Scam, got a call and after a single question got hung up on. All calls back were immediately hung up on after I decline to listen to the pre-recorded message they want to play. If you think you'll get donations from people by forcing them to listen to a pre-recorded message, then I've got a bridge to sell you! read more

Yeah, the people who are saying this is a legitimate charity who uses an unfortunate telemarketing company are full of crap. Charity Navigator rates this charity as exceptionally poor. Childhood Leukemia Foundation has no transparency and ~80% of its funding goes towards fundraising. You know what that means? That means some dude at the top is pocketing everything. Their whole schtick is connecting kids with ipads. Sounds great doesn't it? They pay their executive director more than they donated in ipads. In fact, they paid their executive director almost twice as much as they donated. Notice how these guys from a couple years ago were like, nah, I talked to the director and they're gonna change. They didn't change did they, or otherwise you would not be here wondering who just robo-called me. Edit: As someone who works with numerous legitimate non-profits, these are the guys that make the rest of us look horrid. read more

I got a call from a Chinese number claiming to represent this charity. +86 country code prefixed onto an 8 digit number. They spoke fast and were hard on the point of my commitment to donate so they could send a pledge card. When I said I would donate $20, they asked if I wanted to use a credit card right now. I said 'no' of course. I doubt I'll receive a pledge card. According to Charity Navigator, they only spend 16% of the money they raise on to the recipients of the charity. No, I'm not going to donate to these guys. read more

Received a telemarketing call from "Childhood Leukemia Foundation" this morning. Was not sure if it was robocall or not, so I started asking some questions. The telemarketer/computer hung up on me after I asked where the Foundation is based.* Not good. I looked them up on Guidestar and reviewed their most recent publicly-available IRS filing. Not impressive and did not make much sense. Besides showing that most of the money goes to the telemarketing fundraisers, the program expenses lines did not add up. Their "wish baskets" include "pajama bottoms" only? Weird. But, $75 gift cards? Not only odd, but the numbers don't calculate - maybe they get discounted gift cards or unusable cards at strange sites. Then, I looked at Charity Navigator. "ZERO stars" because of the poor financials that I had just reviewed. So, because of the poor behavior by the telemarketing company and that it then sucks up most of the money, PLEASE find a better place to donate your money than "Childhood Leukemia Foundation"! Do NOT give the telemarketers money! I appreciate that some reviewers are trying to separate the telemarketers from the nice woman at the Foundation. HOWEVER, Charity Navigator's zero stars is based upon more bad financials than just the telemarketing issue. read more

So, this is NOT a scam. The foundation unfortunately uses a telemarketing service that is just not so great. After receiving a call for a donation to help with Wish Baskets for the foundation and getting a bad response from the representative when i was asking simple questions about the foundation such as how long they've been around, what kind of help they provide, etc, i decided to contact the foundation directly at the number on their site. I spoke with a nice lady who said she would pass my message to the director and she would call me back. Only a few hours later did i receive a call back from the director and we spoke in length about the interaction and the foundation. This is NOT a scam, I've reached out to the National Cancer Foundation as well and they've stated that it is not a scam and is a registered charity, and they have not had one bad claim against them. While speaking with the director i suggested that because of the poor reviews, ALL of which have to do with the telemarketers and NOT the foundation itself, that it would maybe be a good idea to find a new company to do their outbound calls instead of this one that is giving them a black eye every time a phone rep does something wrong. Again, LOOK AT THE REVIEWS... ALL the bad reviews are because of the telemarketing company calling and NOT the foundation itself. They have a great track record!! read more

