Kars4Kids

Kars4Kids is a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status, operating in the United States, Canada and Israel. Kars4Kids takes donations of cars, boats, yachts and real estate, accepting over 40,000 cars annually.{{cite web|url=http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/news-articles/insurance-undertow-for-flood-car-donations/|title=Insurance Undertow For Flood Car Donations |publisher=The NonProfit Times}} In 2018, Kars4Kids reported revenue of $65.6 million and expenses of $59.8 million. Donations to Kars4Kids benefit Oorah, a national nonprofit organization whose stated mission is "to give Jewish children and their families opportunities to become active and productive members of their communities".{{Cite web|title=Oorah Non Profit- Financials of the Company|url=https://www.oorah.org/financials.php|access-date=2020-07-01|website=www.oorah.org}}

Kars4Kids offers financial assistance to students to help pay for private school tuition and GED testing.{{Cite web

|url=https://www.kars4kidstuition.org

|title=Choice in Education School Grant |work=Kars4Kids |access-date= February 27, 2017 }} The organization also sponsors a youth program known as Chillzone, an after-school program teaching Jewish culture and moral values.{{Cite news|url=http://chillzone.org/kars4kids/|title=Our Sponsor: Kars4Kids |work=ChillZone|access-date=2017-03-22|language=en-US}} Additionally, they sponsor the summer camp TheZone,{{Cite web|url=https://www.thezone.org/karsforkids.asp|title=Kars for Kids and TheZone connection|work = The Zone |language=en|access-date=March 22, 2017 }} which operates Jewish sleepaway camps in the upper Catskills region of New York State.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thezone.org/about-us/|title=Jewish Sleepaway Camps |work= TheZone| language=en|access-date= March 22, 2017 }} They also offer small grants to other nonprofit organizations.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kars4kidsgrants.org/|title=Kars For Kids Small Grant Program |work= Kars4Kids |access-date= April 4, 2017 }} The organization has hosted coat and clothing giveaways for the needy, including in Harlem, New York, Washington, D.C., and in Newark, New Jersey, where they held a give-away together with then-Newark Mayor Cory Booker.[http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/12/20/kars-4-kids-gives-away-coats-in-newark/ Kars-4-Kids Gives Away Coats in Newark]; CBS; New York; retrieved March 2013."[https://web.archive.org/web/20130321011742/http://goddard.org/2013/02/kars-4-kids-and-goddard-riverside-to-give-away-1000-coats-to-children-on-the-upper-west-side/ Kars...to Give-away 1000 Coats...]". Goddard.org. March 21, 2013. Archived from [http://goddard.org/2013/02/kars-4-kids-and-goddard-riverside-to-give-away-1000-coats-to-children-on-the-upper-west-side/ the original] on March 2013. Prior to the start of the 2012 school year, the Chairman of the New York City Housing Authority in partnership with Kars4Kids distributed school supplies and backpacks to more than 3,000 children in Queens housing projects.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/news/nycha-chairman-john-rhea-ruben-wills-kars4kids-backpack-giveaway.shtml |title=NYCHA Chairman John Rhea, Council Member Ruben Wills & Kars4Kids Host Backpack Give-Away |access-date=2012-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203082047/http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycha/html/news/nycha-chairman-john-rhea-ruben-wills-kars4kids-backpack-giveaway.shtml

