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I
 nvestigation: PLANET AID and its Impact on Local Charities
By Mike Thompson
A
trail of newspaper headlines tail Planet Aid, a Boston-based
group that has set up dozens of yellow clothing collection boxes across
the Saginaw area since late last year. 'Clothes service has links to
fraud investigation', Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, April2,
2006.
"Clothing drop box charity questioned',
Portsmouth (Va.) Herald, Jan. 23, 2005.
'Charges prompt (attorney general) review of charity', Boston Globe, Sept. 17, 2002.
This is mostly because Planet Aid
is linked with Tvind, a 37-year-old operation based in Denmark
whose founding leaders face charges of fraud and embezzlement in their
homeland.
If that all seems complicated,
Angela Butcher had a similar reaction a few months ago. She's a
volunteer with Saginaw's Action Thrift Store, 2114 N. Michigan,
and says second-hand clothing donations started sinking last year as
soon as the canary-colored bins started to go up.
She wants to spread the word for
mid-Michigan donors to ask questions.
"My gut feeling when I first saw a
yellow box last summer was that I questioned whether this is
legitimate," Butcher says. "There is plenty of evidence on the Internet
that it is not legitimate."
Store Manager Barb Holly says her
facility is suffering as a result of Planet Aid's appearance on the
scene.
"We were loaded with clothes and had
half a room full that we needed to sort," Holly says. "Then those yellow
boxes went up, and now we're in need."
Managers of other mid-Michigan thrift
stores say they are not facing major clothing shortages and have not
probed Planet Aid, although some told Review Magazine
that they now would do so.
Serina Lopez, a Planet Aid
public relations manager in Cleveland, says she receives ongoing media
calls about the controversy, as the group expands into territory that
now includes nearly 6,000 yellow boxes in 19 states. The containers
look like oversized mailboxes and are located at stores where owners
give permission.
As Planet Aid moves to each new
metropolitan area, often either a social worker or a journalist will do
an Internet check. Boom. The result is an explosion of pro-con
information.
Lopez says donors should look at Planet
Aid's own American operations, established in 1997, and strongly
downplays connections with Tvind. Planet Aid's web site is
www.planetaid.org and
Lopez takes calls at 1-888-880-1433.
"If somebody wants to criticize us, they
should at least contact us first for the facts," Lopez says. "We are a
registered nonprofit and our reports are a matter of public record."
Planet Aid critics, in turn, say
the links with Tvind are clear and direct. Some reports state that 100
percent of Planet Aid profits go into Tvind.
Collected and resold
Planet Aid makes no secret that
it resells the clothes for profit, and that the main purpose is for
international rather than local projects. Concerns in Africa and Central
America range from education to clean water to AIDS prevention.
"Think of the 58 million pounds of
clothing that we kept out of American landfills last year, and resold at
affordable prices to people in need," Lopez answers.
"Think of the schools opened (in the
Third World), the AIDS prevention, the billions of gallons of clean
water provided."
Butcher points to a series of 2002
Boston Globe reports that have set the tone for critical follow-up
articles in other communities that Planet Aid has entered. She notes
that Planet Aid's own top officer was quoted acknowledging a standard of
6 percent of profits going to charity.
Lopez refutes the report and says the 6
percent figure is misleading, because revenue goes for Third World
community development and improvements, rather than 'charity' for
individuals.
To serve overseas, volunteers in the
Tvind Network pay up to $4,000 for training and then must raise an
added $7,000 apiece in their home communities. This is another point of
criticism.
Tvind's answer is that the volunteers
receive training and experience, similar to a college education, while
Lopez emphasizes that Planet Aid has "nothing to do with volunteer
recruitment."
On the home front, many Planet Aid
employees are low-wage drivers who circulate the bins and then make
periodic collections.
Leaders of various agencies have
estimated that second-hand clothing can prove strongly profitable when
sold on consignment, especially where foreigners are attracted to
American fashions. Tvind has a connection with an Atlanta
company, Garson & Shaw Inc.
Holly asserts that people should strive
to keep donations in their home communities. "That's just a matter of
opinion," Lopez says. "There's no right or wrong in that regard. The
United States is full of choices."
Busy on her computer Butcher defends her facts and points to an array of web sites. The most thorough discovered by Review Magazine is www.rickross.com/groups/tvind
The focus is on Tvind but Planet Aid
receives ample mention. So do other clothes collection groups with
different names but also linked to Tvind. They are Gaia (green
boxes instead of yellow), Humana, People to People and
U.S. Again.
Among more than 70 headlines and
stories, some are from the Copenhagen (Denmark) Post. One
proclaims assertively, "Clothing donors duped."
Tvind is described in various
reports as a blend of for-profit and non-profit groups in a 'labyrinth'
that has produced up to $860 million in assets.
