The way to your heartstrings and wallet may be through questionable ethics

My definition of a top-notch news story is one that makes me choke on my Cheerios, and the Review-Journal's Annette Wells achieved that high standard in Sunday's paper.

Her story on Miracle Flights for Kids, a Henderson-based charity, started warm and fuzzy and then disclosed that the founder, Ann McGee, paid herself a $196,000 salary last year and her husband, William, received $51,000.

And the key calculation in the story: Less than one-third of the donations went to help sick children with flights last year.

The standard for well-operated charities: At least 75 percent of the money raised should go to whatever cause the charity supports. Miracle Flights wasn't even close.

One of the sources Wells used is one I turn to often and is easily available to you. Guidestar.org is the first place I go when I start to look at a charity, because you can print out the nonprofit's IRS 990 tax forms for recent years and look for numbers that don't seem quite right.

That's where former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs' $100,000-a-year salary from Keep Memory Alive, local liquor distributor Larry Ruvo's nonprofit for Alzheimer's research, was revealed.

It's where I learned that the Firefighters of Southern Nevada in 2003 raised $57,140 from the public and spent $48,000, yet provided only $6,900 to seven families. (Recent tax forms show the organization has improved.)

And it's where Wells first saw Ann McGee's oh-so-generous salary -- and that her husband was on the payroll.

At this time of year, when a lot of people are writing a lot of checks, it's smart to make sure the money doesn't just improve someone's lifestyle.

Don't forget the revelation in Congress on Dec. 13 that three charities, which supposedly were helping wounded troops, were spending 78 percent to 91 percent of donations on fundraising, according to The Washington Post. The folks getting rich: the telemarketers and direct mail consultants. It was another choke on your Cheerios moment.

The three charities -- the American Veterans Coalition, the American Veterans Relief Foundation and the Disabled Veterans Association -- all sounded great, but the money wasn't going to the vets. How annoyed would you be if your money was going to telemarketers rather than the troops?

A fourth nonprofit, Help Hospitalized Veterans, made the McGees look like pikers. Roger Chapin and his wife received $540,000 in compensation and benefits. That was disclosed in a 990 tax filing.

They assume nobody is going to look. CNN, which honored Ann McGee and gave her $10,000 as a CNN Hero finalist, apparently didn't do its due diligence.

Guidestar.org is just one source for checking out charities. Charity Navigator, at charitynavigator.org, is useful. Both Guidestar and Charity Navigator require registration, but it's free to access the basics. Want to give to a particular charity but see it's not highly rated? Charity Navigator tells you of others in that field that make better use of donated money.

The American Institute for Philanthropy, at charitywatch.org, is another source of information, but it relies on charities voluntarily sending in information. Miracle Flights did not. (Of course, neither did the group listed just below it, Morality in Media.)

Board members are supposed to be watchdogs, but two of the board members for Miracle Flights are clearly ethically challenged: former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald and former Henderson City Councilman Larry Scheffler.

The tax forms said they are unpaid.

McDonald's former private consulting job with Scheffler drew him into an ethics controversy in 2000. Two ethics panels ruled that McDonald broke ethics laws when he lobbied for the city to buy the Las Vegas Sportspark from his then-boss Scheffler.

Also, in May 1996, the Nevada Ethics Commission ruled that Scheffler broke ethics laws at least six times while he was on the Henderson City Council when he voted at least six times on development projects without disclosing that he owned property nearby.

Apparently, these Miracle Flight board members have no problem with how the charity is run. Are they the best judges?

Look at the numbers and judge for yourself before you give to Miracle Flight for Kids, or any other nonprofit, unless all you're looking for is a tax deduction and you don't care how the money is used.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.