GIVING ’TIL IT HURTS!

Greedy charities keep more cash than is doled out

BIGHEARTED Americans donate nearly $500 billion a year to charities, but much of that money reaches just the greedy, not the needy, investigators say.

One stunning probe found the 50 worst charities in the U.S. gave less than 4 percent of donations to help intended people or causes!

The money drain is due to fat cat charity execs raking in outrageous salaries and bonuses along with nonprofit groups hiring outside forprofit fundraisers, who can snag upwards of 80 percent of the take. Here are America’s most cash-hungry charities, according to a study by the Tampa Bay Times and Center for Investigative Reporting:

KIDS WISH NETWORK:

Not to be confused with the highly rated Make-A-Wish Foundation, this organization spent just 2.5 percent on direct cash aid during the time examined by investigators while paying $109 million to fundraisers and $4.8 million to the founder and his associated businesses.

CANCER FUND OF AMERICA: This group gave less than 1 percent of funds to the cause. Between 2002 and

2013 President James T. Reynolds and his family raked in about $5 million on salaries and bonuses compared to $890,000 spent on patients.

BLACK LIVES MATTER: The movement inspired by the murder of George Floyd gave rise to an organization accused of lining the pockets of founders and their relatives as well as general mismanagement, leading to possible bankruptcy after dipping $8.5 million into the red last year. FIREFIGHTERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: Notching a zero rating from the watchdog group Charity Navigator, this nonprofit, founded in 1991, spent $54 million on fundraisers over a decade but gave less than $5 million to fire victims.

Says CharityWatch executive director Laurie Stryon, some organizations figure paying a professional fundraiser to bring in $1 million while keeping only $250,000 is a quarter-million “they wouldn’t have otherwise raised.”