
As I wrote, these forms are not hard to read and understand,”
No offense, but obviously you don’t know enough to understand that you cannot glean what you are trying to from IRS statements. Look to the Charity Navigator site for their rating and expenditures...that is truthful info that you will be able to understand. You seem to prefer to take the word of someone who has been a proven liar and anti-conservative over the independent information from an organization that rates charities...Freedom Alliance is top rated, period.
Ignorance is a horrible thing wtc911, don’t get caught up in its web.
No...and that was my mistake. But, when I saw 10 mil in and 300k to the kids, it just got to me. Others have explained that it may have gone to the kids’ benefit, but not directly.
Wrong. My wife and I operate a 501(c)3 organization that installs water purification units in Haiti. I know a thing or two about not-for-profit tax filings. What exactly is your experience with them?
I’ve worked for nonprofits all my life and I know that the tax return as a very very poor place to get an understanding of operations.
You get glimpses and can develop a list of questions that can be answered only with more complete financial statements etc. Just be careful acting like something is clear when its not.
Board of Directors
The Honorable Ralph Smith, Chairman
Mr. Thomas Cook, Treasurer
Mr. Robert Eichenberg, Director
Mr. Carl Hoffman, Director
Mr. Michael Mason, Director
Mr. Jerry Morris, Director
Founder and Honorary Chairman
LtCol Oliver L. North, USMC (Ret.)
Where is Hannity on here?
I know enough to know a bullshitter when I hear one. Go to the Charity Navigator site and look at the facts.
I will repeat what I wrote earlier...if I saw this return for any not-for-profit I would never give so much as a penny.
Now, if this all proves true then it's Hannity's ass that will be hanging out because he is the public face of the organization. It is he who will come under the microscope. If all this proves true he can distance himself through plausible deniability but it still won't look good for him.
On a more general note, I am always leery of any celebrity driven fund raising event. I want to know if the celebrities are paying their own way (their contribution) or if they are using donated funds for travel & lodging and/or actually getting paid for their participation.
btw...a few freepers have actually donated to my not-for-profit...want to kick in?
Although I am not a CPA I do have an MBA in Finance and a JD degree, and serve of the board of directors and provide legal services to a number of not-for-profit organizations. I spent about five minutes reviewing the Freedom Alliance's 2008 Tax Return, and the first thing that jumped out at me is exactly what you point out: The Freedom Alliance has about $16 million in investments and $3 million in cash and is obviously operating as a charitable trust or endowment. Thus, the Freedom Alliance administrative overhead and expense is about one-third of the assets that are used to fund the scholarships and other charitable distributions. In my experience, this is not out of line for a trust of this size, and the asset to expense ratio should improve as the size of the trust continues to grow because the expenses are relatively fixed whether the trust assets are $10 million or $100 million.
I note that Debbie "the Shrill" Schlussel does not cite the opinion of a CPA or other expert on charitable organizations to support her conclusions and relies instead upon unnamed friends and friends of friends as proof that Hanity travels in style.
I also note that I am not a Hannity Groupie, and view him as the blonde cheerleader who knows all the cheers, but not a lot about the game. Nevertheless, I am willing to bet that Schlussel has this very wrong and once again comes off as a jealous attention whore.
You just did.
I hate to burst your bubble folks but Charity Navigator gives Freedom Alliance 4 out of 4 stars.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=6590
Program Expenses 81.5% (amount that goes to the actual charity – higher is better)
Administrative Expenses 4.8% (overhead – lower is better)
Fundraising Expenses 13.5% (overhead – lower is better)
Fundraising Efficiency $0.09 (amount the charity spends to raise $1 – lower is better)
I sure hope Debbie has the good grace to explain to us why her analysis is 180% different from this.
not much of a deep thinker, are you?
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