Yikes. OK I'm pretty sure a very realistic robot just called me from here. The voice sounded human, natural but the interaction was SOOO bizarre. "Hi this is Tom calling from childhood Leukemia Foundation, we're doing a pledge drive for gift baskets for childhood leukemia. I'm with the innovative telecenter working to collect donations on their behalf. We'll be sending you a pledge card in the mail tomorrow but I wanted to get your verbal yes to donate." Me: "Wait, how are you sending me a pledge card if I haven't given you my address?" Tombot "I need to get your verbal yes and then I can confirm your address to send you the pledge card." Me: "I'm confused. Did you already mail me something? If so where?" Tombot: "I completely understand. Thank you for your time..." Me: "Wait I'm just trying to get more information don't hang up!" Line dies. It sounded so much like a human... but there were awkward pauses and the abrupt ending convinced me that this is poorly implemented AI. Childhood Leukemia Foundation-- I'm sure you can find a better outsourced tele-fundraising center!!! You're asking for empathy with a donation for children... you need a HUMAN on the phone! read more

6:45 AM Robo call while being on the do not call list. SCAM, do not donate! It will never stop as long people are donating. read more

And they are STILL at it! Pathetic- the insignificant amount from donations that actually goes into supporting services provided! My previous review was in 2015 & here we are- 2019 & this Foundation still does NOT deserve support. If I was running it, I'd shut it down if I couldn't be more effective. Robocalls are allowed for non profits & Childhood Leukemia Foundation is paying for these robocalls. Except it is actually a PAID FOR PROFIT company placing these calls on their behalf! So it is NOT legally allowed! Donate to causes that effectively provide assistance! Use sources like Guidestar or Charity Navigator to see how much actually goes into services provided. In cases like this, your money should go elsewhere! https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5459 read more

STOP CALLING ME!!!!! Child leukemia foundation has been harassing me with robocalls for the past two months. I receive at least 5 calls from them every day and I am on the do not call registry. I asked CLF to remove my number from the list multiple times. I am planning to file a police report for Child Leukemia Foundation phone harassment. read more

A completely scumbag organization run by a scumbag leader. Their leader also retains scumbag call center companies using questionable methods and techniques in the effort to collect your money for use in purposes other than the stated goals. Examples of scumbag actions and attributes : Received a call from the call center company, Innovative Teleservices, that Childhood Leukemia Foundation retained. The call was outbound dialed using a robodialer that took greater that 5 seconds to figure out there was a person on the line. The call center did not provide any Calling Party Name Display (CPND), or Automatic Number Identification (ANI). After answering the agent did not provide a call back number when asked. The call center provided incorrect information about the name of the Childhood Leukemia Foundation Director as "Barbara Reid" instead of the legally signed name on the IRS Forms as "Barbara Reid-Haramis". One could only speculate they were informed to do so by contractual terms with the Childhood Leukemia Foundation. The representative stated that 12% of the donation goes to the Childhood Leukemia Foundation. A very low amount. But on reflection totally expected buy scumbag call center. And totally expected under the kinds of contracts that scumbag organizations like the Childhood Leukemia Foundation usually create with their call centers. Out of the 12% that goes to Childhood Leukemia Foundation. IRS financials show at the very least 64% of the remainder is used for things that the stated goals. With the other "expenses" that figure is probably much higher since the organization does not provide much clarity as to what those other expenses might be. The breakdown: Consider that if you gave the recommended amount of $35.00 that the scumbag call center (Innovative Teleservices) suggests you give to the scumbag Childhood Leukemia Foundation organization, then here is how you gift would work out: $35.00 - Donation recommended. - $30.80 - Call Center Take. ----------------------------------------- $ 4.20 - Childhood Leukemia Foundation take, - $ 2.67 - Childhood Leukemia Foundation minimum salaries and expenses. ----------------------------------------- $ 1.53 - Maximum amount your donation that might go to a useful purpose. Only 4% of your donation actually is applied to their stated goals. Probably less if you could get more clarity on the other expenses generalized on the IRS form. Bear in mind that most organizations similar to the Childhood Leukemia Foundation have a deeply personal relationships with with the officers of the of the external organizations they retain for business purposes. It would not be surprising to discover company expenses actually are funneled back into personal relationships and personal bank accounts in ways that are very close to Barbara Reid-Haramis as well as her friends and family. The Childhood Leukemia Foundation is another poster child justifying why you should never donate to organizations over the phone or Internet. And why you should not donate money. If you want to donate, then donate your time and skills. Even then, donate only to local activities where you can verify your donation is going to a positive and useful purpose instead of paying for the lifestyle of a person like Barbara Reid-Haramis. read more

Made a 1 time donation and checked my bank Acct and theyre trying to take another. Same amount. Fraud!

