Reynolds cancer charities
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The Reynolds cancer charities refer to the four "sham charities": the Cancer Fund of America, Inc. (CFA), Cancer Support Services Inc. (CSS), Children’s Cancer Fund of America Inc. (CCFOA), and The Breast Cancer Society Inc. (BCS) that began operations in 1984 and were shut down in 2016.[1] They were run by James T. Reynolds, James Reynold II, Kyle Effler, Rose Perkins, Kristina Reynolds and other Reynolds family members and friends. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) described the Reynolds cancer charities as "one of the largest charity fraud cases ever". They were listed as among America's worst charities, based on high management costs, high salaries to directors, and low (1%–2.5%) proportion of income disbursed to beneficiaries. The investigation of the Reynolds' sham charities, initiated by the FTC and all fifty states plus the District of Columbia, resulted in "one of the largest actions brought to date [2015] by enforcers against charity fraud." The May 2015 historic civil suit, alleged that CFA, CSS, CCFOA, and BCS had collected more than $187 million in donations from consumers and that an "overwhelming majority" of the money went to "the perpetrators, their families and friends", and for-profit fundraisers contracted by the charities. Reynolds' and associates contracted about ten of these for-profit solicitors who "earned more than 80 cents of every dollar donated" [to CFA] for a total of $80.4 million."
This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (February 2020) |
Reynolds created his first charity -- the Cancer Fund of America -- in 1984 after he was dismissed from his job at the respected organization, the American Cancer Society (ACS) following accusations of theft and poor record keeping.[2]
CCFOA, BCS, CFA and CSS were dissolved and James Reynolds Sr., Rose Perkins, Kyle Effler, James Reynolds Jr. and his wife, Kristina Reynolds "were banned from any future charitable fund raising." James Reynolds Sr. surrendered some of his personal assets.[3] Very little money from the charities was recovered and no one involved faced any jail time.