Do not fall for copy cat charity car donation programs

Kidney Kars of Utah was established in 1990.  Since that time we have been the unfortunate victims of aggressive copy cat vehicle donation programs.  Kars4Kids, a New Jersey–based car‑donation charity, has long cultivated confusion among Utah donors by leaving the impression that local recipients—like children in Utah—benefit from contributions. But in reality, as state attorneys general have revealed, less than 1% of donations from places like Minnesota (and likely similarly small amounts from Utah) actually go to children in those states—almost all donor proceeds instead flow to a New Jersey organization which exclusively serve east coast youth with religious summer camps and tuition assistance.

TowKars.org is Kidney Kars of Utah and the K stands for ‘Kidneys.’

The funds raised from vehicles donated to the locally owned/operated website, towKars.org are for Utah and Idaho kidney patients (children, families and adults who suffer diseases of the kidney, are in need of a kidney transplant, or need emergency medical aid).  Unfortunately Kars 4 Kids ubiquitous ads sound deceptively like towKars.org or Kidney Kars of Utah (with a “K” like Kidney!) .  Even more unfortunately Kars 4 Kids spends big money on ads in Utah that may serve to willfully mislead Utahans into believing they are in fact donating locally to towKars.org / Kidney Kars of Utah. We have under cover several times called their offices to test out this ‘overlap donation’ theory.  When we asked if they were donating locally to towKars.org / the National Kidney Foundation of Utah we were not corrected.  The phone operators only repeated that the program benefitted kids. These misleading ads and phone operators deliberately omit clear disclosure that the money supports out of state children, not necessarily local Utah families or kidney patients (despite the coincidental similarity to “Kidney Kars of Utah”).  Charity Watch and multiple state settlements (in Oregon and Pennsylvania in 2009) found Kars4Kids misleading in failing to state its charitable purpose in solicitations.

Locals Support Locals by donating to a local charity: Kidney Foundation of Utah

In short: Utahans drawn in by the catchy jingle and name often assume their donation supports locals,  Do Not be confused “Kidney Kars” donated to towKars.org is local, supports local kidney patients, local kidney children, local kidney families.

The sad truth is, that Kars 4 Kids, is car donation operation dedicated to fund religious youth services who may use deceptive language and perhaps willfully misleading advertising to divert donations intended medically the needy kidney patients of Idaho and Utah.