This week I got the St. Joseph’s Indian School 2014 Christmas Appeal. Wonderful, just what I need more fake indian stuff made in China.
Opt-out here saintjosephs@stjo.org. It takes 90 days to cycle out of the system.
This is the complete package with it you get:
- Lakota Deamcatcher Ornament
- Holiday Notepads
- Holiday Gift Tags
- Foil Address Labels & Stationery Seals
- Advent Calendar
- 3 Cards & Matching Envelopes
This is the donation form and a Certificate of Appreciation for the donation I am about to give them.
- Lakota Deamcatcher Ornament
- Holiday Notepads
- Holiday Gift Tags
- Foil Address Labels & Stationery Seals
- Advent Calendar
3 Cards & Matching Envelopes
Only 3 cards and one Deamcatcher Ornament?! I need more than that for all my family and friends! Calm down everyone, if you need more they sell it on their website.
Before you whip out your checkbook, I should tell you that they have 142 million in the bank right now.
Wiki page
WordPress blog
Charity Navigator page. No rating because they don’t file an IRS 990, because they are a church.
BBB’s Give.org page. They get a “Standards Not Met” rating. Mostly because they only spend 57% on programs (The BBB likes a charity to spend at a least 65% on programs) and they have misleading appeals implying that the kids are going to freeze to death if you don’t send money right now.
Blog post by “Something Better to Do” from 2009 with over 200 comments (some from this week) about the junk mail from St. Joseph’s Indian School.
Another example of a package from 2011
Another example of a package from 2012
This person uses St. Joseph’s Indian School as a case study for great ways to get more money from your packages.
And then there is this from yesterday from CNN. David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin went to St. Joseph’s Indian School to talk to the people in charge. It is as awkward as you could possibly hope for. David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin are a great team. Just to give you an idea of what the charities they report on are up against, Mr. Fitzpatrick cut his teeth working on 60 Minutes. I had never herd the term “Poverty Porn” before. That is a new tag to ad to the list.
A response from the school on Indian Country Today Media Network (it features a beautiful photo of their junk mail)
Quadriga Arts does the fund raising for them. Quadriga Arts takes about 50% of the money raised. CNN report about Quadriga Arts.
Opt-out here saintjosephs@stjo.org
I contacted them way back in September. They will take a full 90 days to stop sending me crap. It is going to be a long 90 days.
This article about the Sioux protesting the Keystone Pipeline because it “will cross are Sacred Treaty Lands and to violate these lands by digging ditches for the pipelines is blasphemes to the beliefs of the Native Americans.” has an example of a beautiful dream catcher, made with love and not in China.
If you want to see more examples of Native American charity junk mail.
Hat tip to Cynthia for pointing out the CNN piece.
Drowning in Junk Mail 
Boy…With all junk mail I receive asking for money I would be in the “poor house” in no time even at the lowest request. I don’t mind if it’s good for a really a good cause…( St.Jude Children’s Hospital) for one, but some of the others ????…I usually discard..
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St.Jude Children’s Hospital Charity Navigator page, 3 stars 20% of budget spent on fundraising. Charity Navigator likes it to be 20% and under. I like it around 10%. Those TV commercials are expensive. Their fundraisers are INFOCISION, MDS COMMUNICATIONS Corp, PARADYSZ INC, MINDSET DIRECT, EIDOLON COMMUNICATIONS LLC. Those guys don’t work for free. PARADYSZ INC got over 1 million dollars last year. I really do hate writing this blog. I’m Buzz Killington, killing all warm fuzzy feel good feelings about charities.
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have you ever seen a picture of their church?they didn’t get the money from those children that are standing out in the rain.
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I for one work for St. Joseph’s and a lot of the country are unaware of how these children live on the reservation. We have the poorest reservations in the country. Meth has taken over and these children are living in very poor conditions. I watched the CNN video and the man at Crow Creek School is completely lying there is constant violence and drug use in that school. I am not defending St. Joe’s which I completely will if I need to but I am defending these children and we are a safe place for them. I use to work with a young woman from the reservation and she simply sent her daughter here so she didn’t have to take care of her and her attitude. She often leaves her here for holidays and she was fired from my previous job because she was snorting pills on the job. The stories are real the names are not for the safety of the children. Now we just don’t use their last names. I am sorry that you have gotten all that mail and I agree those packages are excessive but if you subscribe you actually get newsletters on what these kids and alumni are accomplishing.
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My point is they need to spend more on programs and less on junk mail. I don’t need a dream catcher made in China to know that kids on the res have a hard life.
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