[BHS etree] BUSD: BHS Athletic Fundraising Scams Reported

[bhs at idiom.com]

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY to the etree, contact Mark Coplan
[mailto:Mark_Coplan at berkeley.k12.ca.us]

BHS Athletic Fundraising Scams Reported in Oakland and Kensington

We have received a call from a resident in the Glenview neighborhood
in Oakland.  A young man going door to door said he was raising money
for the BHS baseball team to go to Maui.  In exchange for $100-$500
one would receive some books on literacy. 

Another caller reported a young man selling magazine subscriptions in
Kensington, to help pay for the BHS swim team's trip to Hawaii. The
young man said that he was the son of a neighbor down the street, whom
he named.  Later she remembered that that neighbor did not have a son
this age, and called the BHS Athletic Director. 

The magazine subscription company he said he represented is QSI, or
Quality Services Inc. This is probably a real subscription company as
he was taking checks, but the trip to Hawaii and any connection to
Berkeley High School is not true, and there is no reason to believe
that these youths are actually BHS students.

In the event that one of Berkeley High's 50 plus athletic teams,
dozens of clubs or any of the small schools did come to your door
collecting money, they would only ask for checks (not cash) written to
the Berkeley Athletic Fund, the Berkeley High School Development Group
or the Berkeley Public Education Foundation, designating the recipient
group in the memo. 

Tip:
Any time a fundraiser encourages you to give cash instead of checks
because, "cash is easier for non-profits to process", should raise a
red flag. In fact, the opposite is true; for both security and record
keeping, non- profits prefer checks for donations.

In the event that you have any questions about any school fundraising
effort, please call the Berkeley High Athletic Department: 644-8723 or
the Public Information Office: 644-6320, and we will be happy to
verify it for you. We appreciate the generosity of this community in
supporting our students' teams and clubs, and we want to make it safe
and easy for you.


==========================================

Mark A. Coplan
Public Information Officer, BUSD
510-644-6320
Mark_Coplan at berkeley.k12.ca.us
Berkeley Unified School District
2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Berkeley, Ca 94704-1180