With Charities for All

    In these trying times (have you ever come across an article that starts with, "In these plush times," or "In these prosperous times?") it is understandable that ambitious young entrepreneurs (i.e., thieves) are busily searching for new and ingenious ways to make money (i.e., bilk the public).
    Given the well-known generosity, stupidity, and pervasive feelings of guilt that infest the average American, a ripe field for turning a fast buck is the ever-lucrative charity industry.
    
Most big-time charities rake in the cash by appealing to our tear ducts with heart-tugging tales of courageous young mothers suffering from little-known diseases, horrifying stories of endangered wildlife threatened by greedy oil companies, and piteous pleas on behalf of starving African babies (there seems to be a bottomless supply of starving African babies).
    
What committed bird-watcher so heartless as to refuse to contribute his or her social security check to keep Sarah Palin from massacring polar bears with an AK-47 from her private helicopter as she tools over the rapidly melting arctic ice pack laughing maniacally?
    
What elderly Peterborough matron so callous as not to fork over her widow’s mite after paging through a glossy flyer featuring an array of brown-skinned children tricked out by enterprising photographers to look like Texas road kill?
    
What semi-mobile Walmart habitué so unfeeling as to turn a blind eye to those suffering from the crippling, mind-numbing, flesh-eating symptoms of Australopithecus gravis or other newly invented disease?
    Unfortunately for the nation’s up-and-coming charity scammers, however, the choice cuts of the charity cow have already been swallowed by existing non-profits. As a result the contributing public has been pretty much sucked dry by polar bears, starving children, and the three or four people in Kentucky not covered by Medicaid.
    .What’s a young huckster to do? How is a new generation of do-gooding rip-off artists to support themselves and their wives, husbands, ad agencies, in-laws, bookies, and mistresses if existing charities have cornered the charity market?
    Whither can a young swindler turn to get his righteous share of the loot?
    The answer is suggested by what the magazine industry learned some years ago ─ Niche Marketing.
    With television usurping the audience formally dominated by such general interest dinosaurs as Life, Look, the Saturday Evening Post, and Newsweek, youthful visionaries set their sights on specialized magazines appealing to narrow audiences. Soon publications like "The Hobbyists Guide to Head-Shrinking;" "The Quadriplegic Skier," "The Crocodile Lovers’ Quarterly," "PMS and Loving It," "Winning at Pinball," and ":The Toad-Breeders Monthly" were churning out tidy profits for their owners.
    In the same way, new-minted non-profits are focussing on small but potentially lucrative target groups rather than attempting to troll the fished-out waters of traditional charities.
    Here are some promising new charities already in test-market mode:

The Philanderer-Lovers Foundation: Started a few years ago by a consortium of John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods, O. J. Simpson, Robert Blake, and Bill Clinton, this new group solicits contributions from that large and growing segment of the female population that is attracted to men who abuse them, cheat on them, lie to them, steal from them, and occasionally murder them. The foundation runs the well-known dating service, eMasochism.com, which pairs women with their choice of psychotics, serial killers, prison escapees, and NFL linebackers. Women who spring for the Super Deluxe membership package receive hospital benefits as well as co-payments for reconstructive facial surgery.

Médecins Avec Frontières (Doctors With Borders): This organization of dedicated and affluent medical specialists is committed to treating filthy rich clients living in exclusive enclaves such as Manhattan’s Upper East Side; Cherry Hills, NJ; Ventura Beach, CA; and Paradise Valley, AZ. Office hours are seldom to never. As for house calls...you gotta be kidding. Please help. Minimum contribution $10,000.

The Frown Train: Inspired by the sufferings of Joan Rivers and Nancy Pelosi, this organization assists those tragic martyrs whose facial skin is so taut from over-botoxing that they can no longer crease their foreheads when attempting to show displeasure or unhappiness. A breakthrough surgical procedure known as lipo-injection can help these unfortunates, but it is fiercely expensive. Won’t you please contribute? For mere pennies a second you can help these needy victims.

Muslims for Israel: All contributions to this Teheran-based front group (after expenses for the production of peaceful atomic weaponry are deducted), will be used to encourage Jews from around the world to emigrate to the Zionist entity. Encouragement techniques include terrorism, slander, and prejudice. It is felt that by assembling most of the world’s kikes in the confines of the Holy Land, a final solution to their problems will more easily be accomplished.

Bostonians for New York Yankees: This benevolent and protective society, inspired by the success of the Mafia in raising money for Italian-Americans, by the Westies in promoting respect for Irish-Americans, and by the Ku Klux Klan in keeping black people in their place, is devoted to safeguarding New England’s tiny minority of Yankee-lovers.. Among the group’s projects are a Kevlar-covered 37-seat section left of the Green Monster restricted to Yankee fans and a small machine-gun nest near the right-field pole manned by Bronx-Americans.

North American Vermin Foundation: Whereas other environmental protection associations devote themselves to saving endangered species, NAVF employs whatever money remains after its overhead of directors, managers, sales people, marketing gurus, board of directors, accountants, and lawyers, to fostering the growth and propagation of rodents, lice, gypsy moths, mosquitoes, cockroaches, pigeons, and other persecuted species. Results have been heart-warming. New York City’s sewer-rat community is growing by leaps and bounds and vermin specialists report that the bedbug population is thriving in motels and apartment buildings throughout the nation.

Charity of the Month Club: Vaguely similar to United Way, this non-profit umbrella group bills its members several thousand dollars a year in return for distributing a small portion of the take to a different-flavored charity each month. In addition to fictional e-mails from non-existent beneficiaries, the Charity of the Month Club also provides its contributors with a life-time supply of address stickers, a packet of non-denominational gift-wrapping paper at Kwanzaa time, and random promotions from American Express, Geico, AARP, and anyone else who’ll kick in a buck.

Norm Mack, Peterborough, dog@myfairfpoint.net

 

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