[Nfbmo] FW: [State-affiliate-leadership-list]Vehicle DonationProgram

Tue Mar 19 16:25:54 UTC 2013

Bryan,
    A reasonable question.   I looked into this a  year or so ago and found 
out that fake organizations such as "Heritage for the  Blind" are far from 
being an outlier.   New York State identified at  least 4 of the ones we've 
seen ads for as being fraudulent.  Cars for Vets  - and it's many variants - 
is a fake.  Hugs for Drugs is another  one.   Many of them were traced to 
an extremist religious sect in New  York operated out of the home of the sect 
leader.  The real intent of the  monies coming in was to keep their kids 
from having to come into contact with  children of other faiths - it went to 
support their home-schooling  efforts.
      Something else I found out was that if you  google these fake 
organization's names, "Heritage for the Blind", and "Missouri"  for example - you 
will get hundreds of links - most of which are junk and  salvage yards all 
across the state.  The salvage yard gets a cut,  the charity gets a cut and so 
on.  Evidently, there is an agreement that  the fake - and real - charities 
receive from the government that facilitates the  process.

    There are many reputable organizations that will receive  your car as a 
donation - NPR, Sierra Club and the Coalition for the Environment  locally 
to name a few.
       I'm thinking of filing a complaint  against "Heritage for the Blind" 
a/ the Attorney General because they are  misrepresenting themselves as 
offering 'services to the blind'.   This  turns out to be a website that rarely 
opens up and a listing of national  services for blind people - much out of 
date and nothing that you couldn't find  easily enough on your own or from 
RSB - or the NFB, for that matter.
      The NFB does have a name, we are easily  identifiable via our web 
presence and our work on blind issues on state and  federal levels.  Most 
advisors on charities emphasize that you investigate  the charities ranking and 
reputations before you donate  anything.  

   I donated a van in 2004 to "Coalition for the Environment"  because I 
really liked what they were doing.  I got a good sized tax  deduction for it.
     I don't think at this time I can coordinate and  campaigns for this 
but I will be willing to receive and distribute  information.

Dan

In a message dated 3/19/2013 10:46:21 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
b.schulz at sbcglobal.net writes:

hi,

that is the point i didn't explain.
hfb is a scam so  will the public view the nfb as shady?

Bryan Schulz

-----  Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Wunder"  <gwunder at earthlink.net>
To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'"  <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 10:19 AM
Subject:  Re: [Nfbmo] FW: [State-affiliate-leadership-list]Vehicle  
DonationProgram

> Hi, Bryan. We may have missed the starting  gun, but state regulators have
> long considered this a sham and we have  had to figure out how to do it 
> while
> preserving our good  name. We have talked about this for the last decade, 
> but
>  figuring out a way to do it that is not only legally but morally 
>  defensible
> has taken time and energy. Who knows if it will work, but  if it does, how
> fantastic it will be for  us.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bryan Schulz
>  Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 9:41 AM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing  List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] FW: [State-affiliate-leadership-list]  Vehicle
> DonationProgram
>
> hi,
>
> seems as  the pink floyd song says they missed the starting gun.
> even though  heritage for the blind is a shell deal, they have been
> advertising for  at least five years.
> it's hard to think someone would give away a  vehicle when the norm is to 
> get
> something for it when buying  a new one.
>
> Bryan Schulz
>
> ----- Original Message  -----
> From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
> To:  "'nfbmo list'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013  8:05 AM
> Subject: [Nfbmo] FW: [State-affiliate-leadership-list]  Vehicle
>  DonationProgram
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  From: State-affiliate-leadership-list
>>  [mailto:state-affiliate-leadership-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On  Behalf
>> Of David Andrews
>> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013  8:01 PM
>> To: state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org
>>  Subject: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Vehicle Donation  Program
>>
>>
>>
>> From Joanne  Wilson:
>>
>> Dear NFB Affiliate  Presidents,
>>
>> The National Federation of the Blind  always steps up to get the job 
done.
>> Many affiliates are actively  working to assist in finding new
>> financial support for our  national movement and we have just launched
>> a new program that  should allow each of our affiliates to make a
>> difference. The  National Federation of the Blind has launched a
>> vehicle donation  program. The vehicle donation program allows us to
>> accept car  donations anywhere in the United States. Our national
>> office and  our affiliates have been turning car donations away because
>> we  have not had an effective program for managing these donations and
>>  turning them into cash for the organization. We have now solved  this
>> problem and we need your help to take advantage of this  opportunity.
>>
>> After extensive research, the Federation  has made an agreement with
>> Vehicles for Charity to process our car  donations. Besides cars, we
>> also accept vans, RVs, motorcycles,  dirt bikes, boats, trucks, and
>> tractors.  However, it is up  to us to capture the donors by promoting
>> the fact that we can  accept vehicle donations and finding creative
>> ways to get the word  out. TO begin, I am asking you to take some
>> immediate steps to  help with this effort:
>>
>> 1. Spread the word in your  affiliate that the NFB is now accepting
>> vehicle donations.  Encourage members to send all referrals to the page
>> on our website  www.nfb.org/vehicledonations or to our toll free
>> vehicle donation  number 855-659-9314.
>> 2. We will be creating some standard text for  every affiliate to place
>> on the front page of the affiliate's  website. Please see that this
>> gets posted without  delay.
>> 3. Consider placing information in your newsletters and  other
>> publications.
>> 4. Promote this in your social  media channels.
>> 5. Consider if there might be a member in your  affiliate who is
>> looking for a new opportunity to contribute to  the movement and
>> whether or not this program might be a good fit  for their skill set.
>> We need Federationists who can find creative  ways to get the word out
>> and who will uncover opportunities to  promote this in your state.
>> 6. Share with me ideas you have about  how we can get the word out
>> about this  program.
>>
>>
>> As we move into spring we will be  building this program out in more
>> detail and providing more  supporting materials. If you assign a member
>> to help promote this  program, please send their name and contact
>> information to me so  we can send them communications. We will be
>> planning a conference  call soon to answer questions that people might
>> have about the  program and share ideas for spreading the word.
>>
>> We are  starting with the tried and true Federation local outreach to
>> get  the word out. As we build success with this venture, we will have
>>  the capacity to consider other forms of promotion such as  advertising.
>> Consider this notion. If fifty one of our affiliates  (unfortunately we
>> cannot operate the program in Puerto Rico)  generates ten referrals
>> with an average donation value of $500 we  are talking about better
>> than $250,000. That is easily within our  capacity in 2013. Maryland
>> has already generated one this week and  all we did was answer the
>> phone and have the ability to say yes we  can take your donation rather
>> than turning it away. Imagine what  we can do with some Federation
>> creativity and  enthusiasm.
>> and if each of our affiliates generates 100 car  donations per year, we
>> will have a tremendous base to build  on.
>>
>> Let's start calling in the  cars!
>>
>> Yours in the Federation,
>>  Joanne
>>
>> Joanne Wilson
>> Director, Affiliate  Development
>> Office of the President
>> National  Federation of the Blind
>> 200 E. Wells Street at Jernigan  Place
>> Baltimore, MD 21230
>> Phone: 410-659-9314  x2335
>> Email:  jwilson at nfb.org
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  ----
>
>
>>  _______________________________________________
>> Nfbmo mailing  list
>> Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
>>  http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
>> To  unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>  Nfbmo:
>>  http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/b.schulz%40sbcgloba
>>  l.net
>>
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
> Nfbmo mailing  list
> Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
>  http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe,  change your list options or get your account info for 
> Nfbmo:
>  
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/gwunder%40earthlink.net
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
> Nfbmo mailing  list
> Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
>  http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe,  change your list options or get your account info for 
> Nfbmo:
>  
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/b.schulz%40sbcglobal.net  

_______________________________________________
Nfbmo mailing  list
Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
To  unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for  
Nfbmo:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/danflasar%40aol.com