Here’s the ‘good housekeeping’ seal for veterans aid groups

With Memorial Day approaching, you may start seeing TV and internet ads from CharitiesForVets.org. Unlike so many other commercials for military veterans charities, these bulletins aren’t asking for money. Instead, they provide resources for those who want to donate to others.

CharitiesForVets aims to solve a real problem: In recent years, numerous outfits claiming to be raising money for veterans have been caught and sometimes prosecuted for using most of the money for salaries and “overhead” while giving little to actual warriors. For example, the founder of a group called Veterans for America went to jail for three years after bilking donors for more than $500,000 worth of donations that he instead used for vacations, an ATV, and even online dating services.

Dozens of other veterans charities are not dishonest but are still markedly inefficient, with overhead costs taking more than 25% of the donations they receive. Even well-established groups sometimes spend more than half their revenues on overhead while holding rather than effectively spending hundreds of millions of dollars of assets…

This article originally appeared in the Washington Examiner. To read the full article, click here.