I would go to the Ronald McDonald headquarters. I woud feel this is fraud.

in the first posting about this unfortunate mishap. she stated that the woman who took the quilts, gave her a receipt for taxes.
This is why i think that it is clearly a misuse of the quilt and it's intended use. hopefully no fraud is involved..

but what a brilliant idea, to use a perm.way to adhere the label with all the info needed on it..Kim

You are all so eager to assume the very worst of these people without giving them the opportunity to explain before going over their heads. They may not even have received the email messages due to vacations, conferences, illnesses, computer crashes, any number of things.

Extreme Quilter, until you actually speak with them, I think you are being terribly unfair and, as a NPO administrator and board member, I find your prejudgement frightening. Why have you not picked up the phone and called them in all the weeks this has been eating at you?

Persist in getting to the bottom of it. Somehow this doesn't sound right. If it was a simple mistake they would be quick in telling you so. I would not like my quilts to be sold unless I had donated them as fund raisers. My feeling is, if I wanted my quilts to be sold I'd be selling them myself. Don't let this matter drop. :evil:

I don't think some people are reading everything wrote about this subject, some are just jumping ahead and making comments without reading all that is being written. Alot of assumuptions are being made, could be something in the air.

After reading all the posts here I believe the majority agree that it does need to be looked into. I get the sense that this will NOT make any of us tend to stop donating quilts - just to be more careful and check into their exact purpose from now on. Quilters ARE very giving people. I do NOT agree with those (one or two, I think) who think you are wrong for letting it be known here - you have given them plenty of opportunity to respond to your requests - vacation or not the emails should've been answered in a timely and satisfying manner by now. I thought, too, that there was something fishy up when they wanted your telephone number and did not want to correspond via email (traceable). If they have done no wrong they should be happy to respond - to me - the silence indicates troubles... and hopefully it's only this one RMH and not others - you have given them ample time to respond - at this point, I'm not sure, if it were me, that I'd even give them another chance - they would just appease you - take it to the board.

I also have just heard that Goodwill does put things on ebay now...

Non-profits are required to operate in very specific ways and need to abide by donation rules and privacy laws. If they don't, it damages all non-profits because it raises questions in the minds of those thinking of making a donation. The original poster has already tried to resolve the issue at the local level with very poor results. At the very least, the head office needs to know about this so it can review its training standards and take some action to restore confidence in its policies. Even if the mistakes were made unintentionally, they need to be corrected and personnel need to be trained in appropriate procedures so it doesn't happen again to somebody else.

I think it is very unfair to put the burden of correcting this situation on the person who made a generous donation. As soon as the director was informed of what happened, she should have taken direct action to immediately correct any misunderstanding, apologize if a mistake had been made, etc.

I'd contact the RMH headquarters. This kind of thing can really hurt them as you share with your friends (like us at Quilters Board). The word gets out about it and we will limit our contributions. Me for one.

Thank you, Prism. You stated it better than I ever could have. I think I have shown much restraint and a lack of prejudgment. And as I have stated before, I plan to make a personal visit with documentation in hand. And it is much wiser to request written answers than to rely on oral representations.

Good for you about going in person. That way, IMO, they can't ignore you or your emails. They have to come up with some type of answer. I can see both sides of the problem...npo and donations, but the npo's need to really understand the donors side also? That by this type of thing happening, it hurts all npo's.
This is just MHO and I hope that you get this resolved soon. Keep us posted please?

Yes, please DO keep us posted. There is nothing at ALL wrong with you bringing this to our forum. You after all, did so much by yourself before you mentioned it to anyone else. They ignored your requests for an answer. If we cannot speak to each other about these kinds of problems, who CAN we speak to? The people who were responsible for the whole shebang in the first place, have already been given a chance to explain. As I said earlier, please let us know how it goes. No one will stop donating to the RMH, they do some wonderful things. It's just a couple of folks in their employ who have handled this badly.

This is what happens way to often in organizations....
I am sorry to say that when things like this happen it tends to turn people off........ and then these organizations wonder why donations go down.
I would want to find out just what happened with my quilts and make sure it didn't happen again.
Good luck finding out and please keep us posted.

I was a little fired up at what appears to be an attack on Extreme Quilter and the rest of us for sharing our opinion. As an NPO adminstrator I would think you, above all, would be concerned with the lack of response from staff and the director and how that reflects on the RMH. The "need" for the private home phone number and a conversation makes it sound like someone is trying to cover something up. Extreme Quilter has made several attempts at clarifying the RMH error and has a right to ask for the opinion of others.

Just so you know, this situation would not keep me from donating. It would just help me to clarify how my donation is to be used.

No one is attacking her..And i am sorry if it has been taken that way.
I hope it all works out well for her, and she finds out what she needs to know about her quilts.
this now leaves me out of this thread..with best wishes and a happy resolution for all involved...

