finance information
Posted by EastDCist  |  November 6, 2009 5:27:55 AM

Using the types of metrics on this website, human service charities--particularly community based human service charities--often look very inefficient. When working with small children, elderly individuals and other vulnerable populations, all workers (paid or otherwise) must be thoroughly screen to protect the clients. Oftentimes, volunteers will cost these organizations a lot in screening and training. Plus, many community based human services groups believe in paying people for their work, when appropriate.

Sometimes groups with other missions will rely heavily on occasional volunteer networks, which is fine for certain types of projects and in certain contexts, and lets them put almost all donations to programs. However, some of these groups are also white collar sweatshops packed with unpaid interns and volunteer program managers who hang around for a long time waiting for a job to show up.

It is a trade off. I would like to see more workforce stats on this website.

information
Posted by NRC  |  September 18, 2009 12:05:05 PM

Check out this web page: http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_facts

Council of Indian Nations
Posted by Paul-in-Maine  |  August 30, 2009 6:11:34 PM

I was told that if I wrote "Restricted" in the memo field of my check, 100% of my donation would go to programs.

Anyone heard this before. Do I believe them?

I made a pledge, but after reading these reviews I don't know what to do.

Harassment from Organization
Posted by TexasAggie  |  July 21, 2009 6:02:10 AM

I made a single donation to this organization a few months ago and specifically requested that I not be contacted in the future and that they do not share of sell my information to other organizations.

They indicated they would be happy to comply and would remove my information from their database.

However, over the last couple of weeks I have gotten repeated calls requesting money. Each time, I again requested that I not be contacted by them in the future, and each time they again indicated they would remove me from their contact list. But they continued to call, and every person who I spoke with was rude to varying degrees.

This is the most disappointing charity I have ever come across. Not only do they disregard the request of a donor, they convey a bad image about Native Americans.

American Indian Education Fdn/Nat'l Relief
Posted by Rick in Ohio  |  June 29, 2009 12:16:45 PM

With all the tremendous competition for charitable contributions, I find that spending 50% on fundraising is not the best use of my limited funds.

The other basic issue I have relates to the various "American Indian/Native American" requests for contributions when millions upon millions of dollars are earned by casinos on Native American land?? If circumstances are as dire and bleak as we are led to believe, why then aren't American Indian casinos helping their own folks with casino earnings instead of allowing them to live in poverty? I've asked this question before to telephone solicitors but so far have never received a coherent response.

I think potential donors ought to begin pressuring Native Americans requesting contributions to respond to the issue of how casino earnings are distributed.

Also, to my knowledge, there are no laws preventing any Native American from leaving their reservations and seeking their "fortune" anywhere throughout the USA!

thanks
Posted by Trakkar  |  June 16, 2009 6:04:54 AM

Thanks for your comments and these ratings. They sent me a solicitation that had a quarter taped to it and it made it hard to throw away. I had the vague impression they were associated with Adopt a Native Elder Program, which I have supported in the past.

CIN/ARIC
Posted by Florida Retiree  |  June 12, 2009 11:16:19 AM

For many years I have sent checks to these organizations. While I was working, I did not bother to check them out......Recently, I received a request from CIN with a "special gift" of greeting cards. Today I received two more identical mailings. That is a total of 20 cards!! I have now checked these organizations on Charity Navigator, and, I will not be sending future donations. I believe most of my donations have gone to fund raising rather than to help the follks I wanted to help.

Fraud
Posted by tenfortynine  |  March 31, 2009 10:41:24 AM

I wonder if the state of Virginia has any laws against fraud that apply to this organization. If so, the state ought to get busy.

Donating to me
Posted by billteal8@msn.c  |  March 30, 2009 6:47:07 AM

Yesterday I recieved $1.00 from Councitl of Indian Nations, one of the affiliates of National Relief Charities, to remind me of my past support and to send more. They hadn't heard from me for awhile. I was already cutting back my donations to this organization and redirecting them to more deserving organizations for the same cause. Recieving somebody elses donation as a recruitment tool is the last straw.

Southwest Indian Foundation
Posted by marymac  |  March 17, 2009 5:58:02 AM

Although I applaud the objective of these organizations under the umbrella of National Relief Charities, their effeciency rating is deplorable. I donate instead to Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program or Native American Heritage, both of which have 4-star ratings and appear to be very well run. I don't have enough money to throw it down the rathole of a poorly run charity.

non-stop requests
Posted by Yvette  |  September 26, 2008 5:43:52 AM

This is one of a group of charities that purport to assist Indian peoples of the southwest. If you send them anything, even $1, you will be on every related sucker list they have and the pleas for more money come more than once a month. Check out what they spend on fundraising and you will understand. The cause sounds great but that's not where the money goes.

Fraudulent Pledge
Posted by dr sunflare  |  September 9, 2008 10:11:23 AM

I received a telephone solicitation from a Marc Isada of the Council Indian Nations, a member of this larger organization. I told him that, although I was a supporter of Native American charities, I was not prepared to donate anything until I checked Charity Navigator. He verified my address for the stated purpose of simply sending me information about the organization. A few days later I received a letter thanking me for my pledge of $25 with an attached remittance form. As stated above, I had made no pledge and after looking at the dismal rating of this organization I will not send them anything. Also of interest is that on the latest (2006) 990 tax return seen on Guidestar the mandatory listing of employee/board member compensation is omitted and the scrawled signature of the president of the organization does not have the required printed name below it. So it is impossible to identify major players of the organization.

A.I.E.F.
Posted by Dylan  |  April 28, 2008 5:56:05 AM

Hi Paula,

Thanks for the bright materials you sent to me in the mail and for acknowledging my gift to the American Indian Education Foundation.

I looked up the AIEF at www.charitynavigator.org but found it as part of National Relief Charities. After exploring the website a little and wondering how my pithy gift can help with numbers measured in millions of dollars, I came across a link, "10 Charities Stockpiling Your Money."

There in the the top ten was "American Indian College Fund." Apparently, the organization is just sitting on their money with no worthy kids to spend it on?

Hey Paula, why don't you connect with Richard Williams, the executive officer there at AICF, the address is-

<div style="margin-left:30px"> American Indian College Fund 8333 Greenwood Boulevard Denver, CO 80221 tel: (800) 776-3863 fax: (303) 426-1200 </div> Look, I appreciate the words along with photos of young people with hope in their eyes but, what can my 50$ do but make me look foolish?

I hope you will challenge Richard Williams to front you 50,000$ on my urging. That should be enough to pay the full ride for at least one Indian student who wasn't lucky enough to be a standout in sports.

-Dylan