I came across the following message at the website www.eringobragh.net:

For every $1 you donate to The Erin Go Bragh Foundation, we will give you 20 American Airlines Aadvantage miles. This is a great way to accumulate miles, or just fill out miles if you are trying to get that free trip. We will honor any amount to a minimum of $1; for instance if you need 480 miles to round out a free ticket, feel free to send us $24. The best part is, since the IRS considers the cash value of frequent flyer miles to be 2 cents per mile, 60% of your donation is tax-deductible. For example, a $5 donation will get you 100 miles and a $3 tax deduction, a $100 donation will get you 2000 miles and a $60 deduction!

This is legit! What a great way to get those last few miles.

Going out on a limb here, but, "BUYER BEWARE".

Any First Time Poster that has to convince me that "this is legit" loses my interest.

ALoha

[This message has been edited by clublounger (edited 11-08-2000).]

Plus any so-called benevolent organisation that posts a diatribe against a corporation (Colgate-Palmolive in this instance) because it has decided not to donate money is also a little suspicious.

If the corporation was initially good enough to be solicited by this organisation for a donation in the first place, then Colgate-Palmolive declined, what sort of message does this sort of behaviour send to others?

This smacks of blackmail to me.

As a "first time poster" I did not realize specific lingo could cast suspicion on this group, I was actually only trying to help. What I can suggest is that the group says they are registered with the NJ Dept. of Law & Public Safety, Division of Consumer Affairs, Charitable Registration and Investigation Unit. I live in NJ and looked up the number, it is 973-504-6215. I would assume anybody who doubts the group's veracity could call that number and check them out. In the meantime, I still say it sounds like a good idea.

It's more cost-effective to buy Kellogg's cereal and donate it to a local food bank while keeping the coupons to send in. You get 100 miles per box. The 12 oz. size of Corn Flakes, if you can find it with planes, sells in the $2 range so that's about 50 miles per dollar versus 20. Most of the others are over $3, some near $4, but still over 20 miles/$. It takes them about two weeks to post miles.

Have no idea about the validity of this offer. But, I do want to say that the fact a charity is registered with State authorities (generally a requirement, varies from state to state what exactly is required and what it means) does not imply that the charity will use funds wisely! In fact, there are some legally registered charities that are known to spend almost all the money that comes in on fundraising and overhead costs. Do your own due diligence if you care where your money goes! I help charities raise money, so I am certainly a strong supporter of this type of cause related marketing . But the fact that the group is registered doesn't mean that any oversight is being provided by any authorities (althoug some may be). In fact, claiming that you are registered would be like me saying "Of course I am a good consultant, you see I am registered--I have a social security number!"

Nonetheless, all the best wishes to this foundation which I hope is doing good work! To begin checking out a charity, you may want to start at http://www.guidestar.org Guidestar has xeroxed and put up on the web the 1998 and 1997 tax returns of virtually all charities required to file them. I believe they are working on 1999. Almost all charities must file the 990 tax return if they have more than $25,000/year income. However, churches are exempt from this requirement.

In this case, I looked the foundation up at: http://www.guidestar.org/search/repo...ll&revenue_cd=

If this doesn't work, go to Guidestar, hit advanced search, enter the zip code for this group, 07028, and a list will pop up. Name is spelled Erin Go Branch in that listing.

This charity has not been required to file a complete 990 yet because they have not had more than $25K in income in any fiscal year since they started operating in 1998.

They list one employee, Mr. Fisher, and only 3 board members, generally the legal minmum to found a non-profit corporation. Other than a web site with various shopping programs and such, they do not seem to have any programs, although their stated intention is to build a museum of Irish-American Heritage, certainly a worthy goal, but it is unclear to me that they have a program capable of achieving the goal. Please be aware that in a case like this, providing the board members go along with it, the director could be getting paid in salary and benefits all the money that comes in to the group, net of costs for maintaining the site, etc. I am NOT saying this is what's happening--I have no idea. But do be aware it's possible.

I am all for giving small start up charities a buck and a chance. In this case, I would have to do more due diligence before I could consider a gift, unless I were just flat out interested in purchasing miles (which strikes me as a better deal anyway!) Buy the miles if you can't earn them, and give generously to a charity that you really care about.

HI guys, I just wanted to clarify a few things, if I could. I am the founder and Director of The Erin Go Bragh Foundation. The promotion being discussed here is my brainchild. I joined Flyertalk a while ago, and check the site occasionally but do not contribute much because I really don't travel much. I conceived this idea after being solicited by the American Airlines promotions department. I discussed how to promote the idea with a friend and I mentioned this site. I said I was not sure how to go about talking about it without seeming to be involved in aggrandized self-promotion, whereupon he took it upon himself to join Flyertalk and do it himself. He then called me yesterday in alarm to tell me people were bashing not just the promotion, but the foundation as well. After reading the posts I feel I need to respond.
I founded The Erin Go Bragh Foundation in October 1998 after discovering there is not one Irish American Heritage Museum in America. This is despite the Irish being the third largest ethnic group in America and despite the innumerable contributions of the Irish to our society. I left my job a year ago to work on this project full time. In the interim, none of the volunteers who have donated their time to this project nor I have made a penny from the foundation. In fact, quite the opposite is true; I have been draining my life savings to support my family while trying to see this project through. I spent $5000 of my own money to purchase the miles for this promotion, the proceeds of which will go directly to the foundation.
Make no mistake - this is a fundraising effort. We would like this museum to be part of the Passaic River revitalization project in Newark, NJ, plans for which include a cultural center. The first step in that direction is to hire an independent consultant to do a cost analysis. With the numbers from that analysis in hand we can begin our capital campaign. Right now we are trying to raise the funds to pay for the cost analysis.
As a formative charity, we are in a precarious position. We have received tacit support from Senator Robert Torricelli and Congressman Bill Pascrell of NJ, as well as various politicians on the local level. Several Irish organizations, including the NJ chapter of the AOH have shown enthusiasm for the idea, however, a basic requirement for the vast majority of grants, be they government, private or corporate is that you prove you have existing financial support. It�s a classic Catch-22; you can�t get the support you need to prove you have support to get the support they won�t give you without support. Hence, the reason for this promotion. I am sorry we cannot compete with Kellogg�s, in fact, I wish I had known about that cost analysis sooner, I might have saved myself $5000. I am sure they get their miles at a substantial discount to what we are paying. However, this isn�t all that bad a deal. It is also a much simpler process.
If you would like to help what we feel is a truly worthy cause and get a small reward in return, then please by all means make a donation. If you would like any further information or have any questions at all please feel free to email me at [email protected].
I am sorry for the length of this message and hope this clears a few things up, Thank you.

Sincerely,
Brian P. Fisher

I'm a little skeptical about this as there are some things that I noticed that are questionable. They state that the point value is tax deductible. I went to the ClickRewards website and visited the charities that they work with. The charities' website state the point value is not deductible. UNLESS the reason is the points are ClickRewards and not AA points, possibly the reason. The quality of the website leaves doubt also, a little amateurish.
Some of the websites accept credit cards which gives an added bonus if you use one that is tied to an airline plus the protection of a credit card.
If in doubt check with the New Jersey Attorney General. Since it's on the Internet it's also a federal matter so the FTC/FCC can investigate if necessary. You could always ask to see a copy of their financial statements. If they hesitate start asking questions. The thing with ClickDough is a little cheesy, has the appearance of an MLM scheme.
Don't knock it unless you really check behind the doors, could be a viable organization, 'specially if you are Irish-American.

Brian, thanks for taking the time to respond to the points that were raised here and to explain your situation. I wish you all the best! The AAdvantage miles may not be a bad investment for you, but here is probably not the place to advertise your deal. We are mostly pretty shrewd mile addicts here and I bet most of us only go for these promotions when the mile payout is really high, higher than you could responsibly offer.

One possibility for you to use these miles is talked about here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/001234.html

All the best to you!