The Scoop

Ronald Campbell of the Orange County Register used social network analysis and federal tax documents to show that charitable fundraiser Mitch Gold’s business didn’t end when he went to prison in 2002: “In the first four years since Gold fled the business in late 2000, an Orange County Register investigation found former clients, employees and subcontractors raised nearly $83 million in the name of charities such as the American Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, the Association for Disabled Firefighters and the Junior Police Academy. Total kept by fundraisers and charity executives: $76.7 million. Total spent on good works: $5.7 million - 7 cents for every donated dollar.” The paper analyzed annual 990 form data to find that typical charities spend about 85 cents per dollar on program-related activities.