Straining the Quality of Mercy: Abandoning the Quest for Informed Charitable Giving
![handle is hein.journals/scal64 and id is 619 raw text is: STRAINING THE QUALITY OF
MERCY: ABANDONING THE
QUEST FOR INFORMED
CHARITABLE GIVING
LESLIE G. ESPINOZA*
I. INTRODUCTION
Assume that the Cancer Research Society, a hypothetical charity,
raised $10 million by direct mail solicitation. It distributed $500,000 of
the money raised to scientists who conduct cancer research. It spent
$500,000 on administration. The remaining $9 million went to the
direct-mail firm that sent out the letters. When you receive the next let-
ter, would you give to the Cancer Research Society? Would you feel
differently if the direct-mail firm received only $5 million, fifty percent of
the revenues generated? Twenty-five percent?
In all likelihood, you would never be able to make this decision.
Ironically, individual donors, who are responsible for over eighty-five
percent of the one hundred billion dollars given to charity annually,'
have no meaningful opportunity to learn about fund-raising costs. In the
past, legislatures have controlled fund-raising costs by imposing fund-
raising expenditure limits on charities. Between 1960 and 1980, twenty-
eight states and many municipalities imposed fund-raising limits on char-
ities.2 Most of these enactments placed a ceiling on fund-raising costs,
* Associate Professor of Law, University of Arizona; Visiting Associate Professor of Law,
Boston College, 1989-91. B.A. 1974, University of Redlands; J.D. 1977, Harvard Law School. I
would like to thank Professors Catharine Wells, Robert Williams, Patricia Cain, Ingrid Hillinger,
James Repetti, and Robert Glennon for their editing comments on early drafts of this Article. I
would also like to thank the University of Arizona Law College Association for their research
support.
1. In 1988 contributions to charity exceeded $100 billion. Individual contributions accounted
for over 86% of the money donated. Giving Tops One Hundred Billion Dollar Mark, but Some
Troubling Signs Remain, 3 THE NONPROFIT TIMES, June 1989, at 1 [hereinafter Giving].
2. Fund-raising limitations were embodied in 20 years of state statutes, municipal ordinances,
and model legislation. B. HOPKINS, CHARITY UNDER SIEGE: GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF
FUND-RAISING 96-97 (1980) (documenting that 28 states had fund-raising cost-limit statutes in
1980).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/scal64&div=24&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Straining the Quality of Mercy: Abandoning the Quest for Informed Charitable Giving
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