Copyright 1997-2023 Ripoff Report. They were charged with heading up a $9 million scheme, sparked by a call to Roxbury Police from an out-of-state law enforcement agency that had tracked gift cards purchased with stolen credit card information to Smiles II where they were cashed out, the AGs Office said. The quest to impress donors and outsiders alike with its good works seems to have led Operation Smile to exaggerate how many children it has helped. A medical volunteer who was in Beijing sent an anonymous E-mail in November to members of the board that voiced serious criticism about how the death occurred. Who is ED Magedson - Founder, Ripoff Report. Our work is made possible through their and your compassion and generosity. En Operacin Sonrisa estamos convencidos de que cada nio merece atencin quirrgica segura y oportuna que transformar su vida para siempre. Charity faces inquiry on child deaths | World news | The Guardian THROUGH OUR EXPERTISE IN TREATING CLEFT LIP AND CLEFT PALATE, WE CREATE (SEE SCH O). Operation Smile says it is commissioning an independent inquiry into the allegations. Our model gets smarter over time as more people share salaries on Glassdoor. Smile Train, Operation Smile Merger Signals End of Longstanding Feud They are accused of providing Lipkas with stolen credit cards and illegally acquired gift cards to use in their mad plan. It specialises in sending surgeons to developing countries to operate on children who have facial deformities such as cleft palates and hare lips. While his hospital would be eager to cooperate with surgeons from the United States, Operation Smile had committed ''surgical safaris against our children,'' who are from poor families who are unlikely to complain, he said. Smile Train empowers local medical professionals with training, funding, and resources to provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children globally. They will do the things you think nobody would ever do. What the BBB has done to consumers for over 100 years is one of the many reasons why Ripoff Report was created. Through our expertise in treating cleft lip and cleft palate, we create solutions that deliver safe surgery to people where it's needed most. In fact, there is literally nothing I have to look at from a financial perspective since the auditing firm already peformed that work. In other words, without the surgeons and doctors, there is no program. You're faster than our page! The 10 charities on the list include well-known and highly-respected organizations: 1. Others previously arrested include alleged partner Kevin Bae, 30, of Edgewater, who shared a back account with Lipka and allegedly had millions of dollars transferred into their joint account; Eric Olsen, 49, of Roxbury, a daytime manager at Smilles II in charge of finances. Their income comes from private practice. When we consider all facets of the organization, we place the Operation Smile charity rating at a strong B-. This ratio is an indicator of an organizations solvency and/or long-term sustainability. How about back up your claims with some bank statements for all to see exactly where all the money goes publicly? Corporate Advocacy Program: How to repair your business reputation. Showing Editorial results for operation smile. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. https://www.ripoffreport.com/report/operation-smile/virginia-beach-org-soliciting-1487205, Principle Management Group, The Smart Circle, Dallas Edge Inc. Multi-level Marketing Scam, Waste of Time/Money/Your Worth, Unethical Practices, Takes Advantage of Employees and Consumers - Victoria Jackson/Operation Smile/Home Depot/DirecTV Arlington/Addison Texas, Victoria Jackson / Operation Smile Scam ARLINGTON Texas, Paradise Property Management Ventura Illegal eviction my account being hacked, PPM will not investigate how it happened Ventura California, Kei Kullberg Quintessential Mortgage Group bait and switch you into promising you a low-rate Mortgage Scammer White Plains New York, TAHINI GODDESS Sally schimko Sexyveggies Tahini Goddess inulin Goddess Prebiotic white labeling of non-licensed food supplement. The Livingston couple, along with five associates, was originally hauled in by the authorities in July 2016, after search warrants were executed at Smiles II, Kevin Lipkas home, his vehicle and other locations, leading to the seizure of thousands of gift cards and other documents related the scheme. I'm well aware of how corruption operates being in the business world for over 20+ years now and seeing how 99% of the books are cooked, overhead is exaggerated and wraps in all types of above-average to opulent luxuries, benefits and higher than most ever make as compensation payments to the corrupt involved etc. Give the page a little longer to finish 1w Edited. Smile Train and Operation Smile Merger Over, Documents Say - The New Thank you! 1 star. Only one of the many reasons you are a MORON. (a) Smile Train's total expense per surgery is well over $250. The dastardly duo run Operation Lookout National Center for Missing Youth, a charity with the very worthy aim of providing support and assistance to the families of missing children. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Students also viewed. Within Operation Smile, the World Journey project was met with heavy criticism. This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2021, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us. This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 05:18. Operation Smile Vietnam - Operationsmile Vietnam We know that your local craniofacial center . If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence. Operation Smile Inc. reported its two largest programs on its FY 2021 Form 990 as: Operation Smile Inc. cannot currently be evaluated by our Culture & Community methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its Constituent Feedback or Equity Practices strategies.Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization. What most troubled the volunteer was the decision not to use carbon dioxide monitoring equipment that was readily available, a decision the charity acknowledges but is at a loss to explain. The one area where Operation Child does not meet the standards of the Better Business Bureau is related to board member compensation. 1-888-OPSMILE 1-888-677-6453. So let's take a look at the 990 and determine this: According to the Functional Expense Statement on the 990, their overhead represents about 12% of their total expenses. Fearful of the negative publicity involved in trying to force change, even big donors and directors may simply wash their hands. Founded by a charismatic plastic surgeon and his wife, it garnered millions in donations and sheaves of plaudits for the surgeons it sent abroad to fix the cleft palates and lips of children in poor countries. This is the best way to manage and repair your business reputation. 2021 Operation Smile. Search instead in Creative? What Are Operation Smile's Financial Details? While a simple surgery performed between 6 months to one year of age will correct the problem, the medical expertise and equipment needed for the procedure are not readily available in developing countries. Total donations and grants: $104,624,958Spent on program services: $67,057,623Percentage of donations toward grants and services: 64.09 Percent, Total revenue: $104,624,958Fundraising expenses: $19,404,254Percentage of total revenue spent on fundraising: 18.54 percent, Total Revenue: $104,624,958Administrative Expenses: $6,182,639CEO Salary: $500,000 (last reported in 2015; President reported no salary at that timePercentage of total revenue spent Administrative Expenses: 5.91 percent. Charity Navigator - Rating for Smile Train Inc. In March, after Operation Smile surgeons worked in Bolivia, a local paediatric surgeon accused the organisation of "a form of neo-colonialism" and of conducting "surgical safaris" among families who were in no position to complain. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. What Is the Operation Smile Charity Rating? ''Resigning is the final weapon,'' said F. Warren McFarlan, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied nonprofit boards. Operation Smile isn't the worst by far, but here's a simple rundown. The victims were told to buy gift cards to pay the bail and told to give information to a fake police officer that was involved in the arrest. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program. Story 9 min read. Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure. In early 1998, with much fanfare, Operation Smile announced a program called the Smile Train, to provide training and equipment to Chinese doctors. The charity also appears to have taken steps on a tax return, the only public documents by which charities can be judged, to make itself look much larger and more efficient, according to Daniel Borochoff, the president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a watchdog group in Bethesda, Md. Patients made into prostitutes and sex slaves, bilking insurance companies out of millions, Sac_County Iowa Prosecutor Ben Smith pays $750,000 to settle Ripoff Report 1983 civil rights lawsuit.. Federal Judge stops prosecutors abuse of power against ED Magedson Founder of Ripoff Report. Donor beware: Your money might not go where you think See the metrics below for more information. Consumers educating consumers., Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported.. Overall, the organization passes the standards in most all categories including, board oversight and size, effectiveness in policy and reports, spending on fundraising (the standard is no more than 35%), minimal conflicts of interests, and promptness in responding to complaints. Learn more about our criteria and methodology. Operation Smile, founded by a charismatic Virginia plastic surgeon, Bill Magee, and his wife