> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # DP INVESTIGATION ’Tis the season to take advantage - URL: https://www.smdp.com/dp-investigation-tis-the-season-to-take-advantage/ - Published: 2006-11-29T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T23:11:21.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Community, Promenade, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *ID cards offer no real regulation* *By JESSICA ROBERTS Special to the Daily Press* THIRD STREET PROMENADE — Along with the season of giving, invariably comes the season for taking advantage. A group of mainstay solicitors on the Third Street Promenade — clipboards in hand — continue to claim they collect funds for children with AIDS, abused women, gang violence and homelessness, but the money donated by unwitting shoppers may not be going to philanthropic causes, a Daily Press investigation finds. One reason for the problem is a gap in licensing non-profit solicitors that leaves the city of Santa Monica unregulated, and as a result, open to fraudulent solicitations. On any given day,several individuals on the 1400 block of the promenade ask shoppers to contribute, showing an information card from the Los Angeles Transition Center (LATC), an organization that works to house and employ homeless people. Mario Martin, who often works the afternoon shift on Third Street, said last week that the solicitors are volunteers who used to be homeless. “Everybody should do volunteer work,” said Martin, who claimed he works for One Nation Under God church and LATC. “Do something to help people that are less fortunate than they are.” The LATC, a legitimate organization, only solicits donations at Los Angeles International Airport. “We don’t have anybody in Santa Monica,” said Chloe Harris, assistant director of LATC. “They’ve taken our paperwork and duplicated it.” Asked about Martin, who claims to represent the organization, Harris said, “We’ve never even had anybody by that name.” In addition, Mike Morales, a representative of One Nation Under God Christian Church in Los Angeles,claimed that Santa Monica was not in their coverage area. The church does solicit donations in Orange County to support homeless shelters, but those solicitors are provided with photo badges. A call to the phone number provided by Martin for his organization last week went unanswered. Another promenade solicitor, who identified himself only as “Frank,” provided the Web site address www.transitional.org, which is not a site for a non-profit organization, but a real estate Web site. Martin and the other solicitors who claim to work for LATC typically solicit promenade shoppers just north of Broadway. Frank and “Patrick,” who also declined to provide a last name, work from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., while Martin mans the 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift. Each displays an information card issued by the City of Los Angeles, which is part of the city’s effort to monitor solicitors. The County of Los Angeles also issues cards, but does not cover Santa Monica. “We just do the unincorporated areas of the county, unless the city has a contract with us,” said Nyla Jefferson, of the Los Angeles County Business License Commission. “I’m sure they \[Santa Monica\] have their own solicitation board.” However, the Santa Monica Business License office said they do not issue licenses or regulate non-profit solicitors. They said only that solicitors should show IRS nonprofit certification — something those on the promenade do not have — and that solicitors on the promenade are licensed by Bayside District Corporation, which manages the Third Street Promenade. Although the city does not have a system to monitor solicitors, the Santa Monica Police Department can be called to look into solicitors and investigate potential cases of fraud, which is a felony. “We would investigate it as a crime,” said Anna Bishop, a dispatcher with the SMPD. “All we’re there to do is prove or disprove who they say they are.” Bishop said it is in solicitors’ best interest to wear identification or carry some verification of their status in case someone challenges them. She suggested paperwork, fliers, a phone number or an address where people could send money if they are more comfortable donating by mail. “If everything checks out and everything they say is true... and they can be proven to exist, they can go on their way,” she said. Bishop also said the promenade, as a semi-private public area, would fall under the jurisdiction of the Bayside District Corporation. “The promenade is extremely competitive,” said Bishop. “You need a permit before you can go down there to solicit anything — you can’t do it without Bayside recognizing what’s going on. If you’re going to be stationary, going to be handing out stuff, or if you want to make some money, you’re competing with the businesses out there.” While the police department and the city assume that Bayside District Corporation issues permits for solicitors on the promenade, the organization said they do not have any licensing system in place for non-profit solicitors. “Anybody can do anything they want,” said Lynn Wile, a representative at Bayside, adding, “they should have a card issued by the city or county.” The Los Angeles County information cards are acquired through a process that begins with an application available on the Los Angeles Police Department Web site. After attending a meeting and filing paper-work — including proof of 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, a board member list and financial statements — organizations receive a hearing. The license to solicit is granted and the organization doesn’t have to appear any more after that, according to the Los Angeles Business License Commission. The information card issued by either the county or city of Los Angeles will include the name of the organization, its phone number, the date of issue, time period of solicitation and type of event, purpose of soliciting, anticipated expenses and fundraising goal. The cards do not include individual names or photographs, because different people may use them. Martin and the others display an information card listing LATC as their organization, anticipated expenses of $10,825 to “bring the church van down here,”according to Martin, and a fund-raising goal of $40,000. Donna Munoz, an investigator with the Charitable Services Section of the Los Angeles Police Commission, said LATC “has a current information card... and lots of problems.” The information cards are generally hard to monitor, said Munoz. “They just pass them out like they’re candy,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s just so hard to regulate these people.” Investigators in the Charitable Services Section monitor 4,000 organizations in the city of Los Angeles. “That’s a lot of organizations to investigate,” Munoz said. “We have watched them \[solicitors\] and busted them going into the liquor store right after they got something.” She said it’s worse around the holidays, when people are feeling more charitable. “The holidays are the worst,” said Munoz. “Everybody’s feeling generous and light-hearted and it’s give, give, give — but give wisely.” The Charitable Services investigators get many calls for verification, but not many to report fraud because, according to Munoz, “people are reluctant to report it because they’re embarrassed.” Munoz said the charities, and LATC in this case, are not the culprits. “He’s \[the director of LATC\] pretty good about sending people out there and telling them to come back in,” she said. When informed last week that solicitors were using their cards on the promenade, Harris, of the LATC, said the organization would try to get them off Third Street. “We’ll have someone take their paper-work from them,” she said. However, as of Tuesday, the solicitors were still active on the promenade. Munoz said the Charitable Services Section is trying to find a better way to monitor people who use the information cards. “We’re trying to figure out a way with the city attorney’s office to keep track of these people,” she said. Besides duped shoppers, legitimate charities are the real victims in this gap in accountability, as they miss out on donations that were meant for their coffers. Munoz recommends that donors give to reputable organizations by approaching the organization of choice directly. “Be real discerning about who you give your money to,” she said. The section’s “Give Wisely” campaign is intended “to assist the public in making informed decisions when donating money or personal time to non-profit organizations,” according to its informational pamphlet. Listed as the keys to giving wisely are tips such as do not send cash, watch out for similar-sounding names, call the charity, and avoid “instant” charity Web sites. The pamphlet also notes that the Los Angeles Police and Fire departments do not solicit donations over the telephone, by mail or door-to-door. Concerned givers can call the LA Police Commission’s Charitable Services Section at (213) 978-1144 or get more information at www.lapdonline.org by searching for “charitable services.” The Charitable Services Section Web page provides information on giving wisely, rules and regulations applying to solicitors and hints for identifying dubious solicitors. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 29, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)