Editing Center for Public Integrity (section)

===Professional fundraisers for veterans===
In December 2017, CPI journalist Sarah Kleiner published a report on professional fundraisers who use telemarketing to collect donations for US military veterans, then keep 90 percent of the funds collected.<ref name="CPI_2017_Dec_Kleiner">{{cite news |url=https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/12/06/21360/donors-give-millions-help-veterans-most-goes-telemarketers |title=Veterans charity raises millions to help those who've served. But telemarketers are pocketing most of it: Professional fundraisers keep $9 out of every $10 generated by Virginia outfit that's now entering politics |first=Sarah |last=Kleiner |date=December 12, 2017 |access-date=December 13, 2017 |publisher=Center for Public Integrity (CPI) |archive-date=December 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214015150/https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/12/06/21360/donors-give-millions-help-veterans-most-goes-telemarketers |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to the December 12, 2017 article, Brian Arthur Hampton co-founded two [[Falls Church, Virginia]]-based non-profit organizations: the [[Circle of Friends for American Veterans]] (COFAV)—also known as "American Homeless Veterans"—in 1993 and then the Center for American Homeless Veterans—also known as the "Association for Homeless and Disabled Veterans". During the 2000s, Hampton said he had "hosted more than 100 members of Congress across 196 veterans shelter-themed forums in 46 cities" in rallies for these non-profits.<ref name="CPI_2017_Dec_Kleiner"/> Kleiner revealed that according to the 2015 Center for American Homeless Veterans' tax returns, "it provided just $200 in grants to other organizations out of $2.5 million in overall expenditures, the vast majority of which paid telemarketers."<ref name="CPI_2017_Dec_Kleiner"/> This report confirms findings from the investigation by the [[Saint Louis, Missouri]] [[Better Business Bureau]] (BBB)<ref name="BBB_2017">{{citation |title=Center For American Homeless Veterans Raises BBB Concern Over Fundraising Solicitations |url=https://www.bbb.org/stlouis/news-events/bbb-warnings/2017/06/american-homeless-veterans/ |via=Better Business Bureau (BBB) |date=June 27, 2017 |access-date=December 13, 2017 |location=Saint Louis }}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and [[CharityWatch]].<ref name="Charity_Watch_2016">{{cite web |url=https://www.charitywatch.org/ratings-and-metrics/circle-of-friends-for-american-veterans/691 |agency=CharityWatch|date=September 2016 |access-date=December 13, 2017 |title=Ratings and metrics for Circle of Friends for American Veterans}}</ref> The BBB had advised "consumers to exercise caution when deciding whether to contribute money" to Hampton's non-profit.<ref name="BBB_2017"/>

BBB also found that "[c]ontracts between the Center for American Homeless Veterans and "its two main fundraisers"{{snd}}[[Reno, Nevada]]-based [[Outreach Calling]] and [[Phoenix, Arizona]]-based Midwest Publishing{{snd}}revealed that "just 10 percent of all donations" go to the Center for American Homeless Veterans.<ref name="BBB_2017"/> The BBB investigation also revealed that from September 2014 to September 2016, Outreach Calling and Midwest Publishing "collected nearly $5 million, with about $508,000 going to the [Center for American Homeless Veterans] and "almost all the money retained" by the center, "went to pay salaries, legal fees and office-related expenses."<ref name="BBB_2017"/>

According to New York state regulators, "a wealthy 49-year-old New Jersey businessman", Mark Gelvan (b.1978), is the "driving force behind Outreach Calling."<ref name="CPI_2017_Mark_Gelnar_Kleiner">{{cite news |url=https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/12/13/21395/charities-employ-controversial-telemarketers-tug-heartstrings-and-loosen-purse |title=Charities employ controversial telemarketers to tug on heartstrings — and loosen purse strings |quote=Businessman banned in New York still raking in millions from unsuspecting donors, regulators say |first=Sarah |last=Kleiner |date=December 13, 2017 |access-date=December 20, 2017 |publisher=Center for Public Integrity (CPI) |location=Montville, New Jersey }}</ref> Outreach Calling collects money for "homeless veterans," "breast cancer survivors", "disabled police officers", and "children with leukemia", among others.<ref name="CPI_2017_Mark_Gelnar_Kleiner"/> According to a 2017 CPI analysis, "Outreach Calling, raised more than $118 million on behalf of about two dozen charities from 2011 to 2015", retaining $106 million. This left c. 10.3 percent or $12.2 million, for the non-profit charities and those they serve - homeless veterans, breast cancer survivors, disabled police officers, and children with leukemia. In the United States, it is legal {{not a typo|for for}}-profit telemarketers to keep 90% of the donations they solicit as long as they to not "mislead prospective donors" or "lie to them about how their contributions will be used", according to [[Jim Sheehan]], "head of the charities bureau for the office of [[New York Attorney General]] [[Eric T. Schneiderman]]."<ref name="CPI_2017_Mark_Gelnar_Kleiner"/>