The truth about fundraising calls for police or fire departments

How many have you already had a call that starts out like, “I’m calling on behalf of the National Save the Police Fund,” and they continue, “We support the police officers who risk their lives daily protecting our communities. Can the police officers count on you for support?” This one and others like it were at the highest volume of phone messages in major U.S. markets according to Nomorodo, a Robo call blocking company that works with AARP on fraud prevention.

The problem with these calls is that they use language that suggests that they are charities, raising money directly for local police. But that’s not the truth! And in many cases, these aren’t charities at all. Instead, they’re independent expenditure, political action committees or super PACs. And they fall under less scrutiny. Charities face relatively vigorous reviews from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Most states require them to register before they can operate within a state.

Much opposite, super PACs generally have far fewer state-level reporting requirements and are regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which has fewer enforcement options than the IRS. The result is a rise in super PACs that use sympathetic-sounding causes that set out to line their own pockets.

More about super PACs

To find out more about these organizations, go to the FEC website where super PACs report their activity. Once you do, you will find there are over 70 super PACs with the words “police” or “law enforcement” in their names.

One of these organizations called Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC, seems to be the most active. It was raising money using four different police-oriented names. In the first half of 2021, this particular organization reported donations of 4.3 million and expenditures were just under 4.2 million, the bulk of this going to its overhead, and not to the cause itself.

Sadly, it comes down to this; these money-gathering techniques are legal. It’s only unlawful to misrepresent how the money will be spent. But these businesses are masters at evading any such disclosure.

Always research and choose charities to support by getting the facts first. Never give based solely on a phone call, letters in the mail, emails, or social media pitches. You can even verify charities with Michigan’s Secretary of State office.

This is why it’s so important to support locally by attending sponsored events or giving directly to your local police or fire departments. Because the last thing I want to do is discourage you from giving to causes that you care about, like supporting local emergency services that we count on.