After details of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme came to light, many observers questioned why someone who had donated so much money to worthy causes would concurrently destroy many charities through his fraudulent actions. Madoff’s family foundation had donated over $19 million to various health care, cultural, religious and educational charities. He also contributed about $6 million to lymphoma research. Yet, Madoff’s firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was simultaneously orchestrating a massive investment fraud that destroyed a multitude of charitable foundations and resulted in massive losses for many others.

Rather than being a rare occurrence, this odd partnership of corporate wrongdoing and philanthropy has been quite common. The following is a list of ten well known examples:

1. Bernie Ebbers, Founder and former C.E.O. of Worldcom: The man behind Worldcom’s financial deception that cost investors about $100 billion was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in 2005. Yet, prior to his convictions, Ebbers had donated over $100 million dollars to various charities, though approximately $35 million of this related to his Worldcom stock, which had achieved great value due to Ebbers’ wrongdoing. Ebbers is currently serving a 25 year prison sentence and will not be eligible for release until 2028 when he will be 87 years old.

2. Cliff Baxter, former Vice-Chairman of Enron: Baxter pled guilty to various counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the Enron accounting scandal that preceded its bankruptcy. He was known for his generous donations to organizations such as Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas, the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society and Sunshine Kids, a charity dedicated to providing activities and trips for young cancer patients. Baxter committed suicide in his car in 2002 in the wake of the Enron debacle. He was 43.

3. Ken Lay, former C.E.O. and Chairman of Enron: Lay was found guilty of ten counts of securities fraud and related charges in 2006 for his role in Enron’s accounting scandal. He had donated more than $2.5 million to more than 250 organizations through his family’s foundation and was behind Enron’s policy of donating 1% of its profits to local charities. Lay died of a heart attack while awaiting sentencing.

4. Dennis Kozlowski, former C.E.O. of Tyco International: In 2005, Kozlowski was convicted of grand larceny, securities fraud and other crimes related to his receipt of $81 million in unauthorized loans and bonuses, improper payments and Tyco’s fraudulent financial disclosure. He gave generously to charities, though $106 million of his donations were made with Tyco’s money. He is eligible for parole in 2014.

5. Michael Milken, financier known as the junk bond king: Milken was charged with 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud in 1989. He reached a plea bargain agreement whereby he admitted guilt to six securities violations and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He also paid a $600 million fine. Milken was released after serving just two years behind bars. At the time of his misdeeds, Milken was known as a generous philanthropist. His Foundation of the Milken Families has donated millions of dollars to various causes including $60 million dollars in educator awards and sizable donations to educational institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and charities such as the United Way. His philanthropy has led to a Fortune Magazine cover story calling him “The Man Who Changed Medicine” due to his large health care donations.

6. Richard M. Scrushy, founder and former Chairman and C.E.O. of HealthSouth Corporation: Scrushy was convicted of bribery and mail fraud in connection with payments he made to Alabama’s governor in exchange for appointment to the state board that regulated hospitals. He was sentenced to 82 months in federal prison and was fined $2.87 billion. Scrushy co-founded Computer Help for Kids, a charity that collected, refurbished and donated computers to school students and community groups. He also established a ministry to feed African children, though this occurred as he was awaiting trial. Scrushy is appealing his conviction.

7. Lord Conrad Black, former C.E.O. of Hollinger International: Black was convicted of mail fraud and obstruction of justice in 2007 and was sentenced to 78 months in prison. He is currently out on bail pending a Supreme Court review of his case. His Black Family Foundation has donated millions of dollars to charities, including $3.4 million to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and significant amounts to various educational institutions.

8. John Rigas, founder and former C.E.O. of Adelphia Communications Corporation and majority owner of the Buffalo Sabres ice hockey team: Rigas was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and tax evasion for concealing $2.3 billion in liabilities from shareholders and making personal use of corporate funds. When these misdeeds were uncovered, many people came forward to provide anecdotes portraying Rigas as a giving person who constantly helped needy neighbors. However, many of Rigas’ donations were made with Adelphia funds. At his sentencing, Rigas pled for leniency and noted his charity work. The judge responded by stating, “To be a great philanthropist with other persons’ money is not very persuasive.” Rigas was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He is scheduled to be released in 2018 when he will be 93 years old.

