Veterans Charity Raises Millions to Help Those Who’ve Served (But Telemarketers Are Pocketing Most of It)

The warning was prophetic.

Maurice Levite sat in a modest office in Falls Church, Va., about a decade ago and cautioned his longtime friend, Brian Arthur Hampton, against continuing to use telemarketers to fund his small veterans charity.

With the help of his fundraisers-for-hire, Hampton had increased Circle of Friends for American Veterans’ income by an astounding amount—tenfold within three years.

But there was a catch—a costly one. The fundraisers were keeping most of the contributions donors were giving to the charity. Almost all of the money left over paid for overhead costs, such as Hampton’s salary. Veterans themselves received scraps.

Levite says he protested, but Hampton ignored him. He hired another telemarketer, Outreach Calling, to assist a related veterans nonprofit he runs out of the same office. This telemarketer—which the New York attorney general’s office says is run by a man they banned for life from fundraising in New York and remains under investigation—kept $9 out of every $10 raised.