DAYTON — Charitable donations are common by individuals and families at the end of the year, but scammers are also out there trying to take advantage of the giving spirit.
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The end of year marks the busiest and most important time of the year with a majority of donations coming in during the last months of the year.
“A lot of charities depend on the last quarter and especially the last month. Some of them get as high as 70 percent of their donations in the last quarter and usually they average 30-40 percent of whatever a charity receives it’s gonna happen in the last quarter,” Joe Baldasare, The Dayton Foundation Chief Development Officer told News Center 7′s John Bedell.
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“This is the busiest time of the year for the Dayton Foundation and frankly all charities.”
Unfortunately there are also scammers who try to get their hands on funds intended for good causes. Baldasare said one way to protect yourself is to not respond to phone calls and to ask organizations to send you information so you can do your own research before donating.
“There are a lot of similarly-sounding named organizations out there. And you say ‘oh, I’ve heard of them.’ Well, their name may be a little bit different and it may not be the charity that you think it is,” he said.
Ohio Attorney General Dave…