Telemarketers Return Little to Charities, Report Says February 11, 2004
Funding Tips & Trends
Telemarketing firms typically return less than half of funds raised to the charities they represent, according to reports compiled by the states of New York, Massachusetts, and Colorado.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported Jan. 8 that a report from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office found that while 607 telemarketing campaigns raised $184.3 million for various charities in 2002, the charities themselves received just $57.1 million, or an average of 31 percent of the money raised.
In Massachusetts, charities received an average of 51 percent of the $224 million raised by telemarketers studied in 2002, according to a report from the attorney general. And in Colorado, telemarketers kept 59.1 percent of the $21.1 million raised over a 19-month period in 2002 and 2003, according to a report from the secretary of state's office.
Boston University School of Public Health 