|archive-date=February 3, 2014|url-status=dead }} Around that same time period with New York City Councilman James Vacca, they distributed free backpacks in the Bronx as part of a "back-to-school initiative aimed at helping struggling families with the rising expenses of school supplies."{{cite web|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/bronx/backpack-giveaway/prweb9828272.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307212447/http://www.prweb.com/releases/bronx/backpack-giveaway/prweb9828272.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 7, 2014|title=Kars4Kids Partners with NYC Councilman James Vacca for Back to School Backpack Giveaway|publisher=}} In Brooklyn, Congressman Ed Towns and Kars4Kids distributed winter jackets to underprivileged children, including at the Marcy Avenue Houses.{{cite web|url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/brooklyn/backpack-giveaway/prweb9828270.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831001909/http://www.prweb.com/releases/brooklyn/backpack-giveaway/prweb9828270.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 31, 2012|title=Congressman Ed Towns Teams Up With Kars4Kids For A Back To School Backpack Giveaway}} The organization saw a boom in donated cars following Hurricane Sandy, with owners donating cars totalled by hurricane damage.{{cite news|url=http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=154275 |newspaper=Yeshivaworld|title=Kars4Kids Flooded with Hurricane Sandy Car Donations}}{{cite news |url=http://www.lakewoodlocal.com/2013/01/26/photos-kars4kids-flooded-with-hurricane-sandy-car-donations/ |title=PHOTOS: Kars4Kids Flooded with Hurricane Sandy Car Donations |work=LakewoodLocal |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130155305/http://www.lakewoodlocal.com/2013/01/26/photos-kars4kids-flooded-with-hurricane-sandy-car-donations/ |url-status=usurped |archivedate=January 30, 2013 }} After being contacted by the New York Police Department, the charity auctioned off a 2003 Ford Explorer in which two children drowned after being swept from their mother's arms during Hurricane Sandy. The auction proceeds went to raise money for coats for the needy.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/tragic-s-suv-kars4kids-article-1.1212835|title=Tragic S.I. SUV going to Kars4Kids|website=New York Daily News|date=December 4, 2012 |publisher=}} Kars 4 Kids worked with United States Representative Michael Grimm to distribute over 1,000 children's coats and other assorted clothing items to Staten Island residents affected by the hurricane.{{cite web

|url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/18/kars-4-kids-teams-to-donate-over-1000-childrens-coats-on-staten-island

|title=Kars 4 Kids Teams To Donate Over 1,000 Children's Coats On Staten Island |date=January 18, 2013 |publisher=CBS}} In 2014, Kars4Kids released an app for Android, Kars4Kids Safety,{{Cite web|url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vb.kidsnkars

|title=Kars4Kids Safety - Android Apps on Google Play |website=play.google.com |language=en-us |access-date=April 4, 2017 }} which aims to prevent accidental deaths of children left in hot cars, by providing reminders to their parents. The app syncs with the car's Bluetooth technology, to set off an automatic alert when the phone's Bluetooth disconnects from the car's.{{Cite web|url=http://www.earlylearningleaders.org/news/181679/Kars4Kids-Releases-Free-App-to-Prevent-Parents-from-Unknowingly-Leaving-Children-in-Hot-Cars.htm|title=Kars4Kids Releases Free App to Prevent Parents from Unknowingly Leaving Children in Hot Cars - Association for Early Learning Leaders|website=www.earlylearningleaders.org|access-date=April 4, 2017|archive-date=April 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405170135/http://www.earlylearningleaders.org/news/181679/Kars4Kids-Releases-Free-App-to-Prevent-Parents-from-Unknowingly-Leaving-Children-in-Hot-Cars.htm|url-status=dead}}

Kars4Kids receives Charity Navigator's "Needs Improvement" rating of two out of a possible four stars.{{cite web|url=https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/223746050|title=Charity Navigator - Rating for Kars4Kids|publisher=Charity Navigator|access-date=November 3, 2022}} Guidestar gave them a "gold transparency" marking in 2024 for their cooperation with Guidestar.{{cite web|url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/shared/e9b3312d-e057-4f27-8a8f-c0392bde3d3e|title=Kars4Kids Inc - Guidestar profile|publisher=Guidestar|access-date=March 10, 2025}}

{{blockquote|1-877-Kars 4 Kids.

K-A-R-S, Kars for Kids.

1-877-Kars 4 Kids.

