I support Admo. I just get the feeling he'll do what's right in the end...and hopefully expose those who are doing wrong in the now.

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Just wow if they're not a 501(c)3 charity. What a sham.

Matt, in your experience, what is the likelihood that they are registered under a different name? Wouldn't a charity want to use their business name so they can avoid situations like these?

It's looks like a convoluted retroactive bribing system to me. Instead of a suitcase full of cash you can just wait until the guy joins the executive committee of this sham and "donate $100k to africa".

Thank you for your post and time Matthew.

Kevmath I just saw you updated your post and after reviewing Refugees International website and 990 I would agree with charitynavigator.org that they are a good charity. Now, the vast majority of their program related expenses go towards "Advocacy". This can be a dangerous expense for a charity as what helps in "Advocacy" for refugees leaves a lot of grey areas. In other words is schmoozing politicians that can help in passing pro-refugee laws a good or bad use of the money? It can get very complex.

However, I know nothing about what it takes to help out refugees found in mostly 3rd world countries so I can't make an educated commentary on their use of funds. Also I think it's important to note that Refugees International operates in a number of countries throughout the world and not just in Africa. Again this means that AUFA money could easily be helping refugees in the Middle East. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just pointing it out.

Overall it looks like Refugees International is a good charity and to put it in 2p2 terms I would say Refugees International >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Center for American Progress in terms of who I would give my money to.

A couple of quick side notes:

1) I'm not implying that AUFA is some sort of scam organizaiton. In fact I know very little about organizational structures for charities that are not 501(c)3's. All I know is that from everything I can tell they are not a 501(c)3 and therefore I can not review a public filing of their activities. I'd love to hear from someone that may know more about this.

2) I do not think CAP is a worthwhile charity and I do think they spend too much on salaries but please note that these two things are not always direct correlations when reviewing a charity. I live on Long Island and there is a charity here which helps build up communities through real estate purchases and business assistance. This is an excellent (and very productive) charity where the Executive Director earns over $700,000 a year. While that seems high she founded the charity and has proven her value over and over again. In fact many charities would be better off paying more for better management.

3) Thanks for the positive responses so far.

$280k is very low pay for these types of people. They could all easily be making 7 figures as lobbyists at private firms.

Mitch, you are exactly right and I have probably been involved in over 100 NFP (Not-For-Profit) audits and I have never seen the organization file under a wholly different name than their acknowledged name in the marketplace. Of course, there are exceptions for charities like "Enough" which are projects of other 501(c)3's but that is usually very clear from their literature.

Also, I should note that gaining tax-exempt status and filing your 990 can be very time consuming projects. It is entirely possible that Ms. Duke and company are planning to become a 501(c)3 and simply aren't official yet.

agree^

What kind of bills (legal etc...) is a group looking at to get 501(c) status? If AUFA is only operating one day a year, maybe they made a smart move by "piggybacking" on someone else's registration instead of wasting a large % of their budget.

I think Annie/UB/Hunter/AUFA handled this particular situation terribly, but we don't need to assume they are scamming us. Wait, it is UB so maybe we should assume the worst.

Phil Ivey should just buy Africa so we won´t need any charity tournies any more.

Hard to give a number for their exact professional fees (they would need to pay for an audit each year as well depending on the amount of contributions they receive) but I agree with your sentiment EM.

In fact, I hope I have made it clear that my guess is there is a 99.99% chance there is a very reasonable explanation (one which I may not have thought of due to my limited training on creation of charitable organizations, not important for my job) for why I can not find any IRS filings for AUFA and it is in no way a scam. My only point was that from all I can tell a donation to AUFA = a donation to the Center for American Progress and possibly Refugees International. Those coughing up $5K or donating winnings should be aware of that.

good posts Matthew.

this will sound editorial- so be it. ante up for africa starts to look like a somewhat attention-whorish way of raising money; as much as people want to freely donate under the threat of being outed as big stiffs if not done the way this pseudo-charity wants; that will go non-specifically to do "good things".

meh. that may be harsher than I really intend, but it's also about as clear as mud at this point. not a shocker for something heavily UB affiliated.

the whole premise behind these things is pointless. like the amount of money donated from the prizepool would make any substantial difference in the average african's life. do i care about this thread and all this self righteous non-sense? no.

Some of this depends on the size of the organization as well. If you have under $250K in assets and less than $100K in annual gross receipts then you can basically file a form that takes 15 minutes to fill out. Once you get over this threshold then the filing requirements start to become more cumbersome.

if AUFA is part of Center for American Progress
then it is a scam and those Africans wont see a dime

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/g...asp?grpid=6709

http://www.americanprogress.org/


https://ssl1.americanprogress.org/o/..._page_KEY=2117


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

I fell out of my chair when I saw http://www.charitynavigator.org/inde...ary&orgid=5415.

I work for a 501(c)3 non profit. Our fundraising efficiency (the amount of money out of every dollar that goes to families in need) is $.86. Obviously, we're (alot) smaller than AUFA, but.... damn.

[QUOTE=Joseph Hewes;11686164]http://www.americanprogress.org/

so you drinkin the coolaid Joseph

The Center for American Progress is a highly respected think tank whose director, Podesta, among other things, led the Obama transition. Many of the Center's fellows are now key figures in the Obama Administration. While some wingnuts may disagree, anything the Center does is pretty much above reproach without strong evidence to the contrary.

Here's is a description from last year's AUFA tourament (before the CAP was "back in power") that mentions its role in the tournament.

Some right-wing or just moron alarms starting to infect this thread.


http://www.pokerlistings.com/ante-up...ld-grows-28125

"Proceeds from this year's tournament will be given to two charities. The first is ENOUGH, a joint initiative of the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress, which aims to end crimes against humanity in Darfur, northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The organization also hopes to prevent future mass atrocities around the world.

The second organization benefiting from the charity poker tournament is Not On Our Watch, taking its name from the book authored by Cheadle and John Prendergast. Founded by George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, the group endeavors to focus global attention and resources on putting an end to mass atrocities around the world."

^^^^ Admo is smart Africans wont be getting any food from AUFA that gives the money to "progressive" scamaments

Here's a link from Enough discussing the tournament:

http://www.enoughproject.org/special...-up-for-africa

And here's a link to their website, which clearly identifies Enough as a project of the Center for American Progress. It even has CAPs logo in the upper right of the homepage.

http://www.enoughproject.org/

Sorry if the group is a little too liberal for some folks. I don't think conservatives are quite as on the ball with helping folks in Darfur.

Also, it's not a bad thing that people with ties to the Obama White House are running a poker tournament.

not arguing the merits of CAP or Enough
simp. the problem is the money is going for "advocacy" not direct help with food and shelter peeps need to know that

just to understand it correctly ... .

from every Dollar I give to refugees international ... only 7 cents make it to the poor?

<3 Admo.

Only he could

1) Win a donkament (Well second but whatever)
2) Father a child
3) Pwn Annie Duke/UB
4) Feed starving children in Africa

all at the same time.

I hope we get a photoshop out of all this somewhere down the line.