Mass. Charities Object to Inclusion on National Fund-Raising Site

Several small nonprofit groups in the Massachusetts South Shore region are complaining about being included without their consent on Charity Blossom, a new Web site that solicits pledges from donors but does not collect actual contributions, reports The Boston Globe.

The organizations say Charity Blossom, a California organization, downloaded the names of registered tax-exempt groups nationwide from the Internal Revenue Services. The site asks people to pledge money to listed charities and directs those who do so to other sites to make the donations via credit card.

Eric Cody of Friends of the Ellisville Marshes, one of the South Shore groups that complained about Charity Blossom last month to the Massachusetts attorney general, said his charity does not use outside fund raisers and has “a great interest in keeping our name squeaky clean.”

Charity Blossom did not respond to calls and e-mails from the Globe seeking comment.