Some businesses are getting phone calls for donations for the Schenectady County Police Conference. They said the guy who was doing the calling was obnoxious and extremely rude. He even hung up on some people.His call came in from Gotham Productions and the number was 1-845-236-4013. Some people tried to call him back at that number but there was no answer. A couple of businesses asked that the information be faxed to them. It was faxed and someone gave me a copy. I just don't know how to scan it in here. But this is what it says:
Quoted Text
Dear Friend, The Schenectady County Police Conference is currently conducting its 2007 annual fund drive. The organization was formed to unite local police departments throughout the Schenectady County area with an effort to better assist the community. Current memebers of the Police Conerence include the Schenectady, Rotterdam, Glenville and Niskayuna PBA. By uniting together we hope to build a strong foundation for local law enforcement agencies in Schenectady County with the goal of improving public safety throughout Schenectady County. Wae are asking you as a friend and neighbor to please support our efforts so that we may persue our endeavors. All of the members of the Schenectady County Police Conference would like to extend their heartfelt thanks for your generosity and support.
Sincerely, Schenectady PBA Rotterdam PBA Glenville PBA Niskayuna PBC Feature Ads Diamond Sponsorship.....$1000 Platinum Sponsorship.....$750 Gold Sponsorship.....$500 Silver Sponsorship.....$375 Bronze Sponsorship....$250 Or whatever you can best afford!!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Some of those telemarketers can be pretty rude when you start to tell them no that you don't want to give to their charity. I also wonder how much of the money that they get actually goes to the organization that they're raising the money for.
Folks usually would get calls from their local PBA's for donations. As I read this, I think that all of the PBA's have joined together. So this will probably be the only call we'll get now. I guess we should not get anymore calls now once we get one from this County Police Conference. Even though telemarketers can be rude, I would have thought that one that is representing the police PBA's would have been more pleasant. People won't donate if people are rude. I know that I wouldn't.
First, I wouldn't donate a thing to any PBA. The cops have enough money and benefits as it is. They take enough of my money through my taxes.
Secondly, Gotham Productions, Inc is located downstate. They do the telemarketing calls for many Sheriff's dept's and PBA's and other charitable organizations. They take quite a chunk out of the monies collected. I would surely not donate to them especially for that reason.
Thirdly, I would like to know the motives behind the consolidation of all the PBA's. How can this possibly help serve and protect the people as stated in their letter. Unless consolidation is in the works. Not a good idea for the people but a strong hold for the union...again!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
There are a lot of unions whose members have fallen on hard times or their families have someone who's sick and needs an expensive operation that's not covered by insurance that raise money thru donations from their members and not from people outside the union or company. That's what union dues are for and members support organizations. The police union seems to be the only one using this tactic to raise money.
Some of those telemarketers can be pretty rude when you start to tell them no that you don't want to give to their charity. I also wonder how much of the money that they get actually goes to the organization that they're raising the money for.
Actually, they're supposed to flat out tell you this answer if you ask them when you have them on the phone. Chances are, if they can't give you this information on the spot, the people doing the "fundraising" are actually just running a scam.
It seems to me that these telemarketers are always raising money for the police organizations. If it's not the local police then it's the NYS Troopers, why is it always theses organizations that raise money this way. Dateline or one of the TV shows investigated a few of these organizations raising money for various causes and found that only a small percentage of the money raised actually goes to said organization.
Main Entry: be·nev·o·lent Pronunciation: -l&nt Function: adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin benevolent-, benevolens, from bene + volent-, volens, present participle of velle to wish -- more at WILL 1 a : marked by or disposed to doing good b : organized for the purpose of doing good 2 : marked by or suggestive of goodwill - be·nev·o·lent·ly adverb - be·nev·o·lent·ness noun
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Rollarama rc'd a call from this place a few months back, and when we said we already gave to the local pba's, the person said that they were all consolidated. We called the local police and were told that there was no such consolidation, and the call was bogus. The officer told us that he was going to look into it further, we never heard anything back.
I was talking to someone who has a business and they got the info faxed to them. The letterhead went like this.....