Donate your car today.}}{{cite news| url=http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2009/03/if-the-kars-for-kids-song-gives-you-the-kreeps-youll-want-to-read-this.html | work=Chicago Tribune | title=If the 'Kars for Kids' song gives you the kreeps, you'll want to read this | date=March 20, 2009}} The group's director of public relations stated that the song was written in the late 1990s by a volunteer, with music adapted from Country Yossi's song "Little Kinderlach".{{cite magazine| url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/features/7557645/kars-4-kids-jingle-charity-backstory | magazine=Billboard | title=A Brief History of the Inane Kars 4 Kids Jingle You Can't Get Out of Your Head |date=October 28, 2016}} The jingle was first used in radio commercials broadcast in the New York City area, by 2004 the ads began to play in other markets such as Chicago, and later nationally as part of radio network ad time. In 2014, Kars4Kids introduced a television commercial featuring the jingle.{{Cite news |date=September 14, 2017 |title=Kars 4 Kids stars can't get annoying jingle out of their heads either |language=en-US |work=New York Post |url=https://nypost.com/2017/09/14/kars-4-kids-ad-stars-cant-get-annoying-jingle-out-of-their-heads-either/ |access-date=September 14, 2017}} The jingle has become the subject of public ridicule, as critics have considered it to be an annoyance; it was described by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Peter Hartlaub as an "assault on [the] senses".{{cite news|url=http://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2011/02/03/great-now-my-toddler-is-singing-1-877-kars-4-kids/|title=Great, now my toddler is singing 1-877-KARS-4-KIDS|date=February 3, 2011|accessdate=February 12, 2013|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|last=Hartlaub|first=Peter}} On November 4, 2010, Don Imus was caught on a hot mic mocking a Kars4Kids ad during a commercial break of his radio show Imus in the Morning, telling the group to "go to hell" and jokingly blurting "I'll give you my Bentley, you moron." Imus later apologized. Vulture jokingly declared that the television version of the ad would bring end times. The jingle has been referenced and parodied by multiple television series; in a December 2014 Saturday Night Live sketch satirizing talk show Charlie Rose and the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, James Elmer Mitchell and Bruce Jessen (Bobby Moynihan and Kyle Mooney) told Rose (Taran Killam) that the Kars4Kids jingle was one of the CIA's other torture methods, alongside Time Warner Cable customer service and airport security screenings.{{cite web|title=CIA Torture Report Becomes 'SNL' Comedy Fodder|url=https://deadline.com/2014/12/cia-torture-saturday-night-live-cold-open-1201324373/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=December 14, 2014 |access-date=August 25, 2016}}{{cite web|title=1-877-KARS-4-KIDS: Behind the Most Hated (and Best) Jingle of All Time|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/kars-4-kids-the-most-hated-and-best-jingle-of-all-time/|website=Noisey|date=November 11, 2015 |publisher=Vice|access-date=August 25, 2016}}{{cite web|title= Don Imus Apologizes for Telling Kids' Charity Singer to 'Go to Hell'|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/morning-roundup-don-imus-apologizes-36193|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=November 5, 2010 |accessdate=August 25, 2016}}{{Cite web |last=Gajewski |first=Ryan |date=2014-12-13 |title='SNL' Mocks CIA Torture Report in Cold Open |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/snl-mocks-cia-torture-report-757510/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}} The 2018 Will & Grace episode "Friends and Lover" featured a parody of the charity known as "Trucks4Tykes", which was portrayed as having a similarly annoying jingle.{{Cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Charlie |date=2018-01-05 |title=Will & Grace Recap: Bread Over Heels |url=https://tvline.com/2018/01/04/will-grace-season-9-episode-8-recap-nick-offerman/ |access-date=February 21, 2019 |website=TVLine |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Ihnat |first=Gwen |date=January 5, 2018 |title=Nick Offerman helps Will & Grace get its groove back in season 9's first perfect episode |url=https://www.avclub.com/nick-offerman-helps-will-grace-get-its-groove-back-in-1821792740 |access-date=February 21, 2019 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en-US}} In the season four premiere episode of The Good Place, "A Girl From Arizona", the jingle is sung by several demons as the anthem of "The Bad Place."{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