Hello i thought RMH is a nonprofit organzation then why is this unknown person buying quilts from RMH & what's really strange the director hurry and answer the 1st e-mail ,then when you started to inquire about the unknown person wanting you to make her a quilt she pass the buck,and refuse to answer any more mail, the unknown person has busted the director & her staff member, they' in this together please hurry and call headquarter, i wouldn't tell her anything (director) she would then have enough time to cover her tracks, this is my two cents.let us know what happens because if it's not misunderstanding they're doing other people the same way LOL Annette

Hello i thought RMH is a nonprofit organzation then why is this unknown person buying quilts from RMH & what's really strange the director hurry and answer the 1st e-mail ,then when you started to inquire about the unknown person wanting you to make her a quilt she pass the buck,and refuse to answer any more mail, the unknown person has busted the director & her staff member, they' in this together please hurry and call headquarter, i wouldn't tell her anything (director) she would then have enough time to cover her tracks, this is my two cents.let us know what happens because if it's not misunderstanding they're doing other people the same way LOL Annette

If the wheel doesn't squeak how is the mechanic to know that it needs fixing?

As a staff member of a local PA RMH I would make a personal trip to your local house...WE do not ever sell our wuilts, they are given tot he sick children or the parents of them for the child! Yor situation is NOT common practice, and I would personally address it and get answers. So sorry for your problem, I hope you continue to give to charities...whichever one you choose!

I would also need to know where my quilt was going.

I never donate anything to national "charities". I ony do local things so that I know they are going for things they are intended to go for. When I donate them to children's homes I just ask if it's going to be sold or given to a child so that I know what's going to happen to it.

Go immediately to headquarters. Do not stop at the Director, she obviously doesn't want to deal with this or her employee. I have been a director for over 20 years, I have never turned a customer or employee over to a staffer when they wanted to talk with me, especially if it pertains to questionable activities.
How do you know that the money went to RMH?
Go to headquarters!
D in Tx

The clerk probably thought you gave them as a money raiser. If so that is another way for the RMcD house to raise money.
I,too, live a 5 min. drive from The RMcD.
ceegee

No. We specifically discussed which quilts would be appropriate for which ages and which sexes of children as she viewed them.

It is sad to think that a organization would doupe a person so willing to give. Just maybe we should investigate these "organizations" before we give.

I had a lady in my shop last week that said her church over the years has given hundreds of quilts to other countries. They were always so happy and proud when they sent off a new batch of quilts.

Some church members went to work in one of these countries, and took pictures of run down like semi trailers filled with mountains of quilts not even being distributed!

My first thought was, why aren't they given to the needy, and what shape are those quilts in, stacked with bugs and just the elements able to ruin them.

Makes you think twice on making a donation. The church now helps out local organizations, the hospital, the domestic abuse center and social services to name a few.

It is sad to think that our heart felt intentions are not taken the way they are intended or an organization changes the rules to fit their needs as it goes along.

These type of stories have made me cautious of where to donate.

I've read several replys to that about the RMH. I agree with everyone of them, but I also believe that continueing to contact the staff director or worker is futile. My suggestion, since it has been gone on this long and now you are being ignored is to contact your States Attorney. Send copies of all the E-mail, etc along with your letter, number of quilts or any other information you can gather about the situation. They will look into it and if, indeed, the privacy act was abused, there will be penalities.

Good luck. I have for many years worked with Linus but never did I realize those quilts we make go to RMH. I also make lap quilts and deliver to a veteran's home in Southern Illinois. I know they get them because it is a one on one situation.

Good luck! If it is possible donate to a place where you know the individual is getting the product.

Please take the time to follow this up. Quilters are giving people and we get joy out of giving to others. Selling to others is not the aim of CHARITY given in love and hoping this helps others to know someone cares. Keep all copies of the emails and I agree with others, they don't want any trace info. I don't think RM house would approve of this, nor do they want the negative light on their worthy causes.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we quilters are doing such a good job of making quilts for children that some of the charities have more than they can use. Once you give it to the charity, they can do with it as they see fit, which includes selling them so they have funds for things they need as well as hanging them on the wall to beautify the place.

My daughter has appointments at one of the places that gets donated quilts and they have way more than they need and not all of them are age appropriate so the counselor has a huge stack in her office waiting and a second stack looking for homes. She has passed some on to another agency hoping they can be used there. She feels really bad that she can't use all of them after "someone cared so much to make them."

We quilters can be generous to a fault, we want to do so much and want to be appreciated as well for our efforts but sometimes we have overwhelmed the people we are trying to help. The counselor I talked with said she doesn't need more quilts but she does have a "wish list" of things that could help her clients that most people wouldn't even think of and she wished she could re direct the generosity towards her needs.

I know we all want our quilts to wrap some child with the love we put into them. The charities want that too but are sometimes overwhelmed by our good deeds. Ronald McDonald house probably has the policy to accept all quilts with smiles and then they try to do the best they can with them.
It's not a ideal situation and everyone really means well.

