My Nonprofit Reviews

A complete scam! Please beware and do not enroll in this fake, money grubbing "school"!

A complete scam! Gaia is run by the Tvind Teachers Group, a cult originating in Denmark. Five top TG leaders are wanted by Danish authorities and Interpol on charges of aggravated embezzlement and tax fraud. Beware! Do not donate clothes to this group.

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.

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My review (August 2012) bears repeating. Planet Aid is a scam. The glowing positives that some have written here seem to be part of an orchestrated effort by Planet Aid to divert attention away from its "F" charity ratings by Charity Watch, and extensive negative media coverage. Planet Aid has not had thrift shops for years, so I would like to ask some of the reviewers who have commented on the good quality of clothes they purchased, WHERE they went to buy them?! And when? Given what I know about this organization and its affiliates here in the USA and abroad, I personally would not donate so much as a shoe to Planet Aid. The little money it ships overseas to Humana People to People is money down a black hole. There should be a full-scale investigation of Planet Aid et al by the FBI, DOJ, IRS, US Immigration and Customs Service, state attorneys general offices and others.

This organization is NOT committed to transparency. It is part of the Tvind/Teachers Group global conglomerate of shady businesses, which include a number of interlinked non-profits that operate under the general banner of Humana People to People. In the USA, the non-profits include Planet Aid, Gaia, IICD (Institute for International Cooperation and Development; there are two IICDs--one in Mass and one in Mich) and CCTG (Campus California Teachers Group). Two of the better-known Tvind/TG for-profits in the USA are U'SAgain and Garson and Shaw. Planet Aid works "cooperatively" with all to expand one of the major business lines of the TG: the collection and sale of "donated" used clothes. The Tvind/TG is regarded by scholars and a few governments (e.g., France) as a cult, and is well known in Denmark (where it originated) and throughout Scandinavia and Europe. You simply need to google Planet Aid scam, and you will find many articles addressing different aspects of this organization. Here is one: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/charity-watchdog-accuses-planet-aid-of-misleading-its-donors/ Here is a link to the FBI file on the Tvind/TG and Amdi Petersen (or Pedersen), the topmost Tvind/TG leader who, along with seven other TG members, stood trial in Denmark in 2003 on charges of fraud and serious economic crime: http://www.tvindalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FBI-file-on-Tvind-2001-pg-1-3.pdf Although only one leader was found guilty (of diverting six million dollars from a TG-created "Humanitarian Fund" for purchase of a luxury condo-- located on Fisher Island near Miami--for Amdi and his girlfriend), another leader was tried again in a higher court, found guilty on several charges of bilking the Humanitarian Fund and sentenced to several years in prison. During sentencing of Poul Jorgensen, the judges stressed the systematic nature of the crimes planned by members of the TG, not just by one rogue member (my term, not their's). Now, Amdi Petersen and several others are wanted AGAIN to stand trial in Denmark. They are thought to be hiding at the lavishly appointed Tvind/TG compound in Mexico, or at the TG-owned farm in Zimbabwe where the Humana People to People Federation HQ is located. Where is Planet Aid in this? As the Danish deputy prosecutor was quoted as saying about TG-led groups: ''They are in operation all over Europe and they are very active in the US, especially on the East Coast,'' said Poul Gode, a deputy prosecutor in Denmark's Division of Serious Economic Crimes, part of the Justice Ministry. ''There is no doubt in my mind that Amdi is linked to Planet Aid in Massachusetts. ... The charges against Amdi are not focused on what is happening with Planet Aid, but the people involved are the same.'' Here is a link the Boston Globe article on Planet Aid, which mentions Gode's remarks. http://www.rickross.com/reference/tvind/tvind46.html The US public and concerned government authorities should ask plenty of questions (and do their background research!) about all of the Tvind/TG used clothes businesses operating in the USA, including and especially Planet Aid. Planet Aid and its affiliated groups are not fulfilling even the basic criteria for receipt of 501c3 non-profit status. They are highly sophisticated scams, raking in millions of tax-free dollars. I have personally witnessed the so-called humanitarian work of some of the Humana People to People projects overseas (in Africa). Judging by the poor quality of what I saw (and filed complaints about), the charitable dollars claimed by Planet Aid and company to be going to support HPP projects are NOT. Neither were the projects I saw competently run. Planet Aid is mainly investing in itself and the Tvind/TG. Beneath the veneer of respectability-- largely derived from well-orchestrated self-promotion--Planet Aid continues to deny, distort and disguise many truths about its leaders, structure, affiliations, practices and purpose. Transparent? Accountable? Certainly not!

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This organization is NOT committed to transparency. It is part of the Tvind/Teachers Group global conglomerate of shady businesses, which include a number of interlinked non-profits that operate under the general banner of Humana People to People. In the USA, the non-profits include Planet Aid, Gaia, IICD (Institute for International Cooperation and Development; there are two IICDs--one in Mass and one in Mich) and CCTG (Campus California Teachers Group). Two of the better-known Tvind/TG for-profits in the USA are U'SAgain and Garson and Shaw. Planet Aid works "cooperatively" with all to expand one of the major business lines of the TG: the collection and sale of "donated" used clothes. The Tvind/TG is regarded by scholars and a few governments (e.g., France) as a cult, and is well known in Denmark (where it originated) and throughout Scandinavia and Europe. You simply need to google Planet Aid scam, and you will find many articles addressing different aspects of this organization. Here is one: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/06/charity-watchdog-accuses-planet-aid-of-misleading-its-donors/ Here is a link to the FBI file on the Tvind/TG and Amdi Petersen (or Pedersen), the topmost Tvind/TG leader who, along with seven other TG members, stood trial in Denmark in 2003 on charges of fraud and serious economic crime: http://www.tvindalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FBI-file-on-Tvind-2001-pg-1-3.pdf Although only one leader was found guilty (of diverting six million dollars from a TG-created "Humanitarian Fund" for purchase of a luxury condo-- located on Fisher Island near Miami--for Amdi and his girlfriend), another leader was tried again in a higher court, found guilty on several charges of bilking the Humanitarian Fund and sentenced to several years in prison. During sentencing of Poul Jorgensen, the judges stressed the systematic nature of the crimes planned by members of the TG, not just by one rogue member (my term, not their's). Now, Amdi Petersen and several others are wanted AGAIN to stand trial in Denmark. They are thought to be hiding at the lavishly appointed Tvind/TG compound in Mexico, or at the TG-owned farm in Zimbabwe where the Humana People to People Federation HQ is located. Where is Planet Aid in this? As the Danish deputy prosecutor was quoted as saying about TG-led groups: ''They are in operation all over Europe and they are very active in the US, especially on the East Coast,'' said Poul Gode, a deputy prosecutor in Denmark's Division of Serious Economic Crimes, part of the Justice Ministry. ''There is no doubt in my mind that Amdi is linked to Planet Aid in Massachusetts. ... The charges against Amdi are not focused on what is happening with Planet Aid, but the people involved are the same.'' Here is a link the Boston Globe article on Planet Aid, which mentions Gode's remarks. http://www.rickross.com/reference/tvind/tvind46.html The US public and concerned government authorities should ask plenty of questions (and do their background research!) about all of the Tvind/TG used clothes businesses operating in the USA, including and especially Planet Aid. Planet Aid and its affiliated groups are not fulfilling even the basic criteria for receipt of 501c3 non-profit status. They are highly sophisticated scams, raking in millions of tax-free dollars. I have personally witnessed the so-called humanitarian work of some of the Humana People to People projects overseas (in Africa). Judging by the poor quality of what I saw (and filed complaints about), the charitable dollars claimed by Planet Aid and company to be going to support HPP projects are NOT. Neither were the projects I saw competently run. Planet Aid is mainly investing in itself and the Tvind/TG. Beneath the veneer of respectability-- largely derived from well-orchestrated self-promotion--Planet Aid continues to deny, distort and disguise many truths about its leaders, structure, affiliations, practices and purpose. Transparent? Accountable? Certainly not!

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