Boston Strong

It’s been one week since the Boston Marathon tragedy.   It’s been one week – and many are already making money on the merchandising of this horror show.  Many fraudulent charitable organizations have popped up too.  If you know me, then you know how I hate, hate, hate people who profit from diseases, or tragedies.   Shame on you.

The Huffington Post had an article yesterday about the race to trademark the words Boston Strong.

The IRS has made a statement about charitable fraud.

Mayor Menino and Governor Patrick, along with other corporate leaders in Boston, have create the One Fund.

they have a logo, too

The website names all the wonderful people who are involved, yet there is no description of how they will use the donations.  Oh, and the One Fund is not yet a designated 501(c)3.  They have applied, but not been given the designation.  Too soon I suppose.

According to an article in the Non Profit Quarterly, The One Fund was setup within 7 hours of the blast and The fund has been placed under Kenneth Feinberg, the well-known attorney who managed the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund as well as compensation funds for victims of the 2010 BP Gulf Coast oil spill and the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Aurora, Colorado.

I wonder why people feel the need to start a brand new charitable organization when so many good ones already exist?  Hello!  Red Cross!  They specialize in disaster relief.  Logistics and operations are in place to handle things like this.  Why re-invent the wheel with a new charitable organization that will have administrative over-head and other related costs?  I guess the Red Cross is not sexy enough, or the logo was not acceptable.

4/24/13 edit:  The Boston Globe reports that no administrative costs will be charged to the fund.  Phew!

Speaking of logos –  just like any good severe weather or news event, there are already several logos commemorating the day.

Even the New England Revolution has a logo:

Here is a ribbon logo that has been seen around:

These are $10, and $8 is supposed to go to victims

The custom printing site CafePress even has a page designated for Boston Strong merchandise.  Mouse pads, mugs and tote bags.  I did not see anything about a portion of proceeds or profits being donated to the victims.

I made a purchase at my local CVS and the cashier asked if I wanted to donate to the Boston Marathon victims.  When asked, she could not tell me how the money would be distributed or if the CVS Foundation would be taking care of this.  Ugh.

That home-made-crap site Etsy has stuff too.

I’m annoyed and will continue to call-out all of these shameless self-promoting tragedy-profiteers.  I hope they donate money to the innocent victims. I’ll be watching.