An annual report from the New York attorney general's office on fundraising activity indicated that professional fundraisers kept 69 percent of money raised via telemarketing campaigns in the state during 2002.
The report, released Dec. 28, showed that of $184.3 million raised by telemarketers in New York in 2002, charities retained $57.1 million. Telemarketers kept the rest, $127.2 million, as costs and fees, the report said.
Charities kept less than half the money raised in 78 percent of the campaigns, the report said. Of the 607 campaigns registered in New York in 2002, 42 met the Better Business Bureau's standard of 65 percent of collections returned to charities by solicitors. Twenty-five charities lost money on telemarketing campaigns, according to the report.
The findings were close to those of last year's report, which covered telemarketing campaigns for 2001. The 2001 report found that of $184.7 million collected by telemarketers that year, telemarketers kept $125.8 million, or 68.1 percent.
The New York attorney general's office has tracked charity telemarketing activities since 1994.
