My Nonprofit Reviews

I stumbled upon this charity after I lost my 12 year old son in 2003. I started volunteering for them as a volunteer at the Out of the Darkness Walk at Kensington Park in Michigan. I soon was chairing the event and also as a coordinator for the Survivor Outreach Program, helping the national office with interviews for potential volunteers for the program, and sitting on the board. After struggling to keep the board "afloat" (15 years exactly) we were in a position to hire a director and start spending money on local programs. Our board was in the red at the time my husband and I took over and after years of hard work, improving our walks to net out over $100,000 a walk, we increased our bottom line to $300,000. We hired the director and thought that things were going to start changing and programs were going to be implemented. It soon was obvious that AFSP was not really interested in "keeping the money local" and investing in local programs, all the walks were just "fundraising" and the chapter was spending time investing in fundraising, not people.
When I was chairing the walk, I would receive many phone calls, or emails about not wanting to ask their friends and family for money, but they wanted to walk. I was told it was a fundraiser, not charity....not charity???? This was an event that was supposed to help families heal??!!! If you are interested in a Michigan based suicide prevention organization, there are plenty to pick from. Do not give your money to this one.