Missouri Attorney General Releases List of 15 Worst Charities

Missouri State Attorney General Chris Koster has compiled a list of the worst charities that solicit funds in the State. The criteria for the ranking was percentage of funds spent on charitable causes. Under guidelines set up by the Better Business Bureau, Non-profits should use a minimum of 65% of their revenue for charitable causes. The organizations on this list do not even come close. Non-Profits on this list have large expenses for fundraising, many of which use professional telemarketing companies that can take as much as 60% of the revenue right off the top. In this holiday season of giving, these are organizations to stay away from -Here are the worst of the worst.

1. United States Navy Veterans Association - Washington, DC
This charity is probably the worst ever - basically a fraud. According to the Attorney General's office, no more than 1% or the organization's revenue went to charitable causes. Director and CFO "Bobby Thompson" - whose true identity is not even known, is currently on the lam. A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued by the State of Ohio. Several states have also banned the organization from any fundraising in their States. Their website is also currently unavailable.

2. Law Enforcement Education Program - Troy, MI
This organization's mission statement says that their goal is to create and support educational programs for the betterment of the general public and the law enforcement community. But, according to Koster's report, they use just over 2% of their revenue for charitable programs.

3. Cancer Survivor's Fund - Missouri City, TX
Sounds like a great organization, providing scholarships and prosthetics to young adults who have survived cancer. However, their administrative costs were 96.8% of revenue for fiscal year 09-10.

4. Wishing Well Foundation - Metarie, LA
This Organization claims to give terminally ill children a wish, much like the legitimate MAKE-A-WISH Foundation - in reality, they only spend 4.4% of income on on charitable causes.

5. Firefighters Charitable Foundation - Farmingdale, NY
When you look at the list of worst charities, you see sick kids, veterans, and Fire and Police. Everyone wants to help these types of people out, but you really have to do your research. Firefighters Charitable Foundation is another one of these organizations that raises money with telemarketers making you think you are helping firefighters and their families. Less than 5% of their revenue goes to a charitable cause.

For the rest of the worst from the Attorney General's site, click here. I personally would not give money to any organization that called me without being contacted first, but at the very least, do your research before giving. A simple search at the Better Business Bureau website can be a good place to start.

Missouri Wants Presciption for Some Cold Medicines

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Attorney General Chris Koster want new laws regulating the sale of Over the Counter Cold Medications that contain Psuedoephedrine. The chemical is the single most important substance in the manufacturing of Methamphetamine. Current Federal law requires all medications containing psuedoephedrine be kept behind the Pharmacy counter and a photo ID required for sale. Since these measures have been enacted, the Missouri meth lab count has fallen form a 2003 high of near 3,000, to around 1700. Last September, the State launched a new electronic system to help pharmacies trace those who buy more than the legal limit of the medications - that is not enough, says Nixon.

Well, with government it is never enough. No amount of government intrusion is ever enough. Don't get me wrong, I think keeping the medications behind the counter is a prudent and relatively convenient solution to a problem that does need addressing. Meth is nasty stuff, I've seen what it does to people first hand. Requiring a prescription to obtain cold medications is NOT the answer. As with so many government "solutions", it creates a larger problem that it tries to solve. Going to the doctor is not cheap, and it is prohibitively expensive for some folks. These medications provide cheap, effective relief for cold and allergy sufferers, and many simply would not go to a doctor to get a prescription. Give the new tracking system time to work. With health care costs the way they are now, in "crisis" as Obama likes to say, lets not find ways to drive up costs.