John Deutzman's Blog

Wow! That was great when you pulled out the tax return to his surprise! Always a little humorous twist in your show! This was one of your best!
I didn't know about the 990 form being public record. That is good to know. They should be forced to disclose that form to all people donating! Why don't they revise the laws?
There are so many scamming charities out there, hopefully they will see this.

Jane

Hi John;
One must do the homework because when donated $ are involved, people loose focus and greed takes over.Many charitable organizations have proved to be frauds; and even legitimate ones frequently send but a tiny amount of the money they collect to advertised worthy causes. “According to the State Board of Social Welfare,” writes Francis Cerral in the New York Times, “charities raise about $22 billion a year in the United States and $2 billion in New York. But in some cases, no money or as little as 5 or 10 percent of it ends up going to the charitable purpose, with the rest being pocketed by the fund-raisers.” Back in 1974 one church-sponsored charity collected $3.3 million. Astonishingly, only $54,000 reached the advertised charity. An indication of what happened to the rest is seen in the fact that $45,000 went to one of the church’s clergymen, and $110,000 to three of his assistants.
I usually donate only to the RED CROSS,they're the first ones to be on site and you see your contributions in action often.
JC

Why choose this charity, when there are a million other charities out there that are doing the same thing. Why start with Hope for a Cure Foundation. More research should be done, that not only did the founder being this organization when he was 15, but the fact of the matter is he's helping people out there, become informed about the disease, while they enjoy a wonderful event.

When was helping people such a horrible thing to do? Let's stop focusing on the mistakes people make, and focus on the things people do to better the world. What are you doing?

sl,

I fully expect an organized backlash from people connected and related to this charity.

I researched this charity and the people involved for two weeks, many times for 16 hours a day. The president was in his 20's the last I checked and surrounded by charity veterans.

Please read the above blog I wrote, look at the story again and perhaps you'll get an idea of why we did the story.

It's just the minor detail that according to the 990 none of the money went to Parkinson's at all during the Fiscal year reported.

You just touch the tip of the iceberg with that one. What about all the tax payer dollars being given away By the President and congress, with NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

Back in the day, I was a partner in a computer consulting firm. We were hired to install computers with custom accounting software for a church in a poverty-stricken area-----kids barefoot in tattered clothes all over the street. It was sad to see these hungry-looking children, and see their parents donate money to the church every week, while learning the truth of where the money their parent's donated money goes.
The clergy that hired us said to us:
"You can charge us double of your normal fees, because if we don't spend our money by year-end, we will lose our tax-exempt status"
He went on to tell us how he just took his entire congregation to Hawaii for two weeks to help spend the money.

This was something I wish I didn't know, it left me in a awkward position. All I could do is feel bad for the neighborhood donating their desperately needed money to a church with their own interests in mind.


Jane

All this makes me wonder.... if charities were audited, would the monies have been spent more productively?

Would there be a cure for cancer today?
Would Autism no longer be an epidemic?
Would there be more help available for the disabled and the terminally ill?

Stealing charity money is no different than mugging a grandmother because she is too weak to fight you back!
The difference in jail time and penalties between the street mugger and the charity scammers, is only because the charity masterminds have "our" cash to hire a good lawyer to dig them out if needed. Realizing they will only get a slap on th wrist while raking in thousands, keeps them going.

Why is it so tough to have the laws and penalties revised to today's standards?

Jane

Here are my questions: What makes you so passionate about Parkinson's Disease and the organizations that support it? Are you personally invested in this? Because Hope for a Cure is. Because Matthew Depace is. He started this organization when he was in high school because of a family member stricken with the disease. While most high schoolers are out partying and wasting time, he was creating something that gave back to the community. Why would someone create and maintain an organization for years that takes probably a huge chunk of his time to do if it weren't for conviction, courage and sincerity? It's sad someone with good intentions can be smeared by a low life journalist with nothing invested in his story and years of hard work can be belittled and diminished by a 5 minute news spot. And yes, he is young, and maybe he did make a mistake. I'd rather make a mistake trying to do something for people who need help than sit around trying to think of my next big story that will keep my face in the news. Fox News has such a poor reputation anyway that Im sure most people take your stories with a grain of salt. At the very least for Matthew and Hope for a Cure's sake, that's what I'm hoping. And to close my argument, I'm 100% postiive that any follow up on this story in any way will lead you and all who follow to this conclusion: Hope for a Cure will remain a great and dependable organization that serves those it promises to. But that probably won't make the news will it?

Joe and Jane,

Maybe if Matthew didn't sign the tax papers which said the charity gave nothing towards Parkinson's then Matthew would not have been the one who had questions asked.
By the way my dad's best friend, once a star football player was stricken with Parkinsonson's and I find it equally absurd that a charity would advertise that the money goes to Parkisnon's research when most of it did not, In fact for two and a half years there is no check that went out for anything related to Parkisnon's.
Matthew was old enough to sign the tax papers and take the credit for being the front man for this organization but suddenly he became too young to properly provide information for a 990 with the help of an accountant.
The summary of my research is in the story and on the above blog. People are free to research this organization on their own. Let me know if you find a legitimate tax document that is filled out as required by law.

Jerry,

I've been doing this 26 years and have an outstanding reputation for integrity. Please find one fact wrong in my story or my blog. If there is ever a 990 that makes sense, it still will not have enough money going to Parkison's to remotely qualify as a good charity by any standards used by any organization that rates charities.
It's hard for all of you in that little click out there to look at the facts look at the numbers and realize that for at least two and a half years...no money went to Parkinson's this is not based on 990's this is based on checks the board produced for us...The last check written to anything the remotely resembled research was wriiten in late November of 2005. It was only until April 11th of 2008 that another check was produced for 10k going to the Unity Walk and then another 8k last weekned. Those two checks were written after the heat was on and serious questions were being asked.
In the meantime perhaps you guys should figure out how an accountant, an experienced board and people so dedicated in the fight against Parkinson's could allow this to go on for so long.