Fundraisers for these major groups, meanwhile, reaped a windfall. Those for the 100 top-grossing charities received nearly $977 million, and firms for just the top two pocketed $171 million combined.
"Often the most popular causes . . . solicit everyone under the sun to get a few dollars from almost everyone," said Borochoff, of the American Institute of Philanthropy. "That's a really expensive way to raise money."
Donors often have no idea where their money goes.
Disillusioned donor
Pamela Kay Weeks lost both breasts to cancer. After she recovered, she received letters and calls from the American Breast Cancer Foundation, a Baltimore charity that listed research as a priority. Hoping to spare others what she suffered, Weeks wrote a check -- the first of many.
"I'm not a wealthy person," said Weeks, 51, an executive secretary who lives in Sneads, Fla. "I've given what I can."
Weeks thought her donations were headed for a philanthropic powerhouse. But the foundation is one of the nation's least efficient charities, according to the American Institute of Philanthropy and Charity Navigator, another watchdog group.
In 2006 just 2.5% of the American Breast Cancer Foundation budget went to research and 10.5% to mammograms or other services unrelated to fundraising.
In reports filed with the California attorney general from 2003 through 2006, the foundation said it raised $5.8 million from fundraisers, netting just $700,000, or 12%.
The foundation had a particularly close link to one fundraiser, although there was no sign of it in state files.
Phyllis Wolf, executive director of the foundation, created the charity in 1997 with her son Joseph Wolf and two friends. The son worked for the foundation in its early years, then began a for-profit fundraising firm called Non Profit Promotions.
From 2002 through 2006, the foundation paid Non Profit Promotions an average of almost $3 million annually, according to foundation tax returns. That's not illegal, but it violated conflict-of-interest policies used by several large charities and a model policy by the Better Business Bureau.
And despite state laws requiring fundraisers to submit results, no reports by Non Profit Promotions were on record in California or other states whose files were checked by The Times.
Neither Phyllis Wolf nor Joseph Wolf replied to written questions about their fundraising.
