Dean Chavers: Scammers use Indian Country to solicit millions

As the director of a national nonprofit organization serving Indian people, I know how hard it is to meet the expectations of the people who evaluate us. We are not perfect, but many of the “Indian” charities are simply rotten.

One of our large donors asked me 20 years ago to research the charities she was giving money to. There were over 100 of them, with some 25 being Indian charities. Out of the 25, about 20 were rotten. It was way beyond my expectations. She curtailed her giving to most of them.

Indian charities serve education, health, economic development, domestic abuse, and many other causes. Most of them are run by non-Indians, which is admirable. But the rotten ones are not admirable. They need to be held accountable, but seldom are.

My best friend told me about one of them 40 years ago. His mother-in-law worked there, opening checks and preparing bank deposits most of the day. They had a well-oiled machine. But they abused their privileges; they had their own airplane to fly the money into the bank every day. They are still doing that.