When frauds swoop in

There are some people in this world I will never understand. Lately I've heard to many stories of people being used and taken advantage of. You'd think that people wanting to "serve" others, they would be doing it for the most noble of reasons but that is all too often not the case. Some embezzle funds meant to help people in need and not simply people living with greed. Some use others for the power and publicity they think they can take advantage of. While I am confident these people are discovered sooner or later, behind them they leave a lot of good people felling a lot of pain when they were just doing what they could to help others and the people the "organization" was supposed to be helping feeling more alone than they felt already.

There are a lot of good organizations out there with dedicated people in them working for the greater good and not their own earthly glorification. They see their reward in the feeling they get helping others and waiting for them when they return home to God. Still there are far too many in this line of work wanting to take what they can get for themselves. Ego plays a huge role in most of this because financially they know it takes many years to begin to break even. Because of this, here is some advice for organizations looking to add people on when frauds are waiting to swoop in.

First, what is the reason they want to help? Is it because they have a personal relationship to the cause you are dealing with? What is their personal story? Can you verify it? Usually if someone has "skin in the game" they are doing it for the right reasons but if someone says they just want to help or they believe in the organization, beware. Ask them why not some other organization instead of your's. Most of the time, they don't have an answer because most of the time, these people want in for their own reasons and they are usually not for the sake of the people you are trying to help.

Too many good people doing very hard work for the right reasons have been taken advantage of because they trusted the wrong people. Being hurt by the fakes, they then turn around and are unwilling to trust others. Imagine you had dedicated your life to a cause and then had someone take your hard work as their own. How would that make you feel? What if you spent years building a reputation and received grants only to find people you thought you could trust were stealing the funds? This has happened too many times to good friends of mine. When problems like this get reported on, great organizations will end up falling apart because no one wants to support them after. Charities are destroyed, good people regret wanting to help and the people they wanted to help are left without the help they could have been receiving. I think there is a special place in hell for the greedy or ego driven frauds because behind them they leave too many hurting.