AUSTIN, Texas — Lance Armstrong has asked a Texas court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Dallas promotions company seeking repayment of more than $12 million in bonuses paid for winning the Tour de France.
SCA Promotions sued Armstrong and his manager, Bill Stapleton, in state district court in Dallas in February. It contends Armstrong committed fraud by using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times. SCA paid Armstrong’s team management company Tailwind Sports for several of those victories, which have now been stripped away.
DialogueDirect / FacebookThey’re a ubiquitous sight in major cities around the world: youths in brightly colored T-shirts stopping passersby on sidewalks, asking questions like, “Do you care about the planet?” “Do you want to help save children?” “Do you have a few minutes to talk about how to make the world a better place?”
Armed with a clipboard and a mission, these fundraisers are after donors, and their dollars, working for a variety of charities with missions ranging from environmental sustainability to equality to eliminating hunger.
And while most people wouldn’t give their wallet to a stranger on the street, many people give these strangers their personal and financial information. But it’s not always wise — or for the benefit of humankind.
Not What They Appear
One of the most visible of these charities is Children International, with a mission to help children in poverty. But the people blocking sidewalks in CI shirts aren’t volunteers or even Children International staff members — they’re employees of DialogueDirect, a corporate fundraiser whose only client is Children International.
When asked how donors could know their information was safe when giving to a street team member, Felicity von Suck, a client services manager, replied, “All of the information comes into our office and is locked up overnight. We then scan it over an encrypted line and Children’s International is the only one who can decrypt it.”
Asked about the safety of the information before it reaches the DialogueDirect office, von Suck replied, “We conduct background checks on everyone we hire. If we’ve hired someone, and their background check comes back with a felony or misdemeanor or something that appears like that person is prone to fraudulent behavior, we don’t send them out.”
But there have been cases, such as the one in San Jose in February, where individuals collecting for a charity have no affiliation with them.
Sakshi Jain, an IT communications professional in Washington, D.C., says the potential for scams doesn’t stop her from giving, but it does make her careful. “I ask a lot of questions if I am not familiar with the charity or stick to organizations I know; there are too many false charities nowadays that prey on the generosity of others.”
A New Model of Fundraising
Matt Wolcott of the Student Conservation Association, or SCA, which places people of all ages in service on public lands, says that face-to-face fundraising can be effective when done properly.
Although the SCA doesn’t currently do street canvassing, Wolcott says the organization isn’t against it. “As the traditional tactics for donor acquisition become more and more cost-prohibitive,” he says, “organizations medium and large are scrambling to figure out how to find alternate ways to supplant more traditional donor acquisition strategies, like direct mail.”
Swedish paper and hygiene products maker Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA-B.SK), or SCA, Thursday raised its dividend as it reported a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit. Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
