Vending Charity Woes

[joebob051977]

I recently located my vending machine in a factory. Great deal....probably 5-10 machine deal! However, they wouldn't allow me to place my machine there while using NCCS. They informed me that it received a poor rating using http://www.charitynavigator.com. I went home and did my research. I could not find a vending charity that received a high enough rating to locate there. I ended up promising to use some of the proceed for the Sunshine Kids Network which I found while doing my research.

I would encourage you to research the charities you support. I know most of the time it isn't a problem, but when dealing with a bigger company that does their research. I felt like I got caught with my pants down. Perhaps using different charities would send a clear message to these other vending charities whose Presidents earn $200,000+ per year, and let only 62% of the money donated get to those who needs it most. 

Joe

  

[naraol]

I am trying the route of local charities.  I have my first machine on its way and will be ordering more once I see this one.  I thought if I had 1-3 organizations for them to pick from that are local that would be great.  And then submit the amount to the group every quarter or (3-4 months). Then the time right after that that I service the machine I would drop a letter or confirmation of the donation with the business.

[T BIRD]

I did not know that Joe.  Thanks for the info.

[g_r_vending]

Didn't know NCCS as such a low ranked charity, think I better take a look at that myself. Thanks for the info.

[philo]

Interesting. NCCS scored well using the BBB charity measurements. Wonder which group is more accurate?

Regards,

Philo

[sweetgypsy]

I too use NCCS. I checked them out with the BBB because I didn't want to get involved with a scam charity.

But did you check out the 4 star rated The V Foundation? It gets four stars but is showing a net loss of over $200,000? What does it really all mean?

Or what about the Gilda's Club Grand Rapid's which is also 4 star rated with a net loss of over $100,000?

And the NCCS makes a profit of + 1.8 million!

I may be a vending fool but those numbers don't add up.

Beth

 

[joebob051977]

It almost seems confusing. I guess it depends where you look. I am not keen on leaving NCCS since it seems to be very well organized and has a good vending program. Personally, I can see where its administrative costs will be higher since the nature of the charity involves assisting families with health care bills. Heck, I get 1 bill from the doctor and I am confused. I can only imagine trying to make sense of the mountain of paperwork involved with cancer treatments.  

[gdbutler]

Another good reason to go with a good local charity. I'm just starting out, and will be using a well known reputable local one.

[philo]

Beth:

NCCS is a non-profit. So if they havea positive income flow that money has to be spent at the end of the year. Typically that means that these funds are going towards their programs, programs that help very sick children. A charity that loses money is operating so inefficiently that they don't have adequate funds to help the people they need to help. When you look at the operating cost of a charity you want to see how much of each dollar taken in goes towards the programs and people  versus costs of administration.  Look on the NCCS website and you will see that information.

Regards,

Philo

[sweetgypsy]

Philo, I was also thinking that a short term loss with a non-profit could be due to some capital purchases such as office buildings.

Even so, the numbers are not adding up to me. The general expenses for NCCS are 83% which is higher than Gilda at 78.9% but V Foundation is 92.7%. But V Foundation has the best fund raising efficiency if I'm reading the financials right. For every dollar they earn, it only costs 7 cents to raise which is almost half of NCCS and Gilda. And yet their expenses are the highest. And also their administration costs are higher than NCCS, 3.1% vs. 1%.

So which is the lessor of the evils, huge salaries for management or fund raising inefficiency?

Beth

[Beer980]

I use my local Humane Society and locations seem to like that better then a national one. Plus there are other vendors using the NCCS, missing children and a vision one.

[caserri]

I think the NCCS has indeed gone a bit downhill since I started vending. At that time they had an even better rating than the United Way on Charity Navigator which is why I chose them.

I have recently started supporting the American Cancer Society. They have no official vending outreach program but they organize local events that we participate in and donate to in my company's name. The local businesses in the area are very familiar with the organization and I also have photos of my wife and I participating in the events. The onslaught of ridiculous accusations from the locations have all but ceased since I started supporting the ACS.

Steve  

[candygirl]

Beer and JoeBob--

So far I've struck out with two local charities--I was using NCCS's model for vending outreach ($1-1.50 per machine per month), and even e-mailed NCCS's charity vending agreement to one of them to use as an example.

I'm going to try a new approach for the next charity. I'm just going to tell them I have a vending business and would like to donate 10% of my monthly gross per machine to their charity, and that I'd like to place a sticker with their logo in my machines saying something like "a portion of all sales goes to support the local charity X."

What do you think?

And for those who use local charities--what was your approach? Thanks for any info.

Barb

[dperry]

I use NCCS, but I am not about to dump them because of one locaton owner's comments or somebody else's rating for the charity.  If you believe in the charity and what it does, that should be sufficient.  If the one location owner does not agree, then you are free to move on to find one that will agree.  That location owner was prolly just looking for a reason to say no to you anyways.

[Beer980]

candygirl

I read a story on how the local Humane Society was running short of money and needed help. We have a few dogs so I said this looks like a good charity. Who can say no to an abandoned dog or cat. I just went into the local center and spoke to the director about what I wanted to do. They were glad to have my help so here I am. I print the stickers and put them on top of the machine so you can see them when yo put the money in. So my local charity was my very first placement also.

[joebob051977]

I use NCCS, but I am not about to dump them because of one locaton owner's comments or somebody else's rating for the charity.  If you believe in the charity and what it does, that should be sufficient.  If the one location owner does not agree, then you are free to move on to find one that will agree.  That location owner was prolly just looking for a reason to say no to you anyways.

The location is averaging over $70/mo with 4 other locations which will have similar results. I couldn't afford to lose this account over a charity dispute.

[vend24]

I think the best idea is to go with your local charitys.

[Bravo Duck]

I read somewhere that there are legal problems ( IRS wise ) with contributing to a local charity that does not have a vending program set up. I was planning to use a local charity untill I read that a year or 2 ago.  Tom

[Jay-Son Vending]

I would like to here more on that thought....Any one else either hear about that or have anything in writing for that....

It does not seem that as long as you actually give the donation and provide documentation that it would be a problem...

any thoughts???

[gdbutler]

I think that legalities such as that stem from the way you represent yourself. For example, a vending company that says that they "represent" or "work for" or "are endorsed by" a charity would be operating fraudulently.  Most local charities do not have a vending program, and without expressed written permission to represent them, or to use their name would be fraudulent.  Charities with vending outreach programs have this expressed written permission covered for you so that you have something to fall back on in case someone were to call you out on your charity affiliation.

[caserri]

I think that legalities such as that stem from the way you represent yourself. For example, a vending company that says that they "represent" or "work for" or "are endorsed by" a charity would be operating fraudulently.  Most local charities do not have a vending program, and without expressed written permission to represent them, or to use their name would be fraudulent.  Charities with vending outreach programs have this expressed written permission covered for you so that you have something to fall back on in case someone were to call you out on your charity affiliation.

The key to staying out of trouble is to not "affiliate" yourself with the charity. You are free to give any amount of your proceeds to any charity regardless of the existence of an outreach program. Doing so does not imply that you work for, are endorsed by or affiliated with the charity. Just make sure that you do nothing to imply that you are, such as using their logo.

Steve

[Jay-Son Vending]

Steve,

So...Can i use the "charity" name on my lable on the machine stating that a portion of the proceeds will go to this charity...I am not using a logo of thiers ??