9. Ivan Boesky, businessman and stock trader: Boesky became famous by amassing a fortune by trading on inside information regarding pending corporate takeovers. He admitted to insider trading through a plea arrangement that involved him testifying against Michael Milken. He was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and paid a $100 million fine. Boeksy became involved in insider trading schemes even though he had more money than he could spend at the time. Boesky donated $20 million for the Jewish Theological Seminary’s library that was named for him.

10. Gary Winnick, founder and former Chairman of Global Crossing Limited: Winnick made over $700 million by selling his shares of Global Crossing shortly before the company collapsed. While the SEC decided not to bring charges against him, shareholders brought a class action lawsuit against Winnick and others alleging fraud. The defendants settled the lawsuit by paying the shareholders $325 million. Winnick, to his credit, also donated $25 million to employees who lost their 401K’s as a result of Global Crossing’s demise. Through his family foundation, Winnick funded the Winnick Family Clinical Research Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He also donated $40 million for the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s international conference center in Jerusalem and funded various scholarships.

Why would all these men who were accused or convicted of fraud or criminal activity also have philanthropy as a common denominator? One key factor is that these businessmen all generated millions of dollars through their actions and had the means to make sizable donations without impacting their standard of living.

Other explanations delve into the psychological realm. For some, making these gifts was a means to attaining greater notoriety. Donations were often publicized and, as in the case of Boesky and Winnick, often led to buildings or scholarships bearing the name of the donor. These businessmen may have simply wanted to draw attention to their generosity. It is also likely that many of these fraud artists also saw charity as a means for offsetting the guilt that they harbored for the harm they had caused investors and others by perpetrating their scams. They felt that if they did something supererogatory with their funds, this would make their ethical transgressions more acceptable.

With respect to Bernie Madoff, I do not believe that he ever set out to create a Ponzi scheme that would ultimately be exposed. It is more likely that his firm was unable to provide the investment returns that Madoff had promised and dipped into other investors’ funds rather than admit to clients that he missed expectations. However, instead of replacing these lost funds with excess future gains, the deficit grew larger until it was insurmountable. Thus, Madoff never intended to bankrupt these charities. It was an unintended consequence of his inability to admit failure to his clients and friends. However, regardless of his true motives, the fact remains that Madoff’s fraud destroyed many charitable organizations. He now joins these other businessman that have mixed fraud and philanthropy. Welcome to the list, Bernie Madoff.

Car Speakers Reviews

Are you confused about your old car? Well, just as the rule of the universe, the old must give away to the new. Now, there hardly seems to be any doubt about that. But, the question is how to dispose your old car. In modern household, there is hardly space enough to preserve the old car and bring a new one.

Selling the car is of course an option in such situation. In fact, this is the most popular option that is available these days. But, there are much complexities involved in selling a car. You have to put advertisements and then wait for the clients to arrive. Then, you have to convince the client about the deal and finally when you get the hard earned money, you have to give away a considerable part of it as sales tax.

The car donation is certainly the greatest option that you can choose at such a situation. It is completely free of hassles. In fact, there are plenty of other advantages that are there when you donate your car. So, have a look at them.

The most obvious advantage of the car donation is that it lets you get rid of the hassles and you can relax. You no longer have any responsibilities towards the warranty on your car. Also, you can donate a car in any condition. That means, even if the car is not in the working condition, you can donate it.

As is told earlier, the car donation helps you get rid of the hassles that are involved in the selling of a car. Naturally, it saves a lot of money as well. However, there is another big way through which the car donation can save a considerable amount of money for you. When you donate car, you don’t have to pay any sales tax for that. That means the equal amount of the market value that your car has will be deducted from your sales tax.

In fact, donating a car has twice the value of its original price. For, you are getting the complete tax deduction while donating the car and at the same time, the organizations are getting money out of your donation. In most of the cases, the organizations auction the car and use the money for charity.

Finally, it is an easy process. You just have to visit the site of the charity that you think most deserving. There you will find a car donation form and you have to fill it up. Normally, this will take a few minutes and it will ask you about the car that you want to donate. However, there are certain things that you have to be aware of here. First, make sure that the site is authentic and has the right to accept the donations. Also, it is good to have some ideas about the tax laws. Another important thing is documentation. You must get written documents on the car donations.

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If you will do a little hard work, then you will find various ways to help those people who do not have good status of living and whom you do not even know. There are countless people who love to donate their things for the ones who need their support. Donating your car is one of such ways to satisfy your inner side. You have got the chance to do something for the humanity and make your life a little more meaningful in real sense. Donate your Car to Charity and you will feel good and burden less from inside of your heart and soul.

