What or who gets the profits from fundraising?

Denise, my impression is that there are no regulations in the U.S. governing who can raise money for what cause, and how much of the money they raise must go toward that cause.  There has to be some link, for sure--otherwise it's considered fraud.  And, for some of the charitable organizations, you can look up (somewhere) what percentage of the donated funds are spent on administrative overhead, versus the cause they sponsor.  Even so, it's a situation of "buyer beware" (or, in this case, "donor beware").

Here's something I found in an October 2008 news article concerning the merchandising of breast cancer (http://www.centredaily.com/entertainment/story/888273.html).  I posted this excerpt on the "Pepto Bismol" thread of the "Moving Beyond Cancer" forum:

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"No one knows how many pink products are out there because there is no central clearinghouse that keeps track.

Likewise, no one keeps track of the total amount raised; so many products benefit so many different charities.

But Komen, the world's largest breast cancer group, received about $58 million last year from sponsorship deals and cause-related marketing. That's when a company or brand links itself to a specific cause, in this case, breast cancer, according to Caroline Wall, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

In 1996, cause-related marketing and corporate sponsorships accounted for just $8 million, Wall says.

For many shoppers, buying pink products is a natural.

"They're not asking anyone to do anything extraordinary, not asking anyone to do anything other than make a purchase," Ed Nakfoor, a Birmingham, Mich.-based retail consultant, says of companies that sell pink products.

"So if someone is going to buy a box of M&Ms and they have a choice between a regular box of M&Ms and the pink box, they'll buy the pink box. It doesn't taste different ... but they can feel they're doing some good. It's an easy way for people to feel like they're making a difference."

Plus, women are responsible for making most household purchases - and are likely to have a natural empathy for and fear of breast cancer, which strikes women more than men, says Britt Beemer, founder of America's Research Group, a Charleston, S.C.-based consumer research firm.

Yet at the same time, women are becoming skeptical of pink products, according to a survey done earlier this year by the research group.

Four years ago, roughly 40 percent of the women surveyed said they make an effort to buy pink ribbon products.

In May, only 28 percent of the women surveyed said the same thing.

"They really question how much money breast cancer is getting. Other women who donate to breast cancer say, 'I'd rather give $25 or $50 where I know that's going rather than buying something where I don't know how much is going where,'" Beemer says.

"Some of the bloom is off the pink rose."

Genevieve Howe, 50, lost her mother to breast cancer 12 years ago and says consumers need to look at pink products with a critical eye.

As a member of Breast Cancer Action, a San Francisco-based group, she is an advocate for the organization's Think Before You Pink Campaign (thinkbeforeyoupink.org), which urges more transparency and accountability by companies taking part in breast cancer fund-raising. It also urges consumers to question promotions.

"They talk about spending money on breast cancer, there's so many different things that can mean. ... Are they looking into treatments? Are they looking into radiation or chemotherapy or surgery? What kind of research is funded? ... I want to challenge these companies and I want them to do the right thing, but I also want consumers to think critically," Howe said.

...Both Komen and Think Before You Pink encourage shoppers to be savvy.

Do research; go online or call a company directly. You can usually find phone numbers and Web site addresses on the product."

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otter