It is that time of the year when reports of booster club fundraising scams are coming in again. We interviewed Joe Wolpin of FundraisingZone to ask what booster club parents can do protect the people in their community.
Joe tells us, “Booster clubs count on fundraisers to help pay for the things that the school budget will not. This means that every year school booster clubs of all kinds hold fundraising events. Unfortunately unscrupulous con men w ill take advantage of the giving nature of many people.”
What are some practical steps boosters can take to educate their donors?
Joe continues, “Regular communication is the key. Use your official school booster club website or facebook to tell your community about your upcoming fundraiser events. Additionally, tell them this is the only official channel for fundraising. Tell your community you will never do any fundraising unless they read about it on the official booster club site.”
Joe concludes, “Finally, tell your community about the kinds of fundraisers you will never resort too. For instance, some scams involve robocalling every home in your neighborhood. It may be a good idea to warn your neighbors about scams like these. Furthermore, alert them your booster club would never use robocalling. This way if any scam calls are made they will know in advance. “
Protect Yourself
The following tips from the FBI can help you avoid these schemes:
- Give to established charities or groups whose work you know and trust.
- Be aware of organizations with copycat names or names similar to reputable organizations.
- Be wary of new organizations that claim to aid victims of recent high-profile disasters.
- Do your research. Use the Federal Trade Commission’s resources to examine the track record of a charity.
- Give using a check or credit card. If a charity or organization asks you to donate through cash, gift card, virtual currency, or wire transfer, it’s probably a scam. Learn more about this trick from the FTC.
- Practice good cyber hygiene:
- Don’t click links or open email attachments from someone you don’t know.
- Manually type out links instead of clicking on them.
- Don’t provide any personal information in response to an email, robocall, or robotext.
- Check the website’s address—most legitimate charity organization websites use .org, not .com.
- Source: https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/charity-and-disaster-fraud
Media Contact
Company Name: Fundraising Zone
Contact Person: Joe Wolpin
Phone: (800) 645-6550
Address:337 Merrick Road Suite 5
City: Lynbrook
State: New York, 11563
Country: United States
Website: https://www.fundraisingzone.com