For those who want to support military service members and their families,
Charity Navigator has assembled a list of the best-rated military charities.
The list exposes some real clunkers, too. Some of the charities at the bottom of the list spend more than 70 percent of their money on fundraising, not helping veterans or soldiers.
For example, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, which mails me constantly, spends more than 30 cents of every dollar it receives on fundraising. Charity Navigator says
the Wisconsin branch of that charity spends less than 30 cents of every dollar it takes in on helping vets.
I was surprised that Charity Navigator gave the USO such a low rating for its fundraising, saying that a quarter of the money the USO takes in is spent on overhead, not soldiers. I see USO folks at airports just about everywhere I travel. They have done a lot of good work for 60 years.
Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly
recently jagged the USO for not sending more entertainers to the war zone in Afghanistan, though
the USO responded that it has put together seven entertainment tours in 2007 and more in 2006.
A group called
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE helps individuals and even
other organizations that are doing good things for wounded and killed service members and their families.
I checked their Form 990 tax filings and the
latest data available [PDF] on GuideStar shows that in 2006 this group spent 90 percent of all its public donations (and 90 percent of all its expenses) on charitable work.
There is also
Operation Homefront.
From the organization's Web site:
A nonprofit 501(c)3 founded after September 11, Operation Homefront leads more than 2,500 volunteers in 26 chapters nationwide. Since its inception, Operation Homefront has provided critical assistance to more than 40,000 military families in need.
Operation Homefront provides aid to families struggling not only with emergencies, but also the problems of everyday life. Existing programs include:
- Emergency Aid -- Food, baby care items, vehicle donation and repair.
- Computer Program -- Allows children and spouses to stay in touch with their loved one.
- Financial Assistance Program -- Crises such as illness, homelessness and death.
- Furniture Program -- Donated household and baby furniture; working-order appliances.
- Moving -- Providing physical labor for families when a service member is deployed.
- Social Outreach -- Adopt-a-family, Thanksgiving/holiday baskets, back-to-school supplies.
- Military Mondays -- Promotes military discounts at businesses throughout the country.
Other charities and organizations that support the military:
Here are some top-ten lists from Charity Navigator:
Mail Dates for Iraq and Afghanistan
No doubt many of you and your readers/viewers/listeners want to send gifts to military members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan to lift their spirits.
The Defense Department says if you want to do so, you had better get cracking. The last recommended mail date for stuff heading for the war zones is Dec. 4th. Packages heading to all other international military installations should be in the mail by Dec. 19th.
Santa Lawyers Up
The U.S. Postal Service used to help Santa. Now the post office is taking legal precautions and passing Santa's helper work to others.
Click here for the story from
The (Newark, N.J.)
Star-Ledger.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
