From Left Field

Conservatives have seized on the notion that the "moral values" of the religious right determined the recent election. As Frank Rich of the New York Times points out, however, "There's only one problem with the storyline proclaiming that the country swung to the right on cultural issues in 2004…it is fiction." According to a new poll co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress, Res Publica and Pax Christi, there actually is a new silent majority in America: a coalition of religious moderates, progressives and other non-traditional religious voters. "This bloc of religious voters constitutes 54 percent of the electorate and holds very similar moderate-to-progressive views on domestic and national security issues" such as economic justice and the war in Iraq. By comparison, religious conservatives make up less than a quarter of the national electorate. (For more on the changing focus of the new "silent majority," read the new op-ed by American Progress's John Podesta and John Halpin.)

Of the $184.3 million in charity donations raised by professional fundraisers in New York during 2002, less than a third of the money went to charities, according to a report released Dec. 28 by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Only 31 percent of the money raised in 607 professionally run telemarketing campaigns -- $57.1 million -- wound up financing the charity the fund raising was conducted for. The rest of the money went to cover telemarketer costs and profits.

The annual report, entitled "Pennies for Charity, Where Your Money Goes: Telemarketing by Professional Fund Raisers," is based on the information collected by the attorney general's charities bureau on professional telemarketing campaigns conducted during 2002.

The Better Business Bureau recommends that a charitable organization should take in at least 65 percent of the money donated through fundraising campaigns.

In the attorney general's report, nine companies were found to have turned over 12 percent or less of the money they raised to the charity that hired them for campaigns in New York. The companies were:
Telesystems Marketing Inc., located in Houston, Texas (12 percent);
Community Affairs Inc., located in Pompano, Fla. (11 percent);
LAS LLC, based in Washington, D.C. (11 percent);
Theodore Productions Inc., located in Gettysburg, Pa. (10.3 percent);
Nationwide Fundraisers Inc., located in Naples, Fla. (10 percent);
DirectLine Technologies Inc., based Modesto, Calif. (9.1 percent);
Integral Resources, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. (8.4 percent);
Bee LC, with offices in McLean, Va. (8.2 percent);
George Carden Circus International, headquartered in Springfield, Mass. (2 percent);

Charities kept more than 65 percent of the money raised in only 42 of the 607 campaigns, according to Spitzer's office. Charities were found to have received less than half of the money raised in more than 78 percent of the campaigns, while 25 charities actually lost money.

Schenectady-based Capital District Callers took in gross receipts of $575,257 for seven charities during 2002, and on average, turned over 50 percent to 55 percent to the charity, the report found.

"This annual report makes two key points," Spitzer said in a written statement. "First, donors need to make informed decisions prior to making a charitable contribution. In many cases, it is better to give money directly to a charity than to a professional fundraiser."

Spitzer also called on board members of charitable organizations to take a more active role in fundraising decisions in order to maximize the amount the charity receives.

The report can be found at the attorney general's website.