>>> I give money to Jewish Charities and was wondering how much of it goes to the board members.
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>>My mother was widowed in the middle of the depression when I was 7 years old.
>>Without the help of Catholic charities and the American Legion (my father was a vet) and lot of help from federal welfare agencies my brother and I would never have made it.
>>I regularly support Catholic charities and the American Legion and advocate for people needing federal assistance to make ends meet.
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>>There can be corruption in any organization and it's a good idea to look before contributing.
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>IIRC, the main mechanism for syphoning off the money was to have one's own private charity or non-profit, and then have it buy stuff and services from your regular business at outrageous prices. Staff it with your mistress, cousin etc. The money stays in the family, mostly tax-free.

We have an arrangement in the UK called Gift Aid. A charity can claim tax back on donations. Some businesses do that. Set up a charity . Make donations. Charity claims gift aid tax back. Money gets recycled back to the business. Inland revenue find these cases too "complicated" to pursue. Yhey'd rather go after the low hanging fruit of bookkeeping errors.