Generous people unfortunately are sometimes gullible as well. But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, it will be harder for telephone solicitors to mislead givers about how much of their donation will go to the charity of their choice.
On Monday the court unanimously upheld an Illinois fraud law used against telephone fund-raisers who were accused of intentionally misleading givers about how much money would go to charity.
The case involved professional fund-raisers for a Vietnam veterans group that, according to Illinois officials, promised that 90 percent or more of donated funds "goes to the vets." Actually, 85 cents of every dollar collected went to defray the fund-raiser's expenses.
The decision refined previous decisions in which the court ruled that the First Amendment protected professional fund-raisers from requirements that they disclose what portion of contributions they kept for themselves. Under this decision, fund-raisers must not misstate how much goes to the actual charity and must respond truthfully when asked for the breakdown.
Some charities hoped the court would rule the other way, because many donors do not understand that even respectable charities must avail themselves of professional fund-raisers who, naturally, charge a fee for their services. But donors have a right to a truthful answer when they try to determine if the fund-raiser's "take" is excessive.
The decision is good news for Pennsylvanians. The law in this state prohibits fund-raisers from "representing directly or by implication that a charitable organization will receive an amount greater than the actual net proceeds reasonably estimated to be retained by the charity for its use."
That law seems to be on safe constitutional ground, but it doesn't require that telephone fund-raisers volunteer information about their "take." That places the burden on givers to ask questions about how much of their contribution is going to charity and how much to the middleman.
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