Bono’s anti-poverty foundation ONE is under pressure to explain its finances after it was revealed that only a small percentage of money it raises reaches the needy.
The non-profit organisation set up by the U2 frontman received almost £9.6million in donations in 2008 but handed out only £118,000 to good causes (1.2 per cent).
The figures published by the New York Post also show that £5.1million went towards paying salaries.
Comes as no surprise.
Didn’t Rex Murphy write about how Bono moved all his assets to an off shore haven to avoid taxes. The hypocrisy is astounding! It is truly amazing how elitist, wealthy, leftists have all these grand ideas for helping others, as long as someone else pays for it and oh, I’ll take my little (or huge in this case) cut along the way
The lechers of pity indeed!
Bono’s “philanthropy” is nothing more than PR designed to sell albums and the U2 brand, to make more money – which will then be moved to above noted tax havens.
This sounds like the United Way on steroids….
You would be surprised at how many charities hire professional fundraisers…..even the Ontario Provincial Police Association summer camp thingy for “underpriviaged” kids.
Too bad human nature gets in the way of every utopian cause.
BAA HAHAHA HAHAHA!!!!!
Suckers.
Waayyyyyy off topic,
Look at the eco-facsists: Holy Hannah! ( Ihope that SDA has a post about this and helps this go viral)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSTLDel-G9k&feature=player_embedded#
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/09/30/o-m-g-video-explodes-skeptical-kids-in-bloodbath/
Hello, have any of you seen the price of cocaine lately?
And all those Social Workers with degrees from Oberlin and Amherst need high salaries to repay their six-figure student loans. Talented income redistributors don’t come cheap, you know.
Even non-profits have overhead expenses to deal with.
shaku_bert: I had it up this morning, but the vid was taken down … it’s up again I see, so I’ll do the post.
What a total piece of sh*t Bono is. Why am I not surprised.
No surprise and is one of the reasons I only donate to the Salvation Army.
Their CEO does not rake in $Million$$$ in salary and bonuses and they do not use fund raisers.
Bono is a fake.
Why are you guys on Bono’s case? It’s not like he didn’t tell you the percentage of donations that were going towards poverty when he named the foundation.
And what will actually come of it? Will ANYBODY on the left notice? What if anything will Bono (Bonehead, as I like to call him) have to say for himself?
118,000 pounds?!?
Which ‘good cause’ just made that fortune? I’m not aware of any ‘good causes’ Bono’s associated with.
There isn’t really anything for those on the left to notice wendy g, I don’t think you can be on the “left” and actually want to solve any problems. It’s really only about self satisfaction (I ran for the cure!), and someone will profit from this large market segment.
Heh. Loser busybody.
That is why I have not given a penny to any organized charity for the past thirty years.
I do support nieces and nephews who are trying to pay an education. I also take a couple of bags of dog and cat food to the SPCA from time to time.
All others can get a job or die.
I always though the Bonehead had a shifty look about him. I was right.
“There’s a lot more than just one born every minute”
Brian M. circa – just now
Bono is no saviour.
Just ask Paul Martin.
One…
Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it’s all I got
We’re one
But we’re not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
How does the saying go? Oh yeah, I remember now:
“A fool and his money are soon parted!”
I would rather think of Bono as a fool rather than a scoundrel. `Fraid I was naive.
I went to the ONE website to see the rebuttal. Here it is:
http://www.one.org/c/international/pressrelease/3523/
Everyone has an agenda. It does hurt to hear both sides.
National and international charities, with exceptions(?), are business operations. My biggest peeve is how much fund raising is done through schools. There is a lot of pressure on the kids and parents to give and give and give – every $10 nets the kids a worthless plastic trinket. Oh well, it’s never too early to learn that you don’t have to go with the flow or give in to peer pressure. Then, as a consolation gesture, go to MacDonald’s and get a Happy Meal
You all believe an MSN story from the NYT?!!!!
Not trying to defend Bono by any means, but there are a whole pile of editorial facts which are missing.
Bono’s not stupid, he has accountants which are very well paid to handle and distribute the money. There needs to be waaaaaay more information on this story, and this sounds as looks like a liberal drive-by smear campaign.
Wait for the retraction on page 23 in about a week or so…in really little letters.
That would be NYP not NYT.
Any relationship to the fact that Bono writes for the NY Times?
Is this about readership?
It reinforces the point an organization’s being “non-profit” doesn’t mean that a lot of people aren’t making an awful lot of money out of it.
“even the Ontario Provincial Police Association summer camp thingy for “underpriviaged” kids”. I have investigated the fundraising activities of the BC Police Association…they use telemarketing people who specialize in raising funds for police and firefighting organizations, right across CVanada.
The way the deal works, is that the telemarketers keep 70% of the gross donations and remit only 30% to the police/fire departnebt.
It a standard cut.
Be wary of phone calls for such causes…most of your money is going to the telemarketers.
Do as I say, not as I do.
I’m stunned, just stunned – my whole world has crumpled with this news.
Everybody sing along…
“It’s A Beautiful Pay”.
poor bonehed is soooo missunderstood
his organization is about awareness more so than direct help, or so the excuse is, and LARGE wages!!!!
But Paul Martin said he was a wonderful person.
I always take the word of Paul Martin. He fixed health care in Canada, fixed it good.
Real good. Bono, in fact.
More facts for the left to ignore.
The power of denial in leftists is simply phenomenal.
