ALBANY – The state attorney general’s office reached a settlement with Thrift Land USA of Yonkers, a for-profit company that operates more than 1,100 clothing donation bins in shopping center parking lots, gas stations and other locations throughout the New York metro area.
The settlement, which includes $700,000 in payments, settles allegations that Thrift Land used a charitable veneer to trick and mislead the public into believing that the clothing it collected would benefit the charity whose name and logo appeared on its bins.
The fact of the matter was that Thrift Land sold the clothing at a huge profit and the charities named on the bins – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County and I Love Our Youth, Inc. – received just a small, monthly fee for the use of their name and logo.
The attorney general’s office also reached settlements with the two charities for entering into agreements with Thrift Land that enabled the company to use their name and logo to deceive the public.
The settlement with Thrift Land requires the company to place a disclosure on its bins clearing stating that none of the clothing deposited or the proceeds from it would benefit a charity.
The company must also pay $50,000 in penalties and costs and make payment
of $650,000 to two not-for-profit organizations – the New York Community
Trust and the Westchester Community Foundation – so that the charitable
intent of the people who placed clothing in the bins will be fulfilled.
The chairman of I Love Our Youth, Inc., was ordered to pay $50,000 for using charitable funds for personal expenses after the state and federal charitable designations were revoked.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County has agreed to directly oversee, manager and supervise all charitable solicitations and advertisements in the name of the charity from now on and within six months the board and its leadership will have to complete a nonprofit board education training course that includes training in ethics, fiduciary duties and responsibilities and charitable solicitation.
