It appears there are a number of nonprofits up and running under the apparent control of Fotis. Please refresh the page Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990, or for some metrics on the charity's website, that the organization makes this information easily accessible. Please share your experience by leaving a review/comment in the section located at the bottom of this article. This charity's score is 49%, earning it a Zero-Star rating. Quoting from its website, the Committee for Police Officers Defense is a 527 Committee designed to seek out radical prosecutors, judges and district attorneys. Another organization is named on the website as well The Police Officers Defense Coalition. Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2021, Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. This all looks very peculiar, said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in campaign finance. This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver. One of Fotis websites solicits money for individuals who were guilty of a crime for doing their job the way they were trained to do it. As an example, he cites former Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona. THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICE DEFENSE, INCL (NCPD) HELPS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AFTER AN ON-DUTY CASTASTROPHE, BY PROVIDING SUPPORT AND RESOURCES DURING THE LEGAL Total Revenue and Expenses - Data Available, IRS Published Data (Business Master File) - Data Available, Data Sources (IRS Forms 990) - Data Available. Several donors said they never would have given money to the group if they knew it would pay for Trump advertisements, including 70-year-old Susan Durie, a self-described bleeding heart liberal Democrat from Los Angeles who donated around $600 and said she felt like a victim of a scam since she thinks she was misled into believing that her donation would go to local police. Below are a few tips for screening for legitimate charities. To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. These are Americas heroes. Videos on its site show cities in flames and say that officers have been injured during what the group describes as riots presumably referring to recent Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. Dont fall for it! We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charitys success. (BMF affiliation code: 3). I later learned the organization is based in Fairfax, VA, and is a political action committee, or PAC. Are you concerned youve already been scammed or just want to make sure you wont be in the future? He was donating to anyone who asked him for money, he said. The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting broke the charities up into five main categories: children, cancer, police/law enforcement, veterans, fire and other. While there are no requirements dictating the percentage of money that must go toward political activities, campaign finance expert Rob Pyers has dubbed the group a Scam PAC because of its high operating expenses and negligible political spending. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses, and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. On the other hand, it could be your public reviews, which are impactful. It only means they do not seek to make a profit on their activities. We include in a charity's working capital unrestricted and temporarily restricted net assets, and exclude permanently restricted net assets. Many of the other complaints to the FTC about the political committee and its related groups said fundraisers used spoofed numbers and violated the law by calling them even though they were on the Do Not Call list, while others said they had been misled or even harassed by fundraisers. This organization received multiple star ratings within this fiscal year, due to an update to its Accountability and Transparency data and/or the receipt of an amended Form 990. In fact, former employees of these types of fundraisers have testified about how they used soundboard technology to play prerecorded messages as responses, in part so they could talk to several donors at once. The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. Law Enforcement for a Safer America does not disclose on its website who is running the super PAC, but public filings reveal that leaders of one of the countrys largest police unions are pulling the strings. But whats the truth. Are you just about to make a purchase online? As a result, the Accountability & Finance score for Life Legal Defense Foundation is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations. AARP Membership $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal. A secretive political group has been pulling in millions of dollars in recent months amid a growing Blue Lives Matter movement, with a cadre of telemarketers urgently telling Americans that now is the time to support the police and keep them safe. One hit wonders seeking to cash in on the tragedy of the day from floods and fires to missing children and more. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount: Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure. What does "Questionable. Average Retirement Savings: How Do You Compare? This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. Dividing a charity's average program expenses by its average total functional expenses yields this percentage. Con artists refer to what they do as a hustle. Below you will find a roundup of that list, which was based on federal tax filings over 10 years. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organizations overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned. Controversial. A union receptionist also confirmed to CNN that the super PAC is run by the union, but union leaders did not respond to repeated calls, voicemails and emails that laid out the concerns from other police departments and donors and asked why so little of the $10 million raised went toward political activities. An award-winning writer with more than two decades of experience in real estate. And some are outright scams. Virginia incorporation papers show James Fotis is president of the Alliance and changed the name to the Defense Coalition. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The result: a rise in super PACs that use sympathetic-sounding causes primarily to line their own pockets (the FEC has called this subset scam PACs). The residual effects of an arrest can be more far reaching than if the officer had been killed. No: This charity either does not have a written donor privacy policy in place to protect their contributors' personal information, or the existing policy does not meet our criteria. 76.46. We support police officers who risk their lives daily protecting our communities. The union has previously come under fire for hiring allegedly deceptive telemarketers and costly fundraising efforts that benefited its own organization and a police charity it operates. Partial Credit: The charity's audited financials were prepared by an independent accountant, but it did not have an audit oversight committee. Videos on Law Enforcement for a Safer America's website show cities in flames and say that officers have been injured during what the group describes as riots. ", The mission of this petition is to unify the voices of those that stand up for law enforcement and show support for our officers and their families. Give the page a little longer to finish The IRShas pretty broad rules for being a nonprofit organization. The tell is a poker term. This charity's score is 81%, earning it a Three-Star rating. In this case, the pitch was for money for helping police officers in the continuing war against cops.. Our Scam Detector's VLDTR tool used 53 powerful factors to research the website's Police Officers niche and see if it's safe. Have a question? The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reportingput a list together in 2013 of the 50 worst charities in America. As a result, he had a positive outlook on military and all law enforcement officers, Busse said, but he never expressed any particular interest in supporting the police through financial donations.. April 2, 2023 . Gotten calls like this? We warn against them because they come off as supportive of the Greenfield Police Department, or the local police, and yet they do not do anything for us, said police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. These tend to be monies for their own agendas, and not based on the locals. As our conversation continued, the caller would lower the amount of funding he was requesting. Here are some of the worst offenders: The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reportingbroke the charities upinto five main categories: children, cancer, police/law enforcement, veterans, fire and other. Privacy policies are assigned to one of the following categories: Yes: This charity has a written donor privacy policy published on its website, which states unambiguously that (1) it will not share or sell a donor's personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations or (2) it will only share or sell personal information once the donor has given the charity specific permission to do so. Its made up of series of regular steps timed to the beat of the music that can be improvised as needed. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much It offers you effective protection from viruses and zero-day threats, a lightweight, clean, and easy-to-use app, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Most of the money went to the people who collected the donations. He said his father has always leaned heavily Democratic, supported President Barack Obama and previously expressed strong anti-Trump views. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. It was raising money using four different police-oriented names (one association, two coalitions and one support fund). Is www.committeeforpoliceofficersdefense.com legit? The Scam Detectors algorithm gives this business the They improvise and evolve to stay one step ahead of unsuspecting donors. Photo Credit: flickr, iStock.com/RapidEye, iStock.com/P_Wei. The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. FEC regulations state that political committees can only deposit a contribution into their account if that money came from a solicitation which expressly states that the contribution will be used in connection with a Federal election or the solicitation discloses that contributions are subject to federal election law. Sign the petition here: https://bit.ly/defend-police.

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