Planet Aid, Inc.

I work for Planet Aid currently and there is nothing shady about the organization. I am not on the board and no one asked me to write this. I am writing because I am sick of seeing the Planet Aid name smeared and be compared to other organizations in the states that are guilty of many of things we are being accused of in these negative reviews. I see first hand the donations and great impact we are able to make. NOT JUST OVER SEAS, but also here in the various communities we serve. Perhaps we haven't done the best job of promoting these volunteer services we provide, but that will change. We are here to assist in the environmental preservation of the planet and to help those in need. That is all. Come on by, I will show you myself.

Positive comments posted here clearly indicate that the authors are not native English speakers. Obviously these must be posted by members of the Planet Aid group, which is part of the pan-European cult that is Humana People to People (as others have indicated). This method is a clear sign that this is a creepy organization. Read this part of the organization's charter if you want to get more of a sense of how weird it is

http://www.humana.org/English/english-charter-1

Whoever wrote the positive comments posted here went to the same ESL school as those who wrote this charter.

Please visit these updated links to important information about Planet Aid.

FBI file mentioning Planet Aid as a Tvind/Teachers Group organization in the USA can be found at:

http://www.casa-meridiana.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FBI-file-on-Tvind-2001.pdf

Boston Globe article mentioning Planet Aid can be found at: http://www.culteducation.com/reference/tvind/tvind46.html

Five top leaders of the Tvind/Teachers Group, which is the controlling body behind Planet Aid and its sister organizations/commercial companies in the USA, are wanted by Danish authorities and Interpol on charges of aggravated embezzlement and tax fraud. Their names can be found at these links:

Amdi Petersen: http://tinyurl.com/mgyvqt7
Kirsten Larsen: http://tinyurl.com/lrmtvjf
Marlene Gunst: http://tinyurl.com/k9p288s
Christie Pipps: http://tinyurl.com/mwqltw2
Sten Byrner: http://tinyurl.com/m2d3mgm

Please research Planet Aid carefully! I personally would never donate to it.

Planet Aid does a lot to support development projects that help individuals and communities from all of the world improve the condition of their lives, including strengthening and organizing communities, reducing poverty, expanding sustainable local food production, increasing health awareness and encouraging healthy lifestyles, and so on. They does the greatest things for people!

The method Planet Aid uses is an amazing way to help the world especially the people from the third world and the environment. By selling the second hand clothes people donate to Planet Aid, they use the money to process kinds of charity projects to help people build their life. It both recycles the used clothing and aids the people who need supports.

I have heard only bad things about this organization, for example:

http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/PlanetAidRecyclingDebunked.html
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/charity-watchdog-accuses-planet-aid-of-misleading-its-donors/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPGlGzpbeUI

Strange, but all of the 41 positive reviews here seem to have been written by the same person. All were posted in 2013, and all are about 30 to 40 words in length. Furthermore, the usernames are similar, most consisting of a first and last name in lower case, with some of these followed by three numerals. They are also written in a similar style, with most of them raving about a Planet Aid thrift shop.

But the really strange part is that Planet Aid hasn’t run any thrift stores since about 2005! Take a look for yourself:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/planet-aid-inc-cambridge
http://www.yelp.com/biz/planet-aid-boston

I also found this Examiner.com article from 2009 that says “Planet Aid no longer has any stores in the United States, although a few stores did exist in the Boston area.” (next to last paragraph) http://tinyurl.com/muheehz

This is kind of creepy when you think about it. What on earth is going on here? I encourage folks to phone Planet Aid at either its Elkridge, Md. headquarters [(410) 796-1510] or its Milford, Mass. administrative offices [(508) 893-0644] and ask why apparently 40 reviewers on Great Nonprofits are, in 2013, raving about Planet Aid thrift shops that closed eight years ago! If you get a hold of anyone there and they talk to you, please post their response on this page.

Also please scroll back through the longer, 'real' reviews here, and read what ‘marianonprofit’, ‘tsomekwas’ and ‘kris in ks’ have to say. I don't understand everything they talk about, but obviously, they’ve researched Planet Aid a lot.

Reading the last eleven reviews here, it's painfully obvious that they were all written by the same person, who seems to have also written many of the older reviews. A Planet Aid employee or some hired hack is trying to flood this page with lots of glowing little blurbs in an attempt to bury the few real, longer reviews voicing legitimate concerns about this controversial nonprofit.

A dead giveaway: Planet Aid hasn't operated any clothing shops since around 2005! So how could all these reviewers "in here" be raving about shops that closed down 8 years ago?

Prosecutors in Denmark have linked Planet Aid with an alleged cult called the Tvind Teachers Group, whose leaders are wanted in their native Denmark in connection with a multimillion-dollar tax fraud and embezzlement scheme.

Beware Planet Aid. It may not be what it appears to be.