Second cold call in just a couple of weeks, despite telling them to not call me during the first call, and of course being on all the relevant "do not call" lists. We don't respond to cold calls, even from organizations we know of and actually do support. read more

Please stop using the telemarketing service you're using. I already told them we're set for donations this year and continue getting calls originating at different phone numbers. You are only as good as the people you hire, please find a respectful way to raise money. read more

Got a telemarketing call, and explained that I wasn't interested. "Tom" kept pushing, even after I explained that I was at my mother's deathbed (the only reason I answered was I was taking calls from family). He kept pushing, interrupting me and repeating his sales speech. These people are the worst kind of trash. read more

Not a reputable charity by any measure. Trying to harvest your personal information (and ultimately your money) under the guise of "gift baskets for children." This "charity" uses aggressive telemarketing tactics to solicit donations over the phone. Calling from spoofed phone numbers to DNC-listed phone numbers (though I suppose technically "charities" are exempt). When I asked for their website, he just re-read his script from the beginning... I asked for their website THREE times "so I could learn more about them" and he eventually hung up without providing the info (even though a quick web search leads to a site in NJ by the same name). Scammers. read more

Dear Sir/Madam, I received a call to donate to your foundation and I am always ready to give to a good cause especially for kids. However I looked at your financial and I was surprised that only 17% of what you receive goes to help the kids. Last year your received about $3.6M but only $600K went to help the kids. The rest was spent on expenses to raise that money. Is that correct? I would love to donate but I would need to see much better numbers. Thanks Patrick read more

Just received a cold call requesting a phone donation. I find it absurd that this organization thinks it's okay to ask people to give their personal information over the phone to a complete stranger. Couldn't get a word in - the guy just kept rattling on. The caller ID just said Lampasas, Texas. With all the scams going on - seems there is a much better way to gain donations - and not put good-hearted donors at risk. read more

THIS IS A SCAM!!! Only reading another review here I realized that the 1st call I got was a "robotom." I was surprised he hung up on me when I responded that I would donate. The 2nd call, a few weeks later, same male voice. When I said I would donate, I was transferred to a woman who wanted me to make the donation right then by phone. I said, "You must think I'm stupid if you think I would give my credit card info to a stranger by phone. Send me a pledge by mail." She got angry and HUNG UP ON ME! Third time, a few days ago, I got a pledge in the mail, printed with a low-quality printer, a portion of text faded. It's currently in the trash. read more

How many times do you guys have to call and leave me voicemails using your robocaller AI "Tom" ??? I've received at least 10 calls in the past two months from "Childhood Leukemia Foundation" and on my business mobile of all numbers. They constantly change the number and utilize your own area code so it's really impossible to block their calls. BOOOOOOO read more

Seems like a scam... got cold called. Their taking pledges for baskets starting tomorrow and want to know if they can count on me. I ask if there is a website where I can learn more and the guy responds "we are based in Michigan".... so I ask again if there is a website to learn more, he replies "fine, I'll just remove you from the list". I told him I am interested in donating but want to learn more info and don't have time to chat at the moment, he hangs up. What reputable charity doesn't have a website to direct people to? read more

To those saying this is not a scam one only needs to look as far as this sham organization's finances (as if their dishonest with a robot talking weren't enough) to find that only 28 cents of every dollar collected actually is spent in charitable endeavors. read more

This is a scam. I recieved a scam letter from "geeksquad" which had an 800 number and when I called the caller ID showed "Childhood Leukemia Foundation". When I asked the person with strong east Indian accent if this is " geek squad" he said yes then hung up on me when I asked why does it show up as " childhood Leukemia Foundation"? He Hung up on me. read more

