As Charity Giving Drops, Fraud on the Rise

By Gary Snyder

The Giving USA Foundation says, "Our revised estimates show that 2008 and 2009 saw the largest drops in giving in more than 40 years as a result of the Great Recession, exceeding previous recession's impact on giving." Giving for the last years has been flat, at best. But charity fraud continues to rise. Former Texas Inspector General Bart Bevers says that charities across the country lose an estimated $51 billion up from $41 billion just a couple of years ago. The rate of fraud has gone from 13% to about 17%. That is not the only a startling statistic: fraud occurs at almost twice the rate than in the private sector.

On the very subject of charity fraud, this article has shaken up many that thought that the charitable sector was pristine.




Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from public documents...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however. Cites in various media: Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, B, USA Today Topics, , Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times...and many more • Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, 2006)