If you’ve donated to a local nonprofit supporting programs like Shop with a Sheriff, most of your money might have gone to an out-of-state company.
The Ada County Sheriff Employees Association, a nonprofit run by employees of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, raised millions over the past few years to support its employees and community outreach programming. The bulk of that money came with the help of a Tempe, Arizona, telemarketing company called Outreach Marketing, which kept over 70% of the money raised for professional fundraising fees, according to the nonprofit’s tax filings.
A review of the organization’s publicly available tax filings between 2019 and 2024, the most recent tax year available, shows Outreach Marketing raised more than half of the organization’s total revenue each year. During those years, Outreach raised $2.98 million for the Ada County Sheriff Employees Association and kept $2.12 million in fees…