Charities

Shortly before Christmas 2002, Ray Charles called a meeting of his 12 children at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. Ten of them, ranging in age from 16 to 50 -- with 10 mothers among them -- listened as their father told them he was mortally ill and outlined what they could expect from his fortune. Most of Charles' assets would be left to his charitable foundation.

Members of a charity group threatened with arrest while trying to feed homeless people at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point have filed a federal lawsuit against state parks officials, claiming interference with their constitutional rights. The faith-based organization Welcome INN provided meals in the park's picnic area on two consecutive evenings in February without incident, according to the legal complaint filed this week by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The pitch: "We're calling to ask if you can help the poor victims of flooding and tornadoes in the Midwest." The scam: What's sure to follow in the wake of natural disasters, besides visits by politicians? Charity scams. The Federal Trade Commission has issued a consumer alert to warn about the types of scams that have sprung up in the past after tragedies affecting large numbers of people. Many of these scams are perpetrated by telephone.

President Bush said Saturday that religious charities partly financed with federal money have helped reduce homelessness, found jobs for former inmates and helped combat malaria and HIV/AIDS overseas. Bush used his weekly radio address to trumpet the "remarkable difference these groups have made over the past eight years." The president said he wanted religious and secular charities to compete for government money on an equal footing.

It is a chilling statistic: 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned by AIDS. But the figure alone cannot begin to convey the toll of a pandemic that continues to punish vast swaths of the continent. For that, consider the stories of four children featured in an interactive exhibit -- "World Vision Experience: AIDS" -- at Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles.

A Muslim charity and five of its former leaders were convicted Monday of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- a long-sought victory in the government's fight against terrorism funding. U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis announced the guilty verdicts on all 108 counts on the eighth day of deliberations in the retrial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation's largest Muslim charity.

It's easy to get celebrities to show up for a cause. Follow-through is another matter. When it happens, it makes all the difference. Take Brad Pitt's yearlong effort to assist residents of New Orleans' ravaged Lower 9th Ward return to their own homes.

On most weekends, the sidewalks along Whittier Boulevard in Boyle Heights see little early-morning foot traffic. The graffiti-stained grates securing such shoe box-sized storefronts as Molina's Pharmacy and Rosie's Hair and Barber aren't lifted until midmorning -- if at all. But Sunday was different. Shortly after 8:30 a.m., a sea of high school students sporting Vans and Converse sneakers pounded along the buckled sidewalks outside the line of shops.

For several years, the Service Employees International Union's largest California local has staged a lavish golf tournament that it bills as a fundraiser for two nonprofit groups affiliated with the labor organization. But neither charity's financial reports have specified any income from the annual event since 2004, Internal Revenue Service records through last year show.

A nonprofit organization founded by California's largest union local reported spending nothing on its charitable purpose -- to develop housing for low-income workers -- during at least two of the four years it has been operating, federal records show.