Why to Donate Your Car to Charity?

*By donating your car to charity, you are not only getting disembarrass of you old car but also doing something for the helpless people and giving them the support that is bigger than any other good work in the world.

*Just do it once. Donate anything if you can not donate your car, you will not only feel inner happiness but also will satisfy confused and conflicting thoughts in your mind. You will feel proud of your self and the feeling can not be expressed in words.

*Donation of your car is a decision which will get you appreciation from your friends and relatives.

*This way you will teach a lesson and a moral to all those rich people who are not ready to spend even a penny for the charity.

*You will get the tax rebate that is equal to the money value that is measured while you donate your car to charity.

It is important to understand that you can increase the benefits of donating your car to charity. Make it sure that you specify for the tax rebate. In order to confirm it, you will need to check the IRS form description. You can get it through the charity it self. In case you are being questioned by the IRS department, then you can answer them by the records that you hold from the assessors. Therefore, donate anything if you don’t possess the ability to donate your car.

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Charity organizations say that the donations they’re receiving are in decline just as the need for their services are on the rise to what may be the greatest level of our lifetimes.

In this economy, many of us are in little position to help. But there is at least one thing that many of us can do. Most of us will eventually need to replace our cars, and when that time comes, we can offer our old car as a donation to charity.

Plenty of people are already offering their car for donation. There were 311,451 donations of vehicles in 2005 worth an average of $1,508 each, according to the IRS.

Offering a car for donation is usually a pretty easy thing to do. Most of the programs that handle car donations will tow your car away for free. In general, they will accept cars that aren’t running or that can’t pass state emission standards.

There is a tax deduction available for offering your car for donation. If you’ve done this before, though, you should be aware that the tax rules now aren’t as generous as they have been in the past.

Prior to 2005, the available tax deduction was equal to the fair market value of the car offered for donation.

Now, you are usually only able to deduct the fair market value if the car is worth less than $500.

A charity or the company that runs its car donation program will often resell the cars they receive. Under current tax law, you can only deduct an amount equal to the resale price, unless the car is worth less than $500.

Be sure that your charity provides you with written documentation of the sale. Charities are required to provide documentation within 30 days.

A couple of other things to be aware of if you offer your car for donation:

In most states, it’s the donor’s responsibility to notify their state’s department of motor vehicles of the change in registration after donating their car. Don’t forget to do this. If you fail to notify the DMV of the change in ownership, you could be charged for parking tickets and other penalties for violations committed by your car’s next owner.

Also, in deciding what charity to donate to, you may want to ask some questions about their vehicle-donation programs. The California Attorney General’s Office found in a 2005 that in 2004, less than half of the proceeds raised through charitable donations of vehicles in California ended up going to charities. The rest went to the commercial fundraisers that charities contracted with to manage their vehicle donation programs.

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Donating to charities is one way to express interest in the society or environment, handicapped people and even animal welfare. Donating a car is generous act that can help many people. This is the best time to start donating some of your clothes, money, foods and other things that are a necessity to others in need. There are many charitable institutions such as the American Cancer Society, Save the Children and many more.

Types of donations include clothing, food, and even blood depending on the organization. The proceeds of any donation will go to your selected charitable institution or let the organization do it on your behalf.

A donation can also be vehicle donation which is becoming a fast growing option. The donated vehicle will be auctioned by vehicle brokers and part of the proceeds will go to the charity. The donor receives a tax deduction, the broker get a percentage of the sale for his work and the remainder of the proceeds goes to the charitable institution. Some vehicle donation programs encourage donors by means of a trip-for-free program. For every vehicle that is donated and subsequently sold, the donor receives a free trip.

There are a thousand charitable institutions, but the IRS only recognizes less than a hundred. Check with the IRS to find out if a group you are thinking about donating to qualify for certain tax deductible contributions. The United Way, The World Wildlife Federation and Save the Children are all worthwhile organizations.

Some things to consider when deciding on who to give your money or things to is to find out how much actually makes it to the people in need. Every group needs money for administration but make sure that the majority of the money is going where it is supposed to go. This is especially true if you are dealing with organization in foreign countries where bribery of certain officials is necessary to get supplies safely through. While this may be normal operating procedure when donating to charities in certain countries, find out how much is actually making it its final intended destination. The people at the receiving end will know.