Ok, please listen before jumping to conclusions like I did. I received a phone call looking for donations to help this foundation. I never donate money, time, or items without doing research. I did visit their site and also looked at reviews such as these on Yelp. The complaints I read are with the call center and not with the Foundation. I agree that professionalism needs to be maintained and not rude. I did not experience any rude or unpleasant conversations. However, I did reach out to the Foundation to discuss my concerns about these reviews and when I saw some commenting on the 12% of the money the call center raises to go to the Foundation. After calling the Foundation and speaking with someone, she mentioned that she'd give my name and number to the founder Barbara to give me a call. I really didn't expect much after that, but I was pleasantly surprised that my phone rang within a half hour! I spoke with her for about 20 minutes and I was delighted at the level of attention and information she provided. When she saw a way to try and make a child's time in the hospital a little more bearable, she began to raise money on her own to bring gifts, toys, electronics, coloring supplies and much more. After she began to grow her efforts, she realized that after paying for any expenses for the phones, people, postage, supplies, etc., she could only reach about 10% clear to then spend on actual items for the children. As a manager of a business, I can certainly understand the difficulties in maintaining a level to provide the most for the cause and ensure the best bottom line. Furthermore, all of her time was devoted to making the calls and packaging up baskets and delivering, mailing, etc. I can now understand her accepting a deal to receive 12% clear AND open up all of her time to grow and reach more children with these efforts. I never even heard of this Foundation before I received that phone call. At least it made me aware and look into it further. If you are reading this somehow, I would recommend that you reach out to the Foundation DIRECTLY so that more of the money can end up benefiting the children rather than passing through a middle-man. I'm not saying that the middle-man is bad since that phone call prompted my attention to this matter. Having 3 daughters myself, I cannot imagine a life having to deal with childhood cancer. Anything that can help a child or help a veteran are my two groups that deserve the most benefits! Cancer is an awful disease and our children should not have to suffer from it. But for those that do have to deal with it, a gift basket with items that keep them active and engaged would be a great surprise for those kids. This is the longest review I've ever written anywhere for any place, but I truly feel that many of these other negative reviews are just knee-jerk reactions to information received on a phone call. I'm not making excuses for being rude. I even suggested to Barbara (the founder) to take a look and review many of the phone calls herself. She responded that she would take that advise and to make any adjustments needed to ensure that the correct, transparent information is being provided to those people that would like to donate or at least become aware of the organization and support in any other way they can. read more

Called me saying I pledged 15$ when I never did. Woman never questioned how this mistake was made, she just rushed asking for a credit card number. I said give me a website and I'll do it from there. Already suspicious, I skipped the website and came here and wasn't surprised to see others had similar issues. Definitely NOT a legit service, at least, the one that is on the phone. Apparently there are 2 organizations under the same name, the one calling, is obviously the one that is not legit. read more

Robocalls coming in from different spoofed numbers around the state with a not-so-smart interface that poorly attempts to sound like you're talking to an actual person. Ponder the irony of a cancer charity utilizing the cancer that is robocallers. There's no defense, for spoofed numbers cannot be anticipated and blocked. There's no recourse either. Every time the phone rings I have to throw down my tools and run answer it, 4 out of 5 calls aren't a customer or wanted call, just robocallers. It's not like I can just opt out of owning a phone either. Really hope the FCC and FTC put some teeth into the robocaller laws and the people using them get what's coming to them! read more

Persistent annoying calls asking for money, with fake caller ID, to a mobile phone that's on the FCC Do Not Call list. Don't fall for the scam. read more

Got a call from this organization. I asked what their website was so I could look it up. He responded by saying he could send a donation card. I said to quit calling me and hung up. Just looked them up on Charity Navigator where they have ZERO star rating. Have never seen that before! Not unrated-zero stars. That is because only 20% of what they take in goes to the actual "charity" part, 70% is fundraising and the rest is administrative overhead. So maybe in 2014 they were better (kind of doubt it) but your money is much better donated elsewhere. read more