SCHENECTADY COUNTY POLICE CONFRENCE PO BOX 605 SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK 12301
........and it was signed by someone named 'Paul'.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
SCHENECTADY COUNTY Police group seeking donations Sheriff’s Dept. gets calls, cites confusion BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Police from four departments have created an umbrella organization and are seeking donations, but are using a fund-raising company known for pocketing most of the money collected. The new organization, the Schenectady County Police Conference, describes itself in incorporation papers as a not-for-profit that works to benefit law enforcement. Police union leadership in the city of Schenectady and towns of Glenville, Niskayuna and Rotterdam are involved and say the conference will supplement the activities of individual police benevolent associations, or PBAs. Neither the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Department, the Scotia village Police Department, nor either agency’s benevolent association, are affiliated with the new organization. The conference began its first fund drive this month. Its fundraising contract is with Gotham Production Inc., a professional fundraising company based near Poughkeepsie that has been criticized by the county sheriff’s benevolent organization. Ronald Walsh, president of the Schenectady County Sheriffs’ Benevolent Association, said his organization fired Gotham, unsatisfied with the company’s overall performance in running their fund drives. He said the company routinely failed to pay the association donations promised under their contract and drew complaints for their solicitation practices. “We were taking a lot of complaints and we lost donors last year,” he said, The company ran similar campaigns for the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association, the Sheriff’s Benevolent Association and Scotia Patrolmens Benevolent Association Inc. in 2006. Gotham raised $131,200 under the name of the Schenectady PBA, according to a state Attorney General’s Office 2006 report on telemarketing by professional fund raisers. However, only $35,000, or 26.6 percent, of this funding was ever received by the PBA. The company relinquished a more sizable percentage to the sheriff’s association. In 2005, it collected $119,306 and disbursed $44,000, or 36.8 percent, according to the report. Statewide, an average of 38.6 percent of donations collected by professional telemarketing fundraisers reaches the intended organization. Nearly half of these campaigns recorded in the report contribute less than 29 percent of what they collect to the organizations they represent. CONFUSING REFERENCE Walsh said the sheriff’s department has received close to four dozen calls about the recent fund drive. He said there has been confusion among some residents over the new conference’s name. “We received tons of calls here because their name is misleading,” he said. The sheriff’s benevolent association also ran an advertisement this month in The Daily Gazette explaining its annual fund drive. The ad advises that the association would not “solicit donations over the phone or send people to your home to collect money.” “Please note the Schenectady County Sheriffs’ Benevolent Association is not affiliated with, nor represents the Schenectady County Police Conference,” the ad stated. The newly established police conference applied to the state for incorporation as a not-for-profi t in April. It also filed through the state Labor Department’s Industrial Board of Appeals to ensure the language used in the initial fi ling was compliant. The state approved the incorporation in May. The conference will share information with police officers and the general public to enhance economic, social and public status of law enforcement agents and public safety issues, according to a filing on record at the state Department of State. The organization is intended to provide advice and information regarding matters involving police benevolent associations, police and policing, the filing states. Listed as the corporation’s initial directors are Rotterdam PBA President Richard Dunnsmore, Glenville PBA President Steven Janic and Schenectady PBA President Robert Hamilton, who was identified by Gotham as the head of the organization. A representative from Gotham deferred questions about the conference’s contract with the company to Hamilton. Attempts to contact Hamilton were unsuccessful this week. Janic said the conference is in its infancy and will eventually become a broad-reaching group to supplement the county’s individual PBA organizations. He said the new group will also network among the police unions to help during times of need. “It helps with networking, it helps with information sharing,” he said. “It’s going to go above and beyond what the individual unions can do.”
I like the part that states that the Sheriff Department didn't get the funds that they were promised. Only a small portion of money collected is given to the police departments so if you really want to give to the police department then give them a check in person so you know where your money is really going.
All of the research I did for this Gotham Productions, showed that each charity or organization they were collecting money for didn't even get 50%! It was more like 25%/75%...and Gotham was making the big bucks. I can't understand how the PBA's would even allow such a thing. When the PBA could collect 100% of what was collected! What were they thinking...or weren't they?
And let's not forget that some places were saying that these people doing the soliciting for Gotham were very rude and unprofessional. Something I'm sure the PBA wouldn't want in their forefront!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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