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If you are looking to purchase a new vehicle, you may be trying to figure out what to do with your current automobile. Many people trade in their old cars to reduce the price of a newer car. While this is a good strategy, another thing you can do is donate your car to a charity. Believe it or not, there are a number of advantages this has over trading in a car towards the purchase of a new vehicle. When you buy a new car from a dealer, you will find that most of them will try to talk you into trading in your old car. Once you do this, they will often turn around and sell your older car, especially if its in good condition.

However, this is not what usually happens. In most instances, the dealer will try to buy the car from you at a lower price than they expect to get when selling it at an auction. When you donate your car to a charity, not only will you be turning it in for a good cause, you may also get a deal which is better than what you would find from a dealership. Many people don’t realize that donating their car to a charity can allow them to get a tax deduction during tax season. Not only can you use it as a tax write off, you will often earn money that is significantly more than what you would get from most car dealers.

When most people hear about car donations, they are often discouraged because they feel that it will be a long process that will cost them a lot of money. Nothing can be further from the truth. In reality, donating your car to a charity can be just as quick as trading in your car through a dealer. Remember, the charity needs the car from you, and will make it convenient for you to turn it in to them. To donate your old car to a charity, the first thing you will need to do is contact charities in your area. They will be able to answer any questions you have about donating your car. Many of them will visit you at your home and pick up your car, saving you money on shipping.

Once you have donating the car to the charity, you will be mailed a receipt of the transaction. The receipt should tell you how much the car was sold for, and it may also tell you the price that you are given by the charity. Once tax season arrives, you will be able to get your reward for donating your car to the charity. By helping other people who may be less fortunate than you, you will feel good, and you will also be rewarding financially. Most people trade in their cars when they go out to purchase a new one. Only a small segment of the population uses car donation services. However, car donations services are a smart financial tool that can allow you to save a large amount of money on taxes over a long period of time.

The money that you save on taxes can be used for investments, vacations, or anything else you’re interested in. Before you trade in your existing car for a new one, be sure to look at the car donation services in your area.

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Don’t trash your unwanted old car, donate your car to the American Red Cross and help raise vital funds so they can continue with their excellent work in helping communities in times of crisis. Yeah, yeah – how much is that going to cost me? It’ll cost you nothing; everything is absolutely free from the phone call to the collection from your door, often within a day of donating your vehicle. I’m sure you’ll agree that the American Red Cross is a very deserving charity and if you could do something to help, you would. If you log on to your local chapter all the information is there.

Don’t worry if the vehicle donated is a heap, a beaten up old jalopy that has seen better days that now just takes up space in the yard; even a sad old car can be used to provide spare parts for other vehicles that have been donated that are then sold off at auction to raise cash for a variety of projects the American Red Cross is involved with. For over a hundred years in Washington DC, without government assistance, the American Red Cross has responded to disasters, helped to provide employment and initiated innovative schemes to provide health education as a means to avoid the spread of disease.

Today there is the possibility of a swine flu pandemic, something that could affect any one of us. Rather than trading in your old car and maybe not even getting the price you had expected in the current economic climate, you could donate your auto instead and if it’s worth more than $500 you might be eligible for a tax deduction by donating a vehicle to charity. If your car is going to cost you money to get it towed away, ring the toll free number and donate your car to the American Red Cross and they will take it away for you. Some companies have faced such a downturn in their business they can no longer afford to retain a fleet of company vehicles and wouldn’t get the market value for them. If you are in this position or know someone else who faces the same problem, pass on the message and do your good deed for the day. Say, “I’m going to donate my car!”

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For a nonprofit, a blog is an inexpensive way to communicate with lots of people and open up dialog with supporters. It offers a quick way to provide timely and regularly updated information and to answer any questions your readers may have.

Here are some of the benefits of blogging:

o Blogging is a great way to get attention for your cause and share information about your organization and your mission. You can link your blog to lots of other sites on the web and you can share a link to your blog in emails you send to your regular supporters.

o Blogging can be a team sport: you can get lots of people involved (staff, Board, and volunteers can all participate) in writing material for your blog. This can be a tremendous help if you don’t like writing or don’t have lots of time to write.

o Blogging is easy to do and doesn’t require a technological genius to get started.

o Blogging allows you to not only share stories about your work, but post photos, video, and audio fairly easily. This gives your readers a multimedia experience with you! If your mission has an emotional edge to it (saving the environment for example), it gives supporters a place to voice their concerns and opinions.

o Best of all, blogging gives you a new tool for cultivating donors and supporters.

If you do a good job of posting about your activities in your blog, creating an Annual Report is a breeze. You simply go back through your blog posts to gather information.