You would be shocked how charity money is used. No matter if its a secular, or Religious one. The latter are paid as much as the former by the way.
Best to give to people personally or some organization that you support, that doesn’t pretend to be a charity.
DR’S with out boarders is not perfect but they get results. It not only helps kids who could never afford surgery. It hones the skills of our own.
Charity starts with your family, than those who are really needy. If its a lie, it becomes a curse not a blessing.
Just look at welfare.
JMO
Didn’t I see Bono palling around with Medvedev (sp?), the pretend president of Russia, a while back?
I always resented the use of the word charity, which means love, being used by any person or group whose stated aim is fund raising. Alms might be a better name but my preference is RENT SEEKER.
I’m afraid most charities run like this now, paying exorbitant salaries to their management team and their telemarketers, and just a fraction goes to the actual cause.
My money stays in my pocket, and through my emplyer, and volunteer hours I put in, does money go to worthy causes.
NPOs are no longer about the cause, just about big salaries, disguised all around ‘doing a good thing’!
Bono could do the right thing.
He could make up the difference.
not that he will.
Hey, just look at Wikipedia and the lack of substantive edits on their page. They have always been completely up-front that their purpose was NOT to actually do anything about the problems they campaigned on, but to:
Lobby governments to fund aid programs
Send celebrities on publicity tours in order to convince the public to lobby governments to fund aid programs.
Run training programs in communities to help people know how to convince their friends, family, and neighbors to lobby governments to fund aid programs.
They aren’t violating their charter, tax laws, or anything.
I think what they do is reprehensible, but they have never concealed their goals or methods.
That is why I always say that if you are going to donate your money, youa re always better to donate it to a political party of your choice. That way, you have SOME say in how it gets spent.
I can say with great confidence that Bono didn’t scam any bread off me.
I give money to the Canadian Warplane Heritage. That’s the sum total of my philanthropy, aside from dumping annoying pennies in the collection box at Timmie’s.
I figure Canadians gain more from seeing a Lancaster or a Harvard fly over their head than one more do-gooder outfit telling them how to do things properly. Reminder of history, or just a big frickin’ loud airplane to jazz some life into their saggy oblivious @sses for a couple seconds.
Bruce:
Xentel is a Canadian company that specializes in raising funds for these organizations (Police Association, Fire Fighters Association, etc. – none of which are registered charities). Although the reps don’t actually lie, and if you ask if it’s tax deductible, they’ll say no, but they certainly go out of their way to leave the impression that you’re helping a charitable organization.
But I don’t think Xentel gets anywhere near 70%. One of the events I knew about was 2 tickets for an NHL Oldtimers hockey game for $100 in support of the OPP Association. By the time you pay the players (who do get paid travel and other expenses), rent the arena, do other advertising, pay the arena staff, etc., I don’t think there’s even $50 left. And the OPPA has to get their cut.
I think maybe the figures were reversed – the fundraisers get about 30%, and the organization gets the lion’s share, but has to pay all the expenses.
I believe it was the lead singer from Police (whose name escapes me) who dragged the native from the Brazilian rain forest, around the world in his cod piece, to tell the world that we were destroying his natural way of life. Like they are expected to live their lives in mildewed loin-cloths so latte drinkers in Kitsilano and Santa Monica could feel all warm and fuzzy.
Okay, it was the Amazonian native and not the lead singer, in the cod-piece! Just to clarify.
KevinB – What is the minimum amount of cash you will accept from me – I am collecting money for a battery needed for your ebike? Oh, btw, there are plenty of guys that need batteries for their ebikes.
I wonder if Bill Gates feels like he’s been suckered?
I mean he could hire his own 120 people and pay them directly, instead of giving money to the singing dick to pretend to run a charity.
This story is from a rag right wing paper. ONE is NOT a foundation! It was never designed to give money to on-the-ground charities. It’s an advocacy organization (it’s called the “ONE Campaign”) and a very effective one. It lobbies Congress and world leaders for good smart policies for the world’s poor. And the salaries are in line with other major advocacy nonprofits. There are a whole lot of lobbyists working over Congress on behalf of cigarettes and oil and health insurance companies. ONE’s lobbyists and members lobby for smart policies and aid to the world’s poorest people. And the Gates Foundation has enough money that it thinks that’s a worthwhile pursuit. I do too, to be honest.
http://www.one.org/c/us/pressrelease/3522/
It’s really fun and easy to be cynical pile onto other people’s bad facts — and a lot more hard to do good journalism and look at your sources.
You don’t have to like Bono’s music, but on the whole, he’s a good man and on the whole, ONE does very good, well-respected work.
My two rules of donating to charities:
1. Never donate to a charity created by a celebrity – 99 times out of 100 they are vanity projects and duplicate what 10,000 existing charities already do and do well. Sorry, Bono you are out of the pool!
2. Never donate to a charity that I cannot physically go and see their work on a regular basis – which means all my donations go to local groups in Regina where I can drop in and see what they are doing. No donations to Pakistan or Haiti and certainly no donations to Bono’s group to address poverty – 4 of the 6 agencies I donate to in Regina address the needs of the poor IN REGINA!!
GetTheFacts
The presense of lobbyists in Congress is irrelevant.
How much money the Gates Foundation is irrelevant as to whether a cause is worthy….what is relevant is that it is a tax shelter….
What is worthy, smart or stupid is a matter of opinion…or whose ox is or isn’t being gored.