Autism

Just yesterday I wrote about getting a phone call from Autism Disorder Foundation. The call came from Ohio and the phone number was 855-743-3251. Just put stamps on envelopes and send to neighbors was all I had to do.

Well look what I found. Sounds like the same foundation to me.

Autism foundation's IRS filings raise eyebrows by Jane Friedman in StarTribune.

You really should read that if you ever send money to charities. And I would caution you about sending money just because someone calls you on the phone and asks. You don't actually know that what they are saying is completely accurate. And just because they might say it's for children or vets or dogs, maybe it isn't actually. Just saying to use caution when giving away your money.

But I also found something else interesting in that same newspaper. Here's the link. (This story is by Chao Xiong.)

Support your local firefighter (well maybe not Your firefighter, but Someone's firefighter). It's a calendar and it has photos. That's all I'm going to say. But you really really should look at the photos. (! ! ! ! ! ) And to think of all the times I bought calendars with photos of California. They are also nice photos, but maybe this is the calendar for next year. Oh yeah, one more thing. This calendar benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The 2011 calendar raised $2,000 for the Autism Society of Minnesota, so perhaps that would be another option for people wishing to donate to Autism causes.

I am sure Stephen would approve of the calendar. (I also wish Stephen would have his own calendar. Think of the possibilities.)

855-743-3251

Just a brief posting to let you know another phone number that shows up on my Caller ID. This one, 855-743-3251, was from Ohio. The woman said she's not calling for a donation. However it was one of those, "We'll send out stamps and envelopes and you mail them to the people on your street, okay?"

Autism Disorder Foundation was who she was calling for and of course she was quite pushy. I did find one website that said they spend 36% of total expenses on program services during the year reported. I think that means if you send them a dollar, they will spend 36 cents on the kids.

I did go looking a little bit and found the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism. It has a rating of 3 out of 4 stars at Charity Navigator. So that seems like a better cause if you want to donate to Autism. And so far, they haven't called me on the phone, so that's a plus for them.

Update: See newer posting about Autism Disorder Foundation.