Kathleen, boasts celebrity supporters such as Goldie Hawn and the Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.. If they use Blackbaud, I am concerned even less about the integrity of the financials or the office processes. See the metrics below for more information. Repackaged from Purchased from Amazon, stealing all certifications and false manufacturing markers from the packaging of NB food supplements. The death that has caused the most stir at Operation Smile occurred last year in China during a cleft-lip operation. https://www.ripoffreport.com/report/operation-smile/virginia-beach-org-soliciting-1487205. Operation Smile meets 19 of the 20 standards for charities established by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, A 2007 multimedia project featured a seven-story sphere at, Operation Smile was featured on NBC's reality show, Operation Smile is referenced repeatedly on Bravo's teen reality show, Operation Smile is referenced in episode 3 of TNT's television series. Operation Smile is a longstanding, non-profit organization that has been helping children diagnosed with a cleft palate for almost four decades. Since the charity began its work in 1982, 16 of its patients have died. Copyright 1997-2023, Ripoff Report. A cut of the kitty was divvied up among the runners, the Lipkas and their partners, who took about 20 percent. Operation Smile Reviews - Glassdoor View similar charities Related CharityWatch Articles Stories you make possible. Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure. Operation Smile Canada received Canadian donations of $14.7m. @operationsmile. Former dentist Kevin Lipka had his dentistry license suspended for three years in the 1990s, and apparently went into the strip club business after that, before he and his wife, Shelly, went completely rogue. Virginia Beach, VA operationsmile.org Joined January 2009. Smile Train is the largest cleft-focused organization with a model of true sustainability providing training, funding, and resources to empower local medical professionals in 70+ countries to provide 100%-free cleft surgery and other forms of essential cleft care in their own communities. There is a zero tolerance for fraud or corruption within the organization. If you encounter technical difficulties with the portal, please submit a support ticket here.We will respond as soon as possible. Another around $38 million is controlled assets/profits. While Operation Smile spends 36% of its earnings for administration and fundraising costs, this is still within the acceptable limits established by the industry and the Better Business Bureau. Charity Navigator looks for a website on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric. Smile Train | GiveWell One recurring grievance is the lack of independent review. Operation Smile Inc. cannot currently be evaluated by our Leadership & Adaptability methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes.Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization. Operation Smile has a longer track record of not doing this but still, the compensation doesn't pass the ethics/morals and honesty test. The Internal Revenue Service instructs charities not to include donated services as revenues. If Operation Smile seems like a charity you'd like to help, you can donate on their website at, www.operationsmile.org. Again others and I have checked 99% and hundreds of charities to get these results. According to Smile Train board members, the merger was the culmination of a feud between Smile Train co-founders and former Operation Smile board members Brian Mullaney, a former advertising executive, and Charles B. Wang, owner of the New York Islanders hockey team and founder of Computer Associates. While there are more efficient charities out there, this one deserves a look. If you want to donate for surgeries to help others, then pay for the surgery after it's done successfully. Phone To donate by phone, call 1-800-932-9541 Cryptocurrency Make A Tax-deductible Cryptocurrency Donation Today Donation Programs Operation Smile Reviews - Glassdoor These services include medical equipment, setting up temporary medical missions, establishing permanent care centers, research programs, and training and education. MORON, their books are audited by a 3rd party outside auditing firm - this was evident after doing the due diligence you failed to do. They reported a high number of serious complications and calculated that 29% of children with complications required further treatment. 