Hospice fundraising not for local care

Local residents may be receiving letters asking them to help hospice care, but money they send may not be ending up at local hospices— or even to a hospice.

Northern Montana Healthcare Foundation Executive Director Christen Obresley said Wednesday she received an email from the Montana Hospital Association warning its members to be on the lookout for solicitations from Hospice Support Fund. The fund solicits hospice organizations, offering to pay for running a public service announcement tailored to match local hospices with their name, address, phone number, web site and logo.

The hospital association email also warned that the organization has been known to solicit donations from individuals.

Shortly after receivingthe email, Obresley said, she received a call from someone saying they were seeing letters sent to local residents from the same organization, Hospice Support Fund, looking for donations to help provide hospice care.

“It’s (happening) in Havre,” she said, adding that the solicitations are not associated with any hospice in the region.

“It has nothing to do with Havre or even Montana, or even hospices in general, once you read through it,” she said.

A press release from The Carolinas Center, a hospice organization formed in 1977 in North and South Carolina, says Hospice Support Fund should not be confused with Hospice Foundation of America, a legitimate organization raising funds for hospice.

The release refers to a letter to the editor printed Sept. 22, 2015, in ThePilot.com. The letter says that the fine print of Hospice Support Fund’s letter shows that 95 percent of donations goes toward Hospice Support Fund’s expenses, not to hospices. The remaining 5 percent go to undefined program services.

The letter says of $1.5 million raised by Hospice Support Fund in 2014, none of it went to any hospice.

The Carolinas Center release urges people to make certain residents are aware of Hospice Support Fund and that it is not affiliated with local — or any — hospices, to educate people to only donate to actual local hospice fundraisers, and to report Hospice Support Fund fundraising to the proper agencies — such as Better Business Bureau, the Montana secretary of state or attorney general — if they believe Hospice Support Fund is conducting illegal activity.