Car Speakers Reviews

The price of gas is astronomical these days. People are looking to buy gas saver cars and are all over the internet doing research on gas savers. There is a simple solution to this most perplexing problem and that is buying a hydrogen kit for your present automobile.

What is a Hydrogen Kit?

A hydrogen generator kit can be used in order to convert simple water into HHO. HHO is also referred to as Di-Hydroxy, Rhode’s Gas and Brown’s gas as well as many other names. What a hydrogen kit can do is aid in the combustion process of gasoline in order to make your car run cleaner and become a super gas saver. A car will still need gasoline in order to run, but the hydrogen gas saver allows the combustion to improve which in turn adds to the mileage you get from a gallon of gas.

The Inefficiency of the Automobile

Most of the cars manufactured in the past are inefficient as to converting gas into the power that runs your vehicle. Ask any car mechanic and they will tell you that a mere 20% of combustion is created in order for your car to run. What are left are just pollution, heat and noise. A good portion stays in the engine as carbon residuals that remain unburned.

A Hydrogen Kit for Your Automobile

There are plenty of HHO hydrogen generator kits on the market, but some of them are not as simple as others. You will want an HHO hydrogen generator kit has all the information you need in order to convert your automobile into a gas saving hybrid without the expense of buying a new car. You can double your present gas mileage thus saving you a ton of money as a result.

Benefits to Buying a HHO Hydrogen Generator Kit

Not only will you enjoy a car that goes farther on a tank of gas than it did in the past, you will decrease the amount of pollution your vehicle emits into the atmosphere. With all the concern about the environment, reducing your carbon footprint is a good thing.

Many of the manuals that teach you to convert your car to a super gas saver use language that only a mechanic can understand. There are a few manuals that will provide you with all the information you need in order to convert your car to run on water in language that anyone can understand. Technicians are always available should any questions you might have arise. The number one run a car with water review is said to be found on DriveWithWaterFuel.com with more than 13,000 copies sold.

Another popular HHO hydrogen generator kit is found at Water4Gas.com. It comes with 184 pages of instructions that will take you step by step through the process and has an easy to understand diagram enclosed.

Not only will you saves hundreds if not thousands of dollars on these kits, but you may also be eligible for tax savings if you qualify. Water4Gas.com has conveniently enclosed the documentation you need to send to the IRS as an added bonus. You may even be able to pay for the conversion and guide with the savings you receive on your taxes.

Don’t waste another minute; do your research on gas saver products and you will see which ones make the conversion the simplest and have the best value.

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The situation in the world is well known to everyone whether that person is on the rich side or on the poor side. The wealth is so badly and unfairly split that, if we have not been living it, we would think it is a science fiction. Some people, and that is about 2 percent of us all, are so rich that they cannot spend it even if they could live ten lives, not one. On the other side, a huge number of people have no food, no clean water, no anything.How can that be fair and morally correct? Some people work so hard and for so long hours that you could call it slavery, but we do not use that word anymore and that is the only thing that we do not use because those people are very used.

As I said, everyone is aware of that we need to do something to bring a change. Every person should help; every person should do something because we are leaving our children to continue living in this world. If you are in a financial situation and you feel moral obligation to help people in need, the best way to do it is to donate car to charity. Why is that? Your car is worth a significant amount of money and can help someone or even to the community to buy, for example, a fertilizer and high-yield seeds so that they can grow more food. That is a perfect help because it is a long-term help.

I imagine that you have lived in different circumstances, that you have organized your life well, have a comfortable life where you can progress every day (that is how all people should live). If you have possibility of buying a better car for your family or business than you already possess and you do not depend of the amount of money that you would get from selling it, it would be a great choice to donate car to charity. However, if you have decided to do that, please, be careful who do you cooperate with.

When money is in the game, there is plenty of room for fraud. That is the reason why you should be careful. So many different organizations offer you help to donate car to charity, and by helping you, they take from 50 to 90 percent of the value of your donation. Why donate then? There is always tax deduction that you can score when you donate car to charity, but I hope that was not your motive for donation in the first place.

To donate car to charity, contact the charity itself. You do not need anyone in the middle who will just take part of your donation (obviously a big part). You already know the rule: if you want something done, does it yourself. You are probable very busy and it would be much easier if you hand over the job to someone else but the meaning of charity will be lost. It is almost necessary to get involved personally. At the end of the day, you will be pleased that you did something good for someone else and that it came to the right hands.

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