Complaint Review: Graceful Hands - Select State/Province

I was approached today in a suburb of Philadelphia, PA by an African American male, neatly dressed in pants, shirt and tie and he started talking about earning credits.  He wasn't selling magazines but after a very roundabout explanation, showed us checks written by neighbors of ours to help him out.  He was now clean and said someting about getting his child back if he earned enough credits.  He said I could check out the organization on my smart phone immediately to see that it was legitimate but when I told him I would do it later, he walked away.

I did do some research and am not comforted at all by what I found.  This appears to be happening in different parts of the country with the same technique  of using neatly dressed African American males to in some way obtain donations.

The reason I am taking the time to write this is that in my work, I work exclusively with nonprofit organizations surrounding their accounting and finances.  I know that it is increasingly difficult for worthy nonprofit organizations to raise the funds that they need to legitimately help people so when I see something that is very questionable, I want to alert people to think  twice. 

I went to www. guidestar.org where you can see the Form 990, the tax return that nonprofit organizations fiel, to get more information.  It says that the organization was formed in 2012 so it is reasonable that a Form 990 is not yet on the site.  For those interested in donating to the organization, I think that you should at least wait until you are able to review that form.  

Secondly, I went to the website, www.gracefulhands.org.  The site seemed to be equally vague about exactly where they are located and specifically where are the programs where they are helping people.  Other reports on the internet indicate that the company is based in Georgia but this website uses Detroit, Michigan on its "Contact Us" page.  Where is the list of their Board of Directors?  What is the make-up of the staff; how many; are there only volunteers?  They say on the Budget Forecast page that they list their funding but I don't see it.  Is it only donations received from the well dressed persons they send out to collect donations?  They say they work with several for-profit busines organizations - give some examples - name of business, where located, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree with helping people help themselves to get back on their feet but don't use scam tactics to get this done. Why doesn't Graceful Hands equip their "sales people' with literature about the organization (with specifics about what they are doing and where) that they can leave with people to send in once they have reserached the organization. Legitimate roganizations are very thoughtful about informing potential donors about what they are doing, where they are doing it and their outcomes and how your donation will help.

TO ALL, RESEARCH BEFORE YOU DONATE.