I laughed when “michellecoates918” declared that “Going in [a Planet Aid shop] feels like a time travel.” Yes, you’d just about need the DeLorean in “Back to the Future” to visit a Planet Aid store, because, as “kris” and “maria” correctly point out, the non-profit hasn’t operated such shops since around 2003!

I think that most of the positive reviews here were written by the same person, whose ability to come up with convincing fake usernames lacks a certain, well, je ne sais quoi.

As “maria” says, the controversies surrounding Planet Aid can be easily found online, which would explain the company’s desire to bury all the substantive unfavorable reports with fluffy superlatives.

Last December, USA Today reported that only 28% of Planet Aid’s spending went to its international aid programs in 2011, while most of the remainder went to collect and process clothes for recycling. That low percentage earned Planet Aid an “F” from ratings organization CharityWatch:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2012/12/30/clothes-donations-for-profit/1782543/
http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/PlanetAidRecyclingDebunked.html

A charitable spending ratio of 28% is decidedly too low, but the actual figure may be even lower than that. In its 2009 investigation, WTTG News in Washington DC examined Planet Aid’s then most recent tax records and noticed many of the charities Planet Aid claims to support have the *same address*. A list of South African charities was shown in example. But the South African Embassy told WTTG that those groups are NOT registered charities.

WTTG’s investigation found that ALL of the charities listed in Planet Aid’s most recent tax returns are controlled by the same parent organization: a group called International Humana People to People Movement, which, according to its own web-site, *also* controls Planet Aid: http://www.humana.org/Members/usa

Furthermore, prosecutors in Denmark have linked Planet Aid and Humana People to People to an alleged cult called the Tvind Teachers Group (“Tvind” or “TG” for short). Top TG leaders are international fugitives wanted in their native Denmark in connection with a multimillion-dollar tax-fraud and embezzlement scheme.

(NOTE: Whether by its longer name or the shortened version, Humana People to People is NOT affiliated with the American health insurer called Humana.)

Although Planet Aid denies any connection to Tvind, the company admits that out of its 250 employees, “less than 5 percent” belong to the group. I wonder, though, whether or not that 5% all happen to hold upper-level management positions at Planet Aid!

My opinion: steer well clear of this company.

Here are the WTTG News reports from 2009:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EES1_R-SoKs
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKAPDK0qR6U

A 2001 court document (translated into English by the Danish government) from The Public Prosecutor for Serious Economic Crime, in Denmark. In the document, at p. 31, Planet Aid is mentioned as being part of Tvind. Humana People to People first appears on p. 4: http://www.rickross.com/reference/tvind/tvind46.pdf

This is a heads-up for those of you who are reading these comments and hoping to find honest reviews of Planet Aid's work. There can be no such thing because Planet Aid's only function is to take money from the American public and funnel it to other operations overseas. From there small amounts of the funds are used for charitable works, but the bulk of the cash is transferred to affiliated companies, financial institutions, “consultants”, and the main membership organisation known as The Federation for Associations connected to the International Humana People to People Movement...all of this is known collectively as Tvind or the Teachers Group. The heads of all Tvind entities, whether it be one of their charities, or their clothing broker (Garson and Shaw in the USA), or their main financial foundation (Faelleseje in Denmark), are all Teachers Group members...every one of them.

I find it interesting, and rather pathetic, that there are “reviews” mentioning the wonders of Planet Aid's clothing stores...likely written by the same person, and more likely told to do so. If their most recent audit can be trusted (2011) Planet Aid hasn't operated clothing stores for over a decade. So why these comments? Simple...internet searches of Planet Aid yield more negative press than what they care the public to know. To counter these effects, “positive” info is flooded wherever possible, such as this site where reviews are allowed without monitoring. In other words, Planet Aid, or hired guns, can say what they want for as many times as they want...all positive and glowing with little facts to get in the way.

I've researched Planet Aid, and the Tvind/Teachers Group, for several years. I've studied their structure, their mindset, their history, and their motivation....my humble opinion is that it's all about the money. But this is a free country, and we are all allowed to donate where we choose. Just be aware that when you give your used clothing to Planet Aid your donations will likely be churned into money for an elite few members of the Tvind Teachers Group with a very small amount going to the poor in foreign countries. When you donate to a local charity like a church, a homeless shelter, Goodwill, or the Salvation Army, you will be helping the poor neighbors in your community. It's your choice. Make it the right one.

I just love donating my clothes in here, and I told my friends to do the same. Donating to Planet Aid feels like doing the best you can to help others.

Planet Aid is perfect! I can feel the humanitarian attitude of the people volunteering in here. The warmth that I feel whenever I go here is just amazing. All I can say is that the spirit of helping others is alive in Planet Aid.

I am thankful for Planet Aid, their cause and the impact that they have on the World.
They have helped my friends and family members learn self sustainability. They are now not only able to provide for themselves, but also the community.

Thank you,

Jorge