David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

I have been contacted by a company called operation photo rescue. They restore photos obtained from persons who have suffered loss to their photos from the storms across our country. The job of restoration is voluntary.

I wonder if anyone has heard of this company and its work. How is it funded? etc etc. I don't mind helping people in need to restore their photos, but want to make sure that the company doing this is truly working on behalf of the people and not using volunteer help and pocketing any income derived from doing this.

Coolcameragirl Loc: Bradenton, FL

http://www.operationphotorescue.org/

This is the website. It looks legit and it looks like a good thing. Maybe you can go into it more than I did - I basically browsed.

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

I have gone into it heavily. Some of the photos that they want corrected are due to fading and age. Hence this is not storm damage. So it makes me wonder about the company. Maybe there is an affiliated company that is for profit?

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

David;

What is it that you're suspicious of?
I don't see a company.
I see a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

:thumbup:

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

A company can be a 501(c)(3) corporation. It can be owned by a for profit company. Not ever having heard of them and they want me and I am sure others to do free photo restorations raise a few red flags in my opinion. Especially when I see photos on their web site that have age damage and not storm damage.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I think the "org" in the web address means it's not a commercial business.

MagicFad Loc: Clermont, FL

Unfortunately, anybody can purchase a .org web address so it has little value in determining the status of the owner.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

My thought is, if you are that worried, don't volunteer.

jvo Loc: left coast of the east coast

they aren't listed on charity navigator... my go to place to check out a charity... usually have found something there. i'd call 'em.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

David Kay Loc: Arlington Heights IL

You are so correct, but wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt. Seeing how no one knows anything about this organization, and nothing on the web about them, plus I have these red flags, I will take a pass.

Thanks for all you help!! I appreciate it.

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

The website says they are a not-for-profit licensed charity but that doesn't mean they won't be charging for and profiting from the restoration work.

Blue Cross - Blue Shield is also supposedly a non-profit organization but the head of it makes millions per year, supervisors are paid absurd salaries and until recently department heads, assistant department heads, assistant department head assistants and others were sent to luxury destinations like Hawaii, the Caribbean, Costa Rica, and other places for luxury conferences with private rooms for everybody, premium buffets for every meal, recreation with big name bands coming to the resort exclusively for them, first class airfare, and all expenses paid. It's not uncommon for a not-for-profit organization to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, use almost all for expenses and overhead, and give bonuses to operating officers to dump the rest so their taxes show zero income at the end of the fiscal year.

There are many non-profits who supposedly are helping the hungry, the homeless, distributing food to foreign countries, etc. and less than 10% is used for that purpose while 90% is used internally. You should be careful when supporting any of them.

The only way you're going to know for sure if this is legit and they're not profiting is to somehow get in touch with someone in one of those disaster areas who has had photos restored for them and find out if it was done completely free. Even if they are doing it free, the company is still profiting from somewhere, such as website ads, donations, etc. to operate their infrastructure and pay employees.