A Consumer's Report for Charities

I don't always read books all the way through. I often just scan and pick out what is most relevant to me. But when I received a review copy of Charity On Trial I read it through in a weekend.

At first glance, Charity on Trial: What You Need to Know Before You Give, by Doug White might seem to be a diatribe against charity shenanigans. In fact, White, an experienced fundraiser and consultant, is all for charities, but he wants the few fraudulent ones exposed and for all charities to display the transparency befitting organizations that purport to be above board, ethical, and moral.

To help us understand how charities work and how things sometimes go terribly wrong, White takes us through several scandals affecting large and well known organizations such as The United Way and the Red Cross, as well as ones we may have not heard of such as the fraud and collapse of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. But White goes on to help donors understand how to evaluate a charity before they give a donation or put that charity in their wills. Find out what some of those techniques are with our review:

• Charity On Trial - A Review