Avoiding Charity Scams

Charity fraud is growing as social media, email solicitations, and phone call requests increase.  How does one ensure that the charity requesting your donation is a legitimate charity and how do you determine if your donation will go towards the area of need that you want?  

Here are a few simple questions and steps that one can take before writing that check:

• Always ask the charity what their Employer Identification Number (EIN) is.  If they don’t have one, don’t donate.  The EIN is a unique number that identifies the organization to the Internal Revenue Service, while a charity’s 501(c)(3) status represents the organizations eligibility for tax-exempt status.  
• Be careful of charities with names similar to nationally known organizations.  Legitimate charities will provide their EIN if requested, and a donor can find legitimate and qualified charities with the Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool on IRS.gov.
• If you want to find out more about a charity and their mission, the Charity Navigator site is a great resource.  In addition to basic info on most charities, they provide a rating to help assure donors that the nonprofit they want to support is financially responsible and employs good governance to ensure that their donations will be used responsibility in the delivery of their mission.  In fact, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was given the highest “Four-Star” rating on Charity Navigator which means it “exceeds or meets best practices and industry standards across all areas”.  
• Google the charity – seek out the charity’s website to validate their work.  Make sure you can find the nonprofit’s EIN somewhere on their website or donation page.  Most nonprofits also have .org websites rather than .com’s.  After storms and disasters, individuals are likely to set up fake websites claiming to be a charity.  For example, even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, criminals were setting up websites that included the keyword Katrina in an effort to collect money and personal information.  In the weeks following the devastating storm, the FBI reported that it had identified over 4,000 bogus websites that were attempting to capitalize on the goodwill of generous Americans.   
• Donor advised funds – if you are giving through your own Donor Advised Fund (DAF), the sponsor of that DAF (such as Fidelity Charitable) is required to verify that the charity you are sending funds to is a legitimate charity and holds a current 501(c)(3) status.  If it happens to be a charity that they have not sent funds to in the past, they will contact that charity to obtain their nonprofit IRS paperwork before allowing your funds to be sent out to them.

If you’re inspired to support ocean education, conservation, and maritime history, consider donating to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. With your help, we can continue our mission to preserve and share the wonders of the Santa Barbara Channel.

Give with confidence. Give with impact.
Learn more or donate today at SBMM.org.