Unless donations are sent directly to missionaries in the area, very few donations ever make it to the ones intended to receive them. There are too many deserving just in my town to keep all the community service projects made in town in town.

I think under the circumstances most quilters would come to the same conclusion. By posting this she is trying to shed some light on this question and get reassurance about the problem from fellow quilters.Perhaps she misunderstood, perhaps not. I would not give out my phone number and would not want my email address given out either.Yes, when we give something away it is no longer ours to decide what is to be done with it,but when given with a certain understanding of how it is going to be used it hurts to see it used not in the manner it was meant. We all come this board with projects to share and also to get answers to questions and problems we experience in our day to day quilting.The people on this board have always been very helpful,understanding and have great insight when a quilter writes with his or her question or remarks. I hope by coming to the board and receiving many very good suggestions this lady will be able to clear this matter up with a possitve outcome for all. In the mean time, let us not assume ourselves that this quilter has taken a stand against RMH. We all know what happens when we do that.I choose to think after reading her story that she is just dumb founded and shocked about this experience and came to us for ...as I said before,reassurance and help as to where to go and what to do now.By not receiving an answer just exacerbates the problem. I know what I would have done under the circumstances,but we do not all think the same. Some like a little understanding and guidance before coming to the best conclusion.I am just sorry that what is a wonderful charity has come into such a light. Especially if it is just the fault of some staff members not following up and nipping this in the bud. For the rest of us let me say everyone who reads this and wants to do such a wonderful deed as this needs to remember this problem and does all their research and understands exactly where and what will happen to the cherished prizes we create with so much love,before you let them go. I am sorry this has happened to both parties,but not sorry she came to the board with it. It can only help us all in the future. Please lady quilter...let us know the outcome of this matter. We do need to hear the truth about what has happened. That too can only help us in the future.
Everyone stay safe ,,love ya all,
JS

I would absolutely follow through.

I agree - Corporate Headquarters should be contacted - I am sorry to hear that this happened to you.

You might want to contact Ronald McDonald's sponsors as well.

I would email the "unknown person" and ask her questions how she "bought" it and go from there in contacting RMH.

Forget about the local people---you have made every reasonable attempt to find out exactly what happened. I would go to the corporate office immediately---make sure you have copies of all of the correspondance from both sides. Something is wrong---no money should have been involved and they should never have given out your info to anyone without your permission.

Hope the matter is cleared up soon.

It did make me think about the quilts donated to my Guild's Giving Closet. Members make them in all sizes and they are donated to local churchs or other groups in need. Members also make lots of little doll quilts that a local senior center gives to local children as Christmas gifts wrapped around a doll for girls or a teddy bear for boys. Some of our members make really beautiful orginal quilts and sometimes they are sold at the Holiday Shop as a fund raiser for the Guild. This has been mentioned over the years at Guild meetings but I think I'll ask that this info is included in all our newsletters so everyone is aware of it. Some of the donators might wish that their quilts only go to someone in need which is perfectly understanderable. May in Jersey

I would just contact RMH headquarters to ask about their policies. See if the money from the sale of quilts is being used for RMH?

I do hope when you get this issue resolved that you share with us the outcome. I donate a lot of quilts, too and would be shocked to know they aren't going where they are supposed to go. Thanks for sharing
Doug

I would certainly investigate further. It sounds like their may have been mis-communication as to how the donation was to be used? Maybe? But I certainly would not donate again until they resolve this matter to your satisfaction. Did you try and contact the buyer and see exactly how she came about buying your quilt? Something sounds hinky. Let us know what you find out please.

I am very glad that you posted your question to the board.

I am the founder of a charity quilting group and it is very important to us where our quilts go and to be sure that they are being given to the children!!! Not being SOLD for profit! Currently we are making quilts for a County Department. Initially my communication was with the Director of Services. Now I correspond with a staffer and usually via e~mails (though we do have phone number contact info). I emailed the staffer not too long ago asking her if she would be available on a certain day and time as I had quilts to be delivered for the children. The staffer informed me that in the event that she was not there that I could just drop them off. ???? What?

I e~mailed back to the staffer and cc'd the Director that we do not "just drop off our quilts". We are a professional group of women and expected to be treated as such and are very concerned that our quilts would be stolen or lost from the children if we just dropped them off. I immediately received an email from the Director and she could not apologize enough. She said that she understood my concern and that she would take care of the matter......and she did!

That being said, I myself feel like something is not right (in your situation). Like several quilters have already said, there are so so many 'local' children in need in your own city. All you have to do is look in your phone book or google and you can find places to donate your quilts that you made with from your heart for the children. You can deliver your quilts personally and know that they are going where they are meant to go. That is why I founded my own Charity Quilting Group.

Please do let us know how this gets resolved!
Charity Quilter Dar