serving our community since 1997
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COSAC Foundation | PO Box 292-577 Davie, FL 33329 | 954-924-3571 Part of the North American Street Newspaper Association
On your mark, Get set, Go! Staff Writer
It’s been almost a full year since we launched our 5K Race to End Homelessness! Last Februaury a couple hundred participants came and supported our local homeless by competing in our first 5K. The weather was cold, but spirits were high that day. Thanks to the generous support of the community, we raised money and had a good time doing it! We are so excited to announce our 2nd Annual 5K Race to End Homelessness is a go! On March 24th at 8 am, we invite all novice and experienced runners to join us for a good cause. Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to get in shape? Start Running? Make a positive impact on your Community? How about all three! Our course is on Hollywoods’ Broadwalk alongside the ocean. It’s a flat, fast course, and this year we have an ultimate course experience! Our organizers have planned for cash prizes, live music, costumed characters, 50/50 raffle, refreshments, and much more! Registration is open at www.HVoice.org/5K! Sign up today to ensure your free t-shirt. If you want to help, but can’t make it, we are always accepting donations and looking for race sponsors. Thank you for your continued support and we hope to see you March 24th, 2012!
4 Tips to Find the Right Charity Brandon Ballenger
When: March 24th, 2012 8 am Where: Garfield St. & Broadwalk, Hollywood, FL 33019 Register online today!
Homeless Voice Featured! see video at hvoice.org
Homeless advocate Fitzpatrick to be inducted into MLK Hall of Fame Chad Smith
The number of charitable organizations in the U.S. has steadily grown over the past decade to more than 1.2 million, according to a Giving USA Foundation [PDF] report. But not every charity deserves that name – the IRS regularly revokes the 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status of organizations that fail to disclose their finances or that it believes aren’t acting in the public interest. According to the same report, the The charity in the video above, COSAC homeless shelter, spends about 80 government dropped 275,000 nonprofits from the cents per dollar on services. That’s actually pretty good – CharityWatch’s list of top-rated charities only includes those that “spend 75% or more of list in June. their budgets on programs, spend $25 or less to raise $100 in public support, Individual Americans donated more than $211 [and] do not hold excessive assets in reserve.” billion to charities last year, and are expected to their cause and goals with a mission statement that should exgive a similar amount by the end of 2011. But how plain the reasons behind their activities. The statement should do potential donors make sure the money goes to a be on the organization’s website or promotional materials, and charity that will make good use of it? Money Talks if you don’t feel it matches your own causes or what the orNews founder Stacy Johnson takes a look at tips ganization actually does, move on. Be skeptical of any group for smart donating: http://www.moneytalksnews. without a mission statement – that doesn’t speak highly of their com/2011/11/16/4-tips-to-find-the-right-charity/ organization skills, or how they make spending decisions. Administrative overhead, including advertising and 2) Look at money spent on the cause. executive pay, often eat up much It’s one thing to say you want to help peolarger percentages of a charity’s budget. Last year, Charity Navi- After visiting COSAC homeless ple, and another to do it. You can request an organization’s financial report (called gator looked at charity CEO pay Form 990) and dig through it yourself to shelter, MoneyTalkNews and found the CEO of the Scripps see if the walk backs the talk. Many are Research Institute makes more deemed them a worthy cause... online and searchable in the Foundation than a million per year. Others Center’s 990 Finder. There are also sites appoint family to high-paying that have already done the work for you, board positions, and some spend like Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, GuideStar, and the Betyour money on raising more with telemarketing camter Business Bureau. These kinds of sites also feature donor paigns. reviews to give you more perspective. Many legitimate do-gooders may not make the most 3) Review charity status. Sometimes charities get dropped effective use of your donation, and there are plenty of off the IRS’ list. Aside from the tax deduction implications, scams out there too. When it comes to charity, here’s and as Stacy said in Is Your Charity Still Charitable? How to how to run a check before you sign one… Find Out, “losing tax-exempt status is a definite red flag and 1) Read the mission statement. Charities sum up (Continued on pg 9)
Pat Fitzpatrick thought there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to attend the banquet where he will be honored as this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Florida Hall of Fame inductee. Fitzpatrick thought he might be behind bars, ironically where King found himself a number of times during his quest for social justice in the 1950s and 1960s. The annual award, which honors locals who have followed in King’s footsteps in a struggle for equality in some form or fashion, is to be given to Fitzpatrick on Jan. 15, six days after his trial on a trespassing charge was to start. Fitzpatrick, an outspoken advocate for the homeless, thought there was a chance he would be in the Alachua County jail by then. He was charged, along with three others, with trespassing on the city’s Bo Diddley Community Plaza as part of an Occupy Gainesville protest in October 2011. But, this week, after a death in his attorney’s family, the trial was moved back to Jan. 19. Former Alachua County Commissioner Rodney Long, who heads the King Commission and organizes the weeklong celebration that will begin Tuesday, said King would be proud of the work Fitzpatrick did to overturn a “very immoral law,” referring to the city’s ordinance limiting soup kitchens to serving 130 meals a day. For the past few years, Fitzpatrick has argued and pleaded with city commissioners to do away with the limit. (Continued on pg 8)
Our Purpose: To Help the Homeless Learn How to Help Themselves