I called the number listed on this page to tell them they are harassing me and need to take me off their list. Kate, the nice lady on the phone told me they don't block their phone number from caller ID, and they keep getting reports from people in California who are saying someone is claiming to be them looking for donations. So if you are in California, assume the caller is a FRAUD! I told Kate I'm so sorry someone is using their name to scam other people and she was very good natured about it, saying she's glad people are calling to let them know. So if you get these calls, assume it's a fraud. There are some real sickos out there, using kids with cancer to scam people out of money! read more

This indeed is a sad situation. Seemingly noble goal of helping cancer kids, yet most money goes to "Innovative Teleservices" for their fundraising efforts. "Unrestricted" funds are very difficult for not for profits to come by; there are usually very strict spending limits and %'S on grant money; so you have to keep a very very low overhead and especially administrative staff cost is usually capped at 5% MAX. So these 'SLUSH FUNDS' gotten by any means possible, have no strings attached and therefore, usually the executive director who wants a bigger paycheck, talks their board of directors into rubber stamping a campaign. I am currently President of my local Lions Club, Have served on SEVERAL non-profit boards over the years, including various PTA's, Local Habitat for Humanity chapter, Chamber of Commerce etc. IF you find it in your heart to donate to a charity, donate to a local charity. Not only will you be easily able to follow up and see your donation in action-you have a direct impact on your very own community. Volunteerism and charity work are one of the things that keeps America Strong and I applaud everyone who gets out and gives their free time and spare money to help those out who need it! PLEASE do your part and volunteer locally, and avoid scammers that call you on the phone asking for money. read more

DO NOT DONATE TO THIS ORGANIZATION!!!!!! They are extremely rude and I sensed something was not right so I asked a few simple question and the guy that called would just keep talking and reading his line. So after the third time I asked the same question he thanked me and transferred me to Dept that takes you're donation. I've asked them to remove me from their Do Not Call list and they hung up. read more

I just want to point out that National Children's Leukemia Foundation and Childhood Leukemia Foundation are two different organizations. The aforementioned is the one that was accused of fraud while the latter has been given a platinum seal of transparency through Charity Navigator. Make sure you know which one you are talking about before leaving a review. It seems that several reviewers have confused these two organizations and have left negative reviews. This is neither a negative or positive review of either organization. I just felt it was important to point that they are two different organizations. read more

I need a way to give negative stars. This place has successfully convinced my wife and I to not donate to anyone anymore. My wife donated twice a couple of years ago and the calls have been non-stop since then. They call multiple times a day, despite being asked to not call or take off of their call lists. When we make this request, we're often hung up on mid-sentence. I often get hung up on when I answer the phone because they want to talk to my wife since she made the initial donations. We stopped answering our home phone because of these guys. How shady do they have to be to spoof their number to show a fake number on caller ID. I'm half a step away from just canceling my land line because of all the calls from them at all times of day. read more

CROOKS! SCAMMERS! Just got a phone call from them. A women with a hushed, urgent voice gave me a deeply emotional pledge about children that needed my help for Christmas. They asked for a $15 donation using a credit card or debit card and I gave a firm "NO', telling them that they need to send me something in the mail I can look at before I can donate. I was told to look at a website for donors. I was put on hold to talk to a donation specialist that would verify my phone number and address. After one minute on hold I hung up and started checking. The website for donors, donorclub(dot)org, pretends to offer discounts from local merchants if you donate to this organization. After a few clicks I could see this was a scam. Checking the website's registration verified this was a shady organization. read more