Seven of eight Tvind leaders were acquitted last August on criminal charges, but the Danish government is seeking a new trial. Tvind is prohibited from non-profit efforts today in Denmark and elsewhere across Europe, and also through the United Nations.
The Sacramento Bee reported last
November, "Understanding Tvind - its structure, scope and finances - has
been a career-long pursuit for government investigators and journalists
in Europe."
For their part, Planet Aid
representatives focus on their work in the United States since 1997 and
leave Tvind discussions to others. Multiple reports indeed indicate that
nobody from Planet Aid ever has faced a criminal charge.
A top Planet Aid executive, Ester
Neltrip, added to Lopez� words with an e-mail from her Washington
office.
"Tvind is the name of a location of a
school in Denmark which has been a pioneer in creating global education
and international exchange," Neltrip writes.
"It is in that capacity that the paths of Planet Aid and of Tvind are meeting, purely as an exchange of people and experiences, absolutely no ownership and/or other formal obligations." Simple messages on boxes Various reports indicate that a key to Planet Aid's success is the simplicity. Residents simply can drive up and get rid of their bags, similar to putting out the trash. Action Thrift also takes donations on site, for example, but donors must honor hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays or the second Saturday of each month.
The Planet Aid boxes provide only
the essential information for a distant viewer. They show a group logo,
which has a Saturn-style ring around Earth. The big-print come-on is
basic: 'CLOTHES - SHOES'.
Up close, there's more: 'Your Donation
Counts. Your Donation Helps. Help Us Handle Your Donations Correctly.
Loose Clothing May Become Dirty. Put Clothing in Bags And Tie Securely.
Thank You For Not Leaving Bags Outside The Box.'
Then there's a more specific blurb:
'Planet Aid is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the
lives of people in developing countries. We support community
development, HIV/AIDS prevention, education and teacher training, relief
aid, environmental protection and other development programs. Clothes
donated to Planet Aid are resold. The proceeds are used to fund programs
in Central America and Africa. Planet Aid, Inc., is exempt from taxes
under IRS Code 501 � 3. For further information, please contact Planet
Aid at 888-893-0643 (or)
www.planetaid.org.'
Review Magazine contacted
a small sampling of business owners, most who said they allowed the
yellow bins without in-depth questions. Some said they intend to
investigate. Planet Aid's Michigan regional operation is based in
Taylor.
Cameron Brady is development
manager for Saginaw Habitat for Humanity, one of the community's
most visible and trusted local charities since the 1980s. He also is
chairman of the Saginaw County Coalition of Homeless Assistance
Providers and the Saginaw County Re-Distribution Program.
Donors should ask questions not only
about international and national groups, but also about local sources,
says Brady, although he isn't naming names.
"There are a whole lot of different
projects that keep emerging in Saginaw," Brady says. "You look down
Hamilton, and it's becoming like thrift store row. You should always
check, especially the newer places. Make sure your donations are used as
intended. If you don't want it resold, give it someplace else."
"But at the same time, people should
make an extra effort to donate. There is more stuff of value out there
that we haven't even started to touch, items that people have had
stashed in their attics for years. Our outlook is that if you have
something good enough that you would give it to a relative or a friend
who you happen to like, then you should use it yourself or donate it
somewhere."
MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES
For a donor of clothes or any
other item, a first key decision involves reselling. Some locations sell
for slightly higher prices, such as Goodwill Industries, because
a second priority is to provide jobs. Others, such as the Partnership
Center (former St. Vincent de Paul), are more free with handouts.
"If a person has been in a house fire, or is coming out of prison or jail, we will give them clothes," says Director Georgann Hemker. "We have free sets that we call our C-job interview� clothes."
Ken Bueche, longtime director of
Chesaning Area Emergency Relief, has an original perspective. H
joins other agency leaders who say hardship seems to have increased
annually since the late 1990s. He notes that his group gave out 825
large food boxes last year, up sharply from 675 in 2005.
But clothes?
"We're up to our buns in clothes," he
says. "We can't get rid of them. We don't know what to do with all of
them."
In fact, Bueche says he intends to
speak with Angela Butcher and Barb Holly at Action
Thrift.
"They can have all they want," he says. "I'll bring them into Saginaw."
Chesaning has a downtown Planet Aid
box at the Dollar Store. Bueche says that has been fine with him,
although he does plan to follow the suggestion from Butcher and Holly to
check the group's background.
"You can only fit eight or nine large
bags into one of those boxes, so I don't see where they would be such a
big drain," Bueche says. "And at the rate they're going in Chesaning,
they won't be here for long."
"The box is full and there are bags
piled around it. Store owners and the people won't tolerate that."
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