Locks of Love = ungood
Just for the record - Locks of Love is evil.
I'm just gonna paste some chunks of text here, explaining.
So first, we discover that they may not meet the requirements for charity organizations.
From the Better Business Bureau:
"Locks of Love (LoL) does not meet the following 1 Standards for Charity Accountability.
11: Make available to all, on request, complete annual financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
In response to the Alliance’s request for a copy of LoL’s financial statements, LoL submitted a copy of its Independent Accountant’s Compilation Report for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2002. To meet this Standard, an organization with total annual income of over $250,000 should have, available on request, financial statements that have been audited.
In addition, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance requested, but did not receive, complete information on LoL's finances, and therefore, is unable to verify LoL's compliance with the following Standard for Charitable Accountability: 14."
It seems rather interesting that they refust to disclose their actual financial state. I may be off base here, being unfamiliar with running a charity organization, but why hide that information if it's standard for charities to supply that? What reason do they have for hiding it?
Then we find these figures (taken from the BBB and Locks of Love's own website and reposted on the Long Hair Community Boards):
"LoL receives about 2000 donations per week, by mail.
That's 104,000 per year.
Let's say that only half of that is usable for wigs.(Or use another fraction, if you desire.)
That's 52,000 per year.
It takes 6-10 ponytails to make a wig.
Ok, let's say each one takes 10.
That's potentially 5200 wigs per year.
Now, in fiscal year 2002, how many wigs did LoL provide?
113."
And then, taking that further:
"Let's say it takes 10 donated ponytails to make one wig. They made 113 wigs in 2002.
113 wigs x 10 ponytails each = 1130 total ponytails used to make wigs in 2002.
They received 2000 ponytail donations per week, which is 104,000 per year.
That means that Locks of Love only uses 1% of the ponytails donated by [well] meaning people. You only have one chance out of 100 that your donated hair will go directly into a wig for a child."
Then comes the question of what they actually do with all the donated hair that doesn't get used for their stated purpose:
Their own website states that hair that is not found appropriate for wig use (which is apparently most of it) "will most likely be sold to help offset the at-cost manufacturing of hairpieces for children." The proceeds from such sales "help to pay for expenses like long-distance telephone service, website maintenance, postage, shipping, printing, etc."
So, most of the donated hair actually gets sold. For what purpose? To whom? Who might possibly want human hair? I'm assuming wig makers, who charge for custom made human hair wigs starting at $3000. So the majority of the donated hair goes to someone wealthy enough to buy a wig of at least $3000.
And what about the recipients? Let's take a look at who actually qualifies for the wigs:
LoL implies that their wigs go to kids on chemo. But they don't. Kids on chemo aren't eligible because the hair loss isn't permanent. Only people with permanent hair loss conditions are eligible. False advertising, no? But chemo tugs more heart strings than alopecia. So cut your long hair to donate to a kid on chemo, never mind that according to LoL's website kids with chemo who are "suffering from short-term hair loss" only qualify for "synthetic hairpieces."
They also do not simply _give_ the wigs to those who qualify. Their website states they provide wigs "free of charge or on a sliding scale". Many families must actually pay for the wigs as few are considered below the income threshold that would allow a free wig, and we already know that said wigs can cost up to $3000.
So, to sum up. The hair does not go to chemo kids at all. They get synthetics. About 1% actually goes to kids with hair loss. And even then, it probably isn't free. The rest gets sold to someone, but LoL refuses to disclose the actual records, which puts them on the Better Business Bureau's Uh-oh list.
Yeah, I'm not donating my hair to them. I recommend you don't either. As I'm feeling charitable, I think I'll go find a real charity organization and donate money.
I'm just gonna paste some chunks of text here, explaining.
So first, we discover that they may not meet the requirements for charity organizations.
From the Better Business Bureau:
"Locks of Love (LoL) does not meet the following 1 Standards for Charity Accountability.
11: Make available to all, on request, complete annual financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
In response to the Alliance’s request for a copy of LoL’s financial statements, LoL submitted a copy of its Independent Accountant’s Compilation Report for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2002. To meet this Standard, an organization with total annual income of over $250,000 should have, available on request, financial statements that have been audited.
In addition, the BBB Wise Giving Alliance requested, but did not receive, complete information on LoL's finances, and therefore, is unable to verify LoL's compliance with the following Standard for Charitable Accountability: 14."
It seems rather interesting that they refust to disclose their actual financial state. I may be off base here, being unfamiliar with running a charity organization, but why hide that information if it's standard for charities to supply that? What reason do they have for hiding it?
Then we find these figures (taken from the BBB and Locks of Love's own website and reposted on the Long Hair Community Boards):
"LoL receives about 2000 donations per week, by mail.
That's 104,000 per year.
Let's say that only half of that is usable for wigs.(Or use another fraction, if you desire.)
That's 52,000 per year.
It takes 6-10 ponytails to make a wig.
Ok, let's say each one takes 10.
That's potentially 5200 wigs per year.
Now, in fiscal year 2002, how many wigs did LoL provide?
113."
And then, taking that further:
"Let's say it takes 10 donated ponytails to make one wig. They made 113 wigs in 2002.
113 wigs x 10 ponytails each = 1130 total ponytails used to make wigs in 2002.
They received 2000 ponytail donations per week, which is 104,000 per year.
That means that Locks of Love only uses 1% of the ponytails donated by [well] meaning people. You only have one chance out of 100 that your donated hair will go directly into a wig for a child."
Then comes the question of what they actually do with all the donated hair that doesn't get used for their stated purpose:
Their own website states that hair that is not found appropriate for wig use (which is apparently most of it) "will most likely be sold to help offset the at-cost manufacturing of hairpieces for children." The proceeds from such sales "help to pay for expenses like long-distance telephone service, website maintenance, postage, shipping, printing, etc."
So, most of the donated hair actually gets sold. For what purpose? To whom? Who might possibly want human hair? I'm assuming wig makers, who charge for custom made human hair wigs starting at $3000. So the majority of the donated hair goes to someone wealthy enough to buy a wig of at least $3000.
And what about the recipients? Let's take a look at who actually qualifies for the wigs:
LoL implies that their wigs go to kids on chemo. But they don't. Kids on chemo aren't eligible because the hair loss isn't permanent. Only people with permanent hair loss conditions are eligible. False advertising, no? But chemo tugs more heart strings than alopecia. So cut your long hair to donate to a kid on chemo, never mind that according to LoL's website kids with chemo who are "suffering from short-term hair loss" only qualify for "synthetic hairpieces."
They also do not simply _give_ the wigs to those who qualify. Their website states they provide wigs "free of charge or on a sliding scale". Many families must actually pay for the wigs as few are considered below the income threshold that would allow a free wig, and we already know that said wigs can cost up to $3000.
So, to sum up. The hair does not go to chemo kids at all. They get synthetics. About 1% actually goes to kids with hair loss. And even then, it probably isn't free. The rest gets sold to someone, but LoL refuses to disclose the actual records, which puts them on the Better Business Bureau's Uh-oh list.
Yeah, I'm not donating my hair to them. I recommend you don't either. As I'm feeling charitable, I think I'll go find a real charity organization and donate money.