is law enforcement officers relief fund legitimate

Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc. - Charity Navigator Last amendment: 2020, c. 11, Sched. All the latest Law Enforcement Today news, updates and alerts delivered straight to your phone or inbox. Investigating the systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality. If anyone believes a Florida-based charity or any other organization or individual has violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, they should contact our office immediately, Ray said. Make sure you click following and then click see first so you dont miss a thing! Those companies were paid for tech support and data security compliance.. The solution, the letter says, is clear: "Give our law enforcement officers the crime prevention tools they need." A donation of $10, $15 or $25 would help keep communities like Trenton safe. The two are among only four men listed on their 2019 Form 990 in the area listing directors, officers, and trustees. Do not be confused about the source of these solicitations. It names four police groups, including IUPA, as organizations that may be claiming to represent State Troopers.. 1 (1) In this Act, "county" means a county or district described in section 151 of the Courts of Justice Act; ("comt") Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting. This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990. Do your homework when deciding who to contribute to. Unlike many other dues-funded unions, police groups which come in a variety of types, including labor organizations and associations often turn to high-priced professional fundraisers to raise on their behalf, according to a Public Integrity analysis of IRS data. Before that, she was an intelligence analyst in the US Army. We know because we checked when deciding which non-profits that support law enforcement and survivors that we as an organization support. The Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund is a non-profit charitable corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal revenue Code. This overall score is calculated entirely from a single beacon score, weighted as follows:100% Accountability & Finance. Phone Calls for Donations to the Police Could Be a Scam - AARP How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs: We were unable to operate our simulator program to the public due to stay at home orders. They have been contacted by the BBB and have not cooperated. From roughly 2011 to March 2018, the union and the relief fund spent about $106.3 million, according to annual tax returns filed with the IRS. AOCs Tax the Rich Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase, Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires. ft location in Sarasota, Florida, and other expenses.. Little went to political action or advocacy the core purposes of a PAC. But the unions 2018 tax return said it represents about 23,200 union members, down from 50,400 in 2006. 2023 Copyright Law Enforcement Today - All Rights Reserved. The Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund is there immediately to support our public safety officers in their greatest time of need. organizations that spend little on the causes they champion. Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund "To Assist Those Who Protect And Serve" Donate Injury Support Support for officers injured on the job Family Assistance Support for families of officers killed in the line of duty Disaster Relief Assistance for officers affected by natural disasters Charity L.E.O.R.F. Instead, it goes for salaries and expenses, and very little goes for our unified voice in Washington, he wrote. That is equivalent to 2.7 percent of the $2.7 million the organization raised from donors that year, according to its federal tax return. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Zeitlins attorney previously told Public Integrity his companies are not fundraising for the PACs. They are using other telemarketing firms, such as Residential Programs, Incorporated, who currently sport an F rating from the BBB. No: This charity either does not have a written donor privacy policy in place to protect their contributors' personal information, or the existing policy does not meet our criteria. A policy that refers to donor information collected on the website is also not sufficient as the policy must be comprehensive and applicable to both online and offline donors. Interestingly, the FOP doesnt even have a donate button on their website, where as the option to donate is front and center for all of the other aforementioned groups in this writing. Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc - ProPublica Did a telemarketer contact you about fundraising on behalf of a charity or political action committee? The solution, the letter says, is clear: Give our law enforcement officers the crime prevention tools they need. Every penny they have spent are itemized as operating expenses. [email protected]. This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies. The Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund, commonly known as LEORF, is a 501 (c)3 charity that was established to provide support and resources to officers or their family members when tragedy strikes. As do organizations in other sectors, charities must be mindful of their management of total liabilites in relation to their total assets. The association is listed as affiliated with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). Dozens of other police locals have at one point affiliated with IUPA, only to later disaffiliate, although by 1997, the union claimed 80,000 members. In this quarter, they contributed $772,716 to themselves. This measure reflects what a charity spends to raise money. What do other people say? One, Outreach Calling, is run by Mark Gelvan, who has been banned in New York from conducting fundraisers due to his solicitors impersonating police officers. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. It can sometimes take weeks to put together the necessary paperwork to collect the benefits officers and their families have earned and deserve. A spokesman for that agency did not respond to a request for comment. This PAC raised $4.5 million from donors, and spent $4 million of that on fundraising. (See image below.) You answer to hear a voice asking for a contribution to the National Police Support Fund. Best Items to Donate to an Animal Shelter, Donors Prefer Charities that Earn All Four Beacons. When I refused to give him the credit information, he became irritated and transferred my call to another man. You read that correctly. These charities honor members of law enforcement for their dedication to protecting communities and ensuring public safety. In fact, there are numerous reviews and complaints regarding the NPSF on both the BBB and consumer review sites such as Yelp. The Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund is part of the IUPA as well, and allegedly provides financial support to families of fallen officers while they wait for their full benefits to kick in. The LELDF is also a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance, and it has an A+ rating from the BBB. The forms available on the IRS website reveal that the 3rd quarter is indicative of other quarters that they have filed since their 2017 inception. Are the NPTA and IUPA (each are connected with the powerful AFL-CIO Union) legitimate charitable organizations? This normally would have reduced their star rating. Pondering state reparations for tribes, a council documents history of harms, The EPA wants to broaden a ban on a deadly chemical on store shelves, Protecting peoples health in the era of global warming, How drag bans fit into larger attacks on transgender rights, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Three of them have been negative subjects in similar investigations from Public Integrity. This leaves very little to be spent on political advocacy, which is, after all, the actual purpose of a PAC to begin with. Sign up to receive our stories. Does Not Provide Loan(s) to or Receive Loan(s) From Related Parties, Audited Financial Statements Listed on Website. The Fund is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit charitable corporation and donations are tax deductible. The Fund was created to assist law enforcement officers when faced with tragedy, such as violence or natural disaster. The Form 990 that the Fund filed for 2018 show that they received $2,036,625 in revenue, and $1,957,616 in expenditures. Total Revenue and Expenses - Data Available, IRS Published Data (Business Master File) - Data Available, Data Sources (IRS Forms 990) - Data Available, How to Donate Food and Prevent Food Waste. Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund, Inc. Charity Report. loading and try your donation again. Please refresh the page The Policy on Legal Assistance and Indemnification applies to individuals appointed pursuant to legislation or a statutory authority who, as public office holders, have an employment relationship with the Crown. If you are in jail or hospitalized, you have 52 business days to request a review. An associated political action committee, Law Enforcement for a Safer America, raised $4.5 million from donors across the country from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. Charity watchdogs have much to say about Cabrals organization. The Federal Trade Commission was investigating whether Zeitlins Courtesy Call and Donor Relations companies were engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices, but the agency dropped the matter in the fall of 2018, citing an ongoing grand jury investigation in Florida involving the two companies. BBB Advises Potential Donors to be Cautious If Solicited by the We know because we checked when deciding which non-profits that support law enforcement and survivors that we as an organization support. Now it is the time to help them. In a letter responding to the dispute, IUPAs secretary-treasurer asked for contributions to the national unions PAC to give it a better position to obtain effective national legislation.. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years. SARASOTA, Florida A uniformed police officer rests his hand on a casket and bows his head in an image on the homepage of the Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund. It turns out, I am not the only person who has had to do this. The police union and relief fund have contracted with Courtesy Call, Donor Relations and a handful of other companies owned by Las Vegas telemarketer Richard Zeitlin. I have been refused legal aid. What can I do? According to tax records, only a small fraction of donations made to the organization actually support law enforcement officers. If you call the number, you will be connected with an answering service. Up until recently, the political action committee shared an office in Sarasota with the union and the relief fund, and its founding treasurer was Michael Crivello, vice president of the union. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal. BATON ROUGE, La. IUPA executives are sure to make a handsome income, not least of which is the president of the IUPA, Sam Cabral, who rakes in just under $200,000 per year. In 2004, state officials in New York banned Gelvan from fundraising in the state, in part because his solicitors impersonated police officers when they asked for donations. The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s). The IUPA has several red flags of its own, according to Public Integrity, as well as other sources. These telemarketers charge some of the highest rates for fundraising on behalf of clients, Public Integrity has reported. See the metrics below for more information. IRS compliance information is also located directly on the page. In the tax year that ended in March 2019, the union shifted gears. Sheriff Sally Hernandez puts illegal aliens above her own deputies. This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2020, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence. That ranked it among the top unions and tax-exempt organizations for spending on professional fundraisers in data collected by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits' annual tax filings (Forms 990). The existence of a privacy policy of any type does not prohibit the charity itself from contacting the donor for informational, educational, or solicitation purposes. This article is published in partnership with theTampa Bay Times. Donate Today - LEORF document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Use the unsubscribe link in the emails we send to opt out at any time. For example, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) National Police Support Fund - Alexandria, VA. An elderly man in Trenton, Mi., received a dire letter that warned of the greatest threats to our public safety in our nations history. But thats the groups website says about itself. The Giving Basket is having some issues. I have personally received this call more times than I can count from a man claiming to be with the NPTA. The fund is one of several organizations related to the International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO, itself a nonprofit based in Sarasota, Florida, that represents local chapters of police unions across the country. Police officers and their families most definitely need and deserve to be supported when tragedy strikes. Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc. has earned a 60% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. We support and defend the law enforcement profession and those law enforcement officers who have devoted their lives to up (More)Our mission is benevolent and educational. I thought this money was to give policemen a voice at the national level. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) These organizations also supply givers with greater confidence by maintaining broad public support for their programs. How a donor can have themselves removed from a list differs from one charity to the next, but any and all opt-out policies require donors to take specific action to protect their privacy. For example, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) Most of the money raised went to telemarketing 87 percent and other expenses. The IUPA and the relief fund also uses almost 80% of its donated funds to pay telemarketers to obtain even more funds. In fact, they use them for just about everything they need except banking, legal services and travel. Big corporations dispute sponsoring a Florida police charity that Duane Collins, an San Francisco Police Officers Association board member shot back that they already paid dues. Overview: Founded in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) is dedicated to telling the story of U.S. law enforcement and making it safer for those who serve. Is National Police Association Legitimate - KnowYourPolice.net You can find her on social media @leahmsanaya or at www.leahanaya.com. - Additional Questions The rest is a split between employees salary and benefits, buildings maintenance for its 10,000 sq. The union did not allow Public Integrity to photograph the event, citing the need to protect the identities of active-duty law enforcement officers. (A publicly available event brochure features photographs of dozens of 2018 golf tournament attendees.). But the bulk of its revenue $16.2 million came from donors across the country, which it spent about $14.8 million to raise. In October, it held its annual golf tournament in Venice, Florida. Big corporations dispute sponsoring a Florida police charity that She served for three years at the Oakland Police Department, and just under five at the Vancouver Police Department in Washington State. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. BBB Scam Alert: Donors beware - Better Business Bureau Cabral wasnt at the unions 10,000-square-foot office overlooking downtown Sarasota from atop the PNC Bank building, and he did not respond to a message left for him. Your local Law Enforcement Officers face disasters every day and are the first on the scene to protect and save lives - often while risking their own. Legislative History: 2020, c. 11, Sched. National Police Support Fund representatives have been phoning potential donors in the St. Louis area over the past several weeks, including the wife of a retired police officer who said she . Organizations that demonstrate consistent annual growth in program expenses are able to outpace inflation and thus sustain their programs year to year. The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. His employees then called security, who ushered the reporter out of the hotel. A donation of $10, $15 or $25 would help keep communities like Trenton safe. . Our goal is to lessen the immediate financial hardship and provide assistance due to the result of disaster, violence or any other calamity. Oh, they also dont mention on the phone that the bulk of their contributions came fromwait for it. Its difficult to obtain much information about the NPTA online, but what is easy to discover is the skeeziness and illegitimacy of the donation requests. It is beyond disgusting that such a prominent and wealthy union group designed to assist our law enforcement communities and their families would see so little of that money going to those who need it. Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund reported its three largest programs on its FY 2020 Form 990 as: Defending Wrongfully-Charged Law Enforcement Officers, Support of Law Enforcement Professional Associations. Law Enforcement for a Safer America officials did not return repeated requests for comment. Why Aren't Donated Clothes Always Given Away for Free? 6. A union-backed police charity spends just a sliver of its money on those it purports to serve, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), The casket of Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals is carried out of the church during his funeral in Jersey City, N.J., on Dec. 17, 2019. That adds up to a collective $65 million. It was found that only 2.7% of donations to the relief fund actually went to the families of fallen officers. (See image below.) Proceeds get reinvested into giving these heroes a voice. In June, a Public Integrity reporter visited the unions headquarters to ask Sam Cabral, the organizations longtime president. Your Name (required) Your Email (required) Subject. We calculate the charity's average expenses over its three most recent fiscal years. This charity's score is 94%, earning it a Four-Star rating. About Us - LEORF To calculate a charity's fundraising efficiency, we divide its average fundraising expenses by the average total contributions it receives. In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. Not to mention the poor publicity this brings to the law enforcement world. You donated to kids with cancer. In this case, we deduct 15 points from the charity's Accountability and Transparency score. I told him to send me something in the mail. Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? See the metrics below for more information. Donations arent directed to the Trenton Police Department or typically any other police agency, for that matter. SPECIAL REPORT: Misleading solicitation targets those who help law It turns out, I am not the only person who has had to do this. The privacy policy must be specific to donor information. It went straight to the effected families, right? Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund has earned a 94% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. As for the BBB, we know there are some articles out there that misrepresent our relationship with them. The Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund is there immediately to support our public safety officers in their greatest time of need, Cabral wrote in a recent fundraising document. The only quarter they were in the black was Q1 of 2018, netting $10,561, which they managed to lose over the next three reporting periods. Lets just make sure we are contributing to the correct sources to make that happen. has the highest rating on all of the watchdog groups. What did they spend all their money on? Our mission is benevolent and educational. Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund Inc. has earned a 60% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. The findings of a recentinvestigation into an enterprise called the Law Enforcement Officers Relief Fund found that the group, along with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) that sponsors it, has been spending three-quarters of its operations budget on fundraising over a period of seven years. Other names to beware of in association with the IUPA are the Police Officers Support Association and the National Emergency Responders Coalition, but now that Public Integrity has published their report, it would be wise to do extensive research into the organizations that you choose to donate to where claims of supporting law enforcement lie. By 2017, that number had grown to at least 10 telemarketers. Bills. Both telemarketers have been the subject of extensive Center for Public Integrity investigations. Full Credit: The charity's audited financials were prepared by an independent accountant with an audit oversight committee. Leah Anaya is a medically retired police officer. They should be prepared by an independent accountant with oversight from an audit committee. She was assigned to work as a telemarketer in the unions phone room, which she described as a high-pressure environment with lots of turnover. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS RELIEF FUND INC SARASOTA, FL 34233-1556 | Tax-exempt since Feb. 2009 EIN: 26-3338776 Classification ( NTEE ) Emergency Assistance (Food, Clothing, Cash) (Human Services . Chiefs Call National Police Association a Scam - The Crime Report The petition passed in a membership vote the following year. Everything I have found on this organization is negative! Our analysts check the charity's website to see if the organization has a donor privacy policy in place and what it does and does not cover. This is the type of information that should be transparent so people know the organizations theyre donating to is properly using their hard earned dollars. As a matter of fact, many people have taken to the Better Business Bureau, Yelp, Youtube, Charity Navigator, and local news outlets to report their disapproval and concerns of the NPTA. Presented here are this organizations key compensated staff members as identified by our analysts. Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.