Whether they count the costs or not, they are real.

And reality kills just as certainly.

I don't applaud them at all. Their fraud causes my taxes to go up, so they are directly stealing from me.

I've railed about this before, but the developer of my subdivision (now also my state representative), is the manager of his business - the actual ownership is in his mother in laws name both for female owned business credits as well as to keep the funds out of his name. He has 7 kids, all of which (at least so far) have received needs based scholarships. He and his family live in an 8 bedroom house on 5 acres with an in ground swimming pool, tennis court, 8 car garage, etc. But he is not the owner, you guessed it, it is owned by his mother in law's business and he pays "rent." He draws a salary from the business that is low enough that they are considered just below the poverty level - yet live a 1%'er lifestyle. A couple of the kids were in the same grades as mine and I have no problem with them, they're actually pretty smart and well behaved. BUT, my kids are paying full tuition for college and they are getting significant scholarship money (read that, I'm paying for his kids). It steams me that the system can be gamed in such a manner, and it is all legal. Nothing in his FAFSA is factually false yet the whole thing is false. If he didn't still control the Home Owners Assoc (I can't wait until the remaining lots are sold) I'd confront him and make a big stink prior to the next election. As it is, he has the sole authority to levy fines on our property for any infraction that he chooses to "find." Yes, I read the covenants prior to buying the lot, just didn't know the background on this individual and how they were gaming the system.

On many levels. Luckily, I no longer am faced with such. I also no longer support national for Boy or Girl Scouts (or most other national organizations). So many of them are so top heavy that what they purport to do is a small portion of what they actually accomplish. Instead, I started a campership program for our local scout troops. It will defer up to 50% of a summer camp week for a scout who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. For any aged 16 or older (hasn't been any that old yet), I require them to earn the other half of the money from a job, not just money from their parents/grandparents/etc.

I looked at it as the cost of processing was more than my $1 donation, so I did my part in reducing their impact.

Correctamundo. Here's just one site that can help

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

That's certainly part of it, but I think laundering money to their family and cohorts has a large part in it as well. Very easy to reduce your taxable income, provide for relatives and friends, and even get kickbacks that aren't traceable (or at least not easily without thorough audit, and how often does that happen to anybody but Rush and the Koch Bros?).

She'll have to soon, as the max length of time that you cannot actually do something is 5 yrs.

Because a fellow worker who got a tasking that they didn't want but is just going to get grief for until they meet the objective isn't worth making the point. I had to work with those folks on much more important issues and creating ill will would not be productive.

Actually the United Way is controlled by individual LOCAL boards in local endeavors. If you want to have a say get on the board.

The United Way of America is simply an association of those charities.

Look what L. Ron Hubbard did with charity for religion.

Snoogoo asks: "Can she use her own charity as a gigantic tax write-off?"

Bud Paxon did exactly that when he established "The Worship Channel."

He was able to funnel surplus / older equipment to the network from his other huge television enterprises and eventually the Worship Channel became self sustaining.

But lots of folks still live high on the hog from that endeavor.

I used to give a single donation of $1. That way the company chair (who is always under pressure to get 100% participation) has the heat removed.