[richlevy]

I just got an appeal from Soldiers Angels for Valentine's Day packages.

http://www.angelpackages.org/Valentine/

I'm probably going to give. I've already given to Soldiers Angels and I appreciate the job they do.

But I still wanted to check a few things, just as if it was an unfamiliar charity.

IRS registration

I then checked them with Guidestar (I had to open a free account). Confirmed from their 2007 IRS form 990 that about %73 of gross receipts went to programs and not fund raising and administration.

The only downside was that their website they use for processing is hosted by www.ifr-ors.com, which is registered to Eberle Communications.

Connections

• Tom DeLay, John Ashcroft: "Bruce Eberle runs Eberle Communications Group, Inc., which is involved in tom delay's fundraising scandal. ECG, Inc. also owns Fund Raising Strategies, Inc. and seems to prefer the name Eberle & Associates. part of the business is PR, part is fund raising. ... Eberle also owns Omega List Company and Eberle and Omega were busted for illegally giving data lists to Ashcroft when he was a senator. while you're at the omega site, be sure to check out Blanquita Cullum's prattling. this 'email endorsement' stuff sounds kinda fishy and propagandistic to me." Daily Kos, January 29, 2005.

"According to Public Citizen both Bobby Eberle and Lamar Smith donated money to Tom Delay's defense fund." [2]

I'm not going to blame Soldiers Angels for who their service provider is. I'm not even going to think about the small percentage of my money that may go to pay Eberle, assuming that they don't host for free (they might). I guess it's no different for conservatives, who have to look past liberals supporting the same cause.

It's still a little annoying, and an example of how we humans tend to complicate things.

BTW, give $30 to Soldiers Angels. As long as those care packages get there, I don't care if the devil or Tom Delay himself delivers them.