• Storm after the storm: Consumers warned about fake Oklahoma charities

    Slideshow: Tornadoes ravage Plains

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    Destroyed vehicles lie in the rubble outside the Plaza Towers Elementary school in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday.

    Launch slideshow

    By Bob Sullivan, Columnist, NBC News

    For many, it's impossible to view the heartbreaking stories coming out of Oklahoma and not feel an overwhelming urge to do something. But following your first impulse to help could just lead to more heartbreak, as many charitable givers often fall prey to scams in the wake of national tragedies.

    Authorities are warning would-be donors to think carefully before they donate, and before they click.

    "There is always a high probability for con-artists or 'travelers' to pop-up in the state following a storm, pushing quick-fix repair schemes and charity scams," Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a press release. He urged Oklahomans to stay alert.

    Scam artists crawl out of the woodwork only hours after the first pictures of death and destruction emerge. Like clockwork, spam emails, fake Facebook pages, telemarketing phone calls — even full-fledged websites that accept credit cards — pop up, all claiming falsely that they are collecting money for victims. Virus writers also get into the act, sending around booby-trapped emails that appear to come from charities, but are designed to invade victims' computers.


    Pruitt said people around the country should donate to "reputable" organizations such as the Salvation Army or Red Cross. "The first scam we typically see after devastation like this is charity fraud,” he said

    Pruitt also said his department has already sent 30 investigators into the tornado-ravaged area to stop local scams, fraud and price gouging.

    For a detailed list of ways to help Oklahoma victims, visit NBC News' How to Help page.

    Attorneys general in several other states, from Washington to South Carolina, have also issued charity fraud warnings.

    Even consumers who wouldn't normally fall for scams are at risk in the aftermath of major disasters because the overwhelming sadness of the events, and the urgency of the need, can override a giver's natural sense of skepticism. The same urgency force is at play whenever a scam artist insists that a supposedly great deal is only available for a short time.

    Federal Trade Commission spokesman Frank Dorman said he didn't believe his agency had received any complaints about Oklahoma-related scams yet, but that's not unusual: victims wouldn't yet realize they'd been scammed, he said.

    The agency does offer an extensive set of tips for evaluating charities.

    Consumers should beware anyone who:

    • Uses high-pressure tactics like trying to get you to donate immediately, without giving you time to think about it and do your research.
    • Refusing to provide detailed information about its identity, mission, costs and how the donation will be used.
    • Won't provide proof that a contribution is tax deductible.
    • Uses a name that closely resembles that of a better-known, reputable organization.
    • Thanks you for a pledge you don’t remember making.
    • Asks for donations in cash or asks you to wire money.
    • Offers to send a courier or overnight delivery service to collect the donation immediately.

    Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter. 

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  • For Salvation Army, there's gold in them thar kettles

    Courtesy Salvation Army

    An anonymous donor left this gold coin worth almost $2,000 in a Red Kettle in Houston on Tuesday.

    By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

    Modern coins go "plink" when they drop into a Salvation Army kettle. But gold is a softer metal; it goes "plonk." And in a Christmas tradition that's 30 years old this year, the gold coins are once again starting to plonk into the iconic red kettles. 

    M. Alex Johnson M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for NBC News. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

    It happened Nov. 9 in Bettendorf, Iowa, when a 1/4-ounce gold coin worth about $500 was dropped in a volunteer's pot outside Schnuck's Market. It was nestled in a cardboard setting with cellophane wrapped around it, so it stood out when the kettle was opened, said Holly Nomura, development director for the Salvation Army's Quad Cities Corps.

    Then on Tuesday, outside a Sam's Club in southwest Houston, someone — no one but the donor knows who — left a 1-ounce gold coin worth almost $2,000 in the pot, wrapped inside a $1 bill. Attached was this note: "A child is born, Jesus! Merry Christmas!"

    It's at least the 15th straight year that's happened in the Quad Cities and the fifth year in a row in Houston. And it's always "a wonderful start to our holiday fundraising efforts," said Lt. Josh McKain of the Salvation Army's Irvington, Texas, corps.

    So far this season, gold coins worth many times their face values also have been left in Salvation Army kettles at a Sam's Club in Mishawaka, Ind.; at a Jewel-Osco store in Kankakee, Ill.; and in a kettle somewhere in Johnson County, Tenn. (It wasn't discovered until the bank started counting donations, so the precise location isn't known.)


    The Red Kettle donation campaign began in San Francisco in 1891, and presumably gold coins — which were legal tender until 1933 — were part of the haul from the beginning. 

    But the specific tradition of anonymously leaving a single gold coin in the pot is more recent. Most accounts say it began 30 years ago, in Quincy, Ill., but there's a friendly dispute over that — the Quad Cities unit in Iowa says it believes that the tradition began there, though it acknowledges it can't prove it.

    For years, someone would anonymously leave a single 1-ounce gold coin in a kettle in the Quad Cities (besides Bettendorf, the three other cities are Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Ill.). That anonymous donor is believed to have died about four years ago, but not the tradition, as smaller gold coins have continued to pop up.

    "Every year we have one," Nomura told NBC News.

    U.S. Mint

    U.S. Gold Eagles come in four denominations: $5, $10, $25 and $50. But their real value is tied to the market price of gold. A $10 piece like this one fetches about $500.

    'Huge motivation'
    The national Salvation Army says it's gotten more than 400 gold coins from anonymous donors over the last three decades. They come from several countries. Someone has left a South African Krugerrand in a pot in Mason City, Iowa, since 1997, for instance.

    But they're often Gold Eagles, which are U.S. coins minted in four denominations: $5, $10, $25 and $50. They're 92 percent gold (and 3 percent silver), so their real worth fluctuates with the market price of gold. They're intended for collectors and for transactions involving precious metals, not for general circulation. 

    The condition and age of a coin can lower (or raise) its final value, but the U.S. Mint said that at Thursday's gold price, a 2012 1-ounce $50 piece in uncirculated condition would cost $1,978. A 1/4-ounce $10 piece (like the one donated in Bettendorf) would command $515.50, the Mint said. 

    Hoping to boost donations, Salvation Army bell ringers dance in the streets. NBC's Thomas Roberts reports.

    Obviously, you can't just throw one of those into a coin roll and drop it off at the bank. Eventually, the coin left in Bettendorf will be taken to a dealer to be appraised and then sold, with the proceeds going toward the chapter's $725,000 fundraising goal for 2012.

    Until then, it's in a safe, "except when the media wants to film it," Nomura told NBC News. 

    And that's not uncommon — the tradition has turned into a terrific publicity tool for the Salvation Army. If a gold coin shows up in a kettle somewhere, a press release is sure to follow.

    But it also serves a larger purpose, said McKain, of the Texas chapter that got Tuesday's Gold Eagle.

    "It's not only a significant boost for us this year as a monetary donation, but also a huge motivation for all of our kettle workers," he told NBC station KPRC of Houston. "Really, for all of us who are involved in the Red Kettle campaign."

    NBC station KPRC of Houston contributed to this report.

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  • Gay groups boycott Salvation Army red kettle drive

    Tim Boyle / Getty Images

    Salvation Army bell-ringer Debra Vazquez works near her red donation kettle Dec. 20, 2005. in Park Ridge, Ill.

    By James Eng, msnbc.com

    The Salvation Army’s annual red kettle fundraising campaign is not getting a ringing endorsement from gays and lesbians.

    Gay-rights groups are urging a boycott of donations to the iconic holiday bell-ringers, saying the Salvation Army has a history of discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people -- a charge the charity denies.

    “As the holidays approach, the Salvation Army bell ringers are out in front of stores dunning shoppers for donations. If you care about gay rights, you'll skip their bucket in favor of a charity that doesn't actively discriminate against the LGBT community,” Bil Browning, editor-in-chief of The Bilerico Project, a national LGBT blog, wrote in a recent post titled "Why You Shouldn't Donate to the Salvation Army Bell Ringers."

    "While you might think you're helping the hungry and homeless by dropping a few dollars in the bright red buckets, not everyone can share in the donations. Many LGBT people are rejected by the evangelical church charity because they're ‘sexually impure.'”

    “We are urging a boycott of the Salvation Army because it uses its selective interpretation of the Bible to promote discrimination against LGBT people in employment benefits and leadership positions within the Army,” Andy Thayer, co-founder, Gay Liberation Network, told msnbc.com in an email.

    "Of all the very many, often bizarre, prohibitions mentioned in Leviticus, the Army chooses to single out and promote the few prohibitions against gays, which suggests to us that it is bigotry, not literal Bible belief, that motivates their actions."

    The Salvation Army, a charitable evangelical Christian organization that provides aid and services to the needy, denies that it discriminates against anyone.

    "Nothing can be further from the truth," Lt. Col. Ralph Bukiewicz, divisional commander of the Salvation Army Metropolitan Division, told msnbc.com on Wednesday.

    The charitable organization notes that its services are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation.

    “In our policies, in our practices, in our programs and in our eligibility for any service within the Salvation Army, there is not a request for any details concerning sexual orientation,” says Bukiewicz.

    Gay-rights advocates contend the organization has a history of lobbying for “anti-gay” policies and legislation. As an example, Browing says that in 2004 the Salvation Army threatened to close all their soup kitchens for the homeless in New York to protest the city's decision to require vendors and charities doing business with the city to adhere to the state’s civil rights laws forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation.

    Gays and celibacy
    On its national website, the Salvation Army says it holds "a positive view of human sexuality" and does not consider same-sex orientation "blameworthy in itself.”

    The position statement on homosexuality goes on to say: “Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex. The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life. There is no scriptural support for same-sex unions as equal to, or as an alternative to, heterosexual marriage.

    “Likewise, there is no scriptural support for demeaning or mistreating anyone for reason of his or her sexual orientation. The Salvation Army opposes any such abuse.”

    Browning says the Salvation Army has denied services to LGBT people unless they renounce their sexuality or end their same-sex relationships -- a charge Bukiewicz denies.

    "I've seen the discrimination the Salvation Army preaches first hand,” Browning wrote. “When a former boyfriend and I were homeless, the Salvation Army insisted we break up before they'd offer assistance. We slept on the street instead and declined to break up as they demanded.”

    Browning, Thayer and other gay-rights activists are urging people to ignore the sidewalk and storefront red kettle bell-ringers and instead redirect their holiday donations to other charities.

    Bukiewicz says the campaign by gay-rights groups is based on “erroneous understanding.” He notes their boycott actions in previous years haven’t put a crimp in holiday donations.

    Last year, Salvation Army raised a record $142 million during its Christmas appeal campaign, the most noticeable component of which are the red kettles. That was a 5 percent increase over the previous year.

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  • Crews from all over head to hurricane zones

    Emergency and recovery agencies across the eastern U.S. are loading up to pitch in with local crews in the areas expected to be hardest hit by Hurricane Irene. Amy Cowan of NBC station WCNC-TV in Charlotte, N.C., visited the Salvation Army's crews in Charlotte, which was preparing to drive to Wilmington on the North Carolina coast, to see how they prepare.