More Deceptive Advertising From Oorah & Kars4Kids

[Please click on image to enlarge.]

Oorah sent the above e-mail to its list today. Note what it says:

Proceeds benefit Joy for Our Youth. J.O.Y. is an international organization providing for the physical, emotional,  and spiritual needs of distressed and at-risk youth.

Again, J.O.Y. gifts all of its money to Oorah. Oorah is a sectarian missionary organization whose sole declared purpose according to it's IRS filings is "kiruv," Jewish religious outreach, and related educational scholarships to Orthodox Jewish Schools. And Oorah gives less than 38% of its income to those causes and shows extremely high expenses.

Oorah, J.O.Y. and Kars4Kids are all run by Rabbis Chaim and Eliyohu Mintz. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. serve as front-organizations for Oorah, allowing Oorah to raise money from non-Jews and from Jews who would not support Oorah's programs. Kars4Kids and J.O.Y. gets those people to give money to what appears to be a non-sectarian charity that aids children who are really in distress – homeless, abused, abondoned, etc. – but in reality all the money is gifted to Oorah for Orthodox Jewish missionary activity. Kars4kids is also using a Kirbycard e-mail address. Kirby Card is owned by Cucumber Communications which is a totally owned subsidiary of Oorah. Cucumber claims:

Cucumber Communications is one long distance provider that makes it easy for busy people to support causes they care about.                                          

Cucumber Communications is a division of Oorah inc.

ALL our profits [this appears to be false – see here] are directed to non-profit groups working for human rights and children’s education. Through our long distance services, customers can generate progressive donations for non-profit groups just by doing what they do every day – best of all, it costs you the customer not a penny more.

With Cucumber, every call you make builds a better world.

Oorah is endorsed by almost every leading rabbi in the Orthodox world.

In most states, this is criminal fraud, and it certainly violates IRS rules.

Will Oorah lose its IRS 501 (c) (3) status? Will Oorah's board be prosecuted? Only time will tell.

Comments

[Nachum]

"Every leading rabbi in the Orthodox world"?

[Shmarya]

Fixed it. Thanks!

[charaudit]

Shmarye,

You are entitled to your agenda, and watchdog criticism can be very constructive.

However, as evidenced by your comments, you are absolutely ignorant with regard to the federal and state laws that govern charities.

Your hyperbole ("criminal fraud", etc.) cripples your arguments about Oorah's potential improprieties.

I have a couple of questions for you:

What are YOUR credentials in the fields of accounting or charities law?

Why do you have an axe to grind with Oorah?

What well known charities do you find worthy?

Thank you

[faithfully_frei]

While I have no axe to grind with Oorah in particular, it isn't news that charity organizations often allocate more than a respectiful stipend for their administration.

This phenomenon exists in many non jewish charities as well, but I guess the point here is that more is expected from a jewish charity, particularly orthodox charities, and even more so a charity aimed at promoting it as the moral and "enlightened" way of life.

Or is it?

Over the last 10 years, I've come to expect less and less from my orthodox brethren. Televised fistfights on the high holy days, sexual abuse scandals, the kashruth scandal of the week, outright smear campaigns financed by corporate (can you call jewish business corporate?) interests. Orthodox judaism, as specially yeshivish, and chasidic, is resembling the repulsive Bill Oreilly tabloid politics that it purports to save it's members from.

This has nothing to do with the torah anymore. Now it's about keeping the sheep moving, keeping the fear alive and keeping the rabbis who perpetrate it in power.

Overall, as I watch the communities spiral out of control from a safe distance, it amazes me that Mr. Mintz even bothers spending time and money (however much he does) getting people to join the fold, when there are so many problems within to address.

[EnoughDreck]

What do YOU do to help Jews, you sad, sorry little loser? When you peyger they won't even bury you in a Jewish cemetery at the rate you are going.

[shebe]

very interesting. thank you for bringing this deception to light.

[Cameron]

Federal and State laws aside...
Defending the obviously deceptive practices of this organization demonstrates the ethical shortcomings of the earlier commentor...
As we all know, the law cannot regulate morality, honesty or decency. For an example, look at the world around you.