877-897-9953

Troy called. I was excited at first thinking it was Troy from Community, but no, it was a professional fundraiser that called me. Typically with these types of calls, the person talks quite fast and this was no exception. I think he was going to send out some pledge forms and I should mail that back with a donation.

I always say "No" to phone solicitations like this because I get too many requests for donations anyway. There are plenty of local places I can donate to. There are plenty of well-known places I can donate to. And think about it. If you don't like getting these calls but you agree to donate, I guarantee you will get even more calls.

Details. It was to help out animals. That's good. But there were red flags, you know, things that seemed kind of hinky.

I asked for a website and he rattled the URL off but then said they don't take donations on the website. That seemed strange. Most charities, organizations, foundations, etc. are anxious to get funds in whatever way people are willing to donate. Perhaps he was just looking out for himself (a professional fundraiser) rather than the organization he was hired to get money for. Most likely he gets a commission and if the donation comes via the website, well no commission for him. And yet, there were plenty of "Donate Now" opportunities at the website he gave me, so yes they do actually accept donations at the website. I don't think he had the truthiness I would have expected from a good solid charity.

I did look at the website and that seemed a little hinky too. It seemed quite new based on the copyright date - 2011 - and some pages were "Coming Soon." I also found at least one instance of what seemed to be a note to the webmaster that should have been removed before that page went up live on their website.

They supposedly help animals and yet I could not find any place that I could tell them about animals that needed help. There's no details. I could not find their address listed on the website. I could not find them when I Googled them. (I did find similar sounding names, hmmm.)

Lots of photos but probably photos that you could get off the internet or purchase from those kind of services that provide generic photos for your website.

As I mentioned, their name is very, very similar to lots of other groups that showed up on Google. After the small amount of information on the phone, plus looking over their website, I realized that I still didn't know anything about them. Who are they? Not a single person's name. No board members. No staff members. Where are they? There's a map that shows where they are, but that could be a mailbox store or someone's apartment or office. Why no address where I could mail a check?

So, I'm not even going to give them publicity by saying what the name of the group is. Just the phone number. 877-897-9953. If they call you, beware. I do not give them the Colbert Bump.

Try these instead. There's a list over at Charity Navigator of many Animal Charities. You can look through the list, check the scores and websites of the groups and donate there. Or donate to your local animal charity.