Shady, shady, shady. This morning, I received a call that displayed as "out of area" on caller ID. It came from a man who said that I had pledged $15 to the organization in early February. I had not. He then said that my wife must have made the pledge; he gave her name. He asked if I had received the pledge envelopes from them. I said that I had not, although it's possible that we discarded them along with all of the other junk mail. He then gave me an address to send the pledge (a 3050 Union Lake Road, Suite 8F, in Commerce Township, Michigan), taking care to note that I needed to put the number 1004772 on the check. He said this was very important. I then said that I would talk to my wife and make sure that she had actually pledged money to the organization, and I said, "This isn't a scam, is it?" The gentleman emphasized that this was a tax exempt corporation, but I said I was asking about the claim that we had pledged to them. Just one half hour later, a woman called (again with an "Out of area" number) and said that she was from CLF. I asked her, "Do you realize that someone from CLF just called here?" She said it was a computer problem. Oh, and the Commerce Township address appears for a group called "Team Joseph" (Duchenne muscular dystrophy), Ken Brown International (Empowering Christian communicators), and, most importantly, a UPS Store. I then dug through our junk mail and found a letter from the Childhood Leukemia Foundation which names the professional fundraiser that they use (Innovative Teleservices), with the statement that the CLF "truly believe[s] they are working in our best interest." The letter asks for the $15 we supposedly pledged, plus another $2 "to offset some expenses." Also see http://www.innovativeteleservicesinc.com/index.htm http://www.clf4kids.org/ read more

If I could give this no stars I would. These scoundrels coaxed $25.00 out of us via asking us to commit without any paperwork or information on the charity. We asked them to send us paperwork showing they were legit and then we'd offer them $25.00. All of the sudden we were transferred to someone who wanted to collect $25.00. Prior to being transferred the nasty lady told us the call was recorded and our offer was binding. We hung-up. We then received numerous letters in the mail for $25.00. My spouse sent in a check and now they will not stop hounding and harassing us for more money. Each time they call we tell them to remove our number yet they ignore us. Now they are calling, saying nothing, and hanging-up on us. Give your money to St. Judes and steer clear of this organization. We've reported every single call to the FTC website and it's counting because they continue to call and hang-up on us. Now it's just plain harassment. We highly recommend you report their calls each time to the FTC so they can take care of them. read more

I just received a call from "THE CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA FOUNDATION"??? The Woman / Robo Caller that asked for a $50.00 donation was not very cooperative when I explained my that I couldn't Pay what they were asking for. Then the pledge went to $30.00 I told them NO. An operator came on asking for a donation with higher levels of money So I told her NO again. This whole time she's STILL asking for my card information .So I asked if I could donate on-line ? She said that there is a website . I then told her that I would make a $20.00 donation there. She said she's going to send me a receipt for my donation. This should prove to be Interesting. read more

My son has Lymphoma and received many benefits from this organization through our local children's hospital. The Wish Basket is wonderful and the Hope Binder really helps keep us informed and organized. I'm not sure of the telemarketing practices of the companies they hire but personally, you should never donate to any organization over the phone. Do your homework and donate directly. Here is the link to the latest BBB report: http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/health/childhood-leukemia-foundation-in-brick-nj-1546/all read more

rude and pushy people. i were almost going to donate since they said it is for children until i misplaced their donation package they sent out to me. They called, i asked for them to mail me another one and the lady on the phone was rude and pushy. She wants me to use my credit card instead. read more

People who have given this group 5 stars are NOT DOING THEIR HOMEWORK! I don't care who called you back or what the "founder" claimed, this is not an effective organization. I got a call from a "spoofed" number in Southfield, MI. If they were legit, the would call from their number or a legitimate telemarketing service. Secondly, Charity Navigator gives them 0 stars for financial inefficiency and an overall rating of 28 out of 100. Director Barbara Haramis receives over 5% of the total income as salary. 81% goes to fundraising. That leaves about 14% of $3.9 mil going to all services - not good odds. Yes they give some boxes to some kids but that amounts to $60,000 of the $3.9 mil they collect. The largest service is about $200,000 to something called Hope Binders. It appears to be an app to track treatment. Not a bad idea but certainly there are organizations who can provide the same thing for less cost. If you give money to them, you are primarily supporting telemarketers and the founder. Before you give any money over the phone, go to charitynavigator.org. Read about the financials, programs, etc. give your hard earned money where it can actually do some good. read more

I just read their most recent 2019 990 filed. $3.5M in revenue and after over $300K to two directors and over $2.5M to fundraising along with a few other expenses their leftover to actually go to the kids was a paltry $70K. What a scam. The only people benefiting from this 'charity' are the two directors and the telemarketers. read more