3. And some question the charity's priorities for choosing to finance projects like its recent World Journey of Hope, a whirlwind mission around the globe that cost $8.8 million, $910,000 of which went for promotion and public relations. You can give one of these children a life-saving treatment today for just $240. The Mail on Sunday has learned that the Sussexes will be mocked in a one-off special of Channel 4's The Windsors (pictured), with a plotline based on their unconfirmed attendance at the Coronation. The chief executive is leaving, many staff members have quit and seven board members have resigned. Millions of other Europeans and Americans might not 25 strict standards for business conduct. Operation Smile Busts $12M Credit Card Scam at Strip Club, Supreme Court Reaches Decision on New York Concealed Carry Law, [VIDEO] Security Guard Slashed By Shoplifting Suspect, Top 50 Ranking of the Best US Companies to Work for in 2021, Undertaking Your Loss Prevention Analytics Journey with ThinkLP, The Customer Is Always Right, but Abuse Is Never Acceptable. You all have been so dedicated to helping our patients that our warehouse is bursting at the seams! Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Advertisers above have met our The Most Charitable Athletes You Need To Know About, Cancer Research Institute: History, Objective, & More, African Childrens Aid Education and Development Foundation: Our Guide, B+ Foundation: Everything You Need To Know About This Charity. Over the last two years, however, serious allegations of shoddy medical practices and questions about the charity's direction and conduct have stirred bitter struggles within the organization, outside public view. Operation Blessing is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization dedicated to partnering with YOU to demonstrate God's love by alleviating human suffering in the U.S. and around the world. Smile Train is an international children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and. So myself and others started looking into every charity we came across and sure enough, every single one out of hundreds checked into are stealing all, or most of the money to compensate the owners/controllers, or even worse many were using blatantly obvious fake named company officers to hide who was running them and stealing the money. In 2002, Operation Smile was featured in a, An ongoing co-branding campaign between Operation Smile and. Other medical volunteers echo similar concerns. https://www.facebook.com/Charity-Truth-1633642980077593/, https://www.pinterest.com/charitytruth/pins/. Once they had the gift cards in hand, they were cashed through fake transactions at Smiles II, swiping cards that pumped money into accounts linked up to She-Kev Inc. Charity Navigator looks for at least 3 board members, with more than 50% of those members identified as independent (not salaried). Glassdoor provides our best prediction for total pay in today's job market, along with other types of pay like cash bonuses, stock bonuses, profit sharing, sales commissions, and tips. Mail To make a gift through the mail, download our printable form and send your contribution. They care about NOTHING and NOBODY, but themselves and will profit from ANYTHING they can get away with. Chinese doctors at the hospital where the surgery took place were also extremely critical. Runners took those cards and used them to buy pre-paid gift cards from Master Card, Visa and American Express at retail stores, including Target and Home Depot, across Southeast Pennsylvania and Brooklyn, New York, investigators said. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity. When Dr. Magee talked about the devastation he felt in 1993 when two children died in China during surgery he supervised, he said he was convinced about the need to go on, given how many more children desperately need his services. OPERATION FORTUNE: RUSE DE GUERRE: Isn't Quite Butch Cassidy And The If this number is entirely correct (not exaggerated or estimated) and we divide it into the roughly $100 million of "money raised" shown above, we obtain a cost-per surgery of over $1000. It also received $700k ($500k in F2019) from Operation Smile that Ci categorized as international donations. Why Ripoff Report will not release author information! That's pretty much all you need to be looking for. The charity glowed with a $10 million pledge from Mr. Wang of Computer Associates. Operation Smile has an overall rating of 3.1 out of 5, based on over 93 reviews left anonymously by employees. Dr. Magee, whose background as a surgeon is impressive, has also been criticized for allowing people without medical training to have too large a role. The Lipkas face charges of misconduct by a corporate official, tax fraud and tax evasion. No one can deny that many of those involved in Operation Smile are upset when a child dies or is hurt. Complete cleft care Stories you make possible A faded memory becomes this family's second chance Story 5 min read Scenes of hope and healing: Kigali resident training program Story 6 min read Read all A nonprofit organization lost its major funder due to a corporate scandal. But Dr. Magee, who personally selects the surgeons, denied in the recent interview that the volunteer physicians, many of whom are not from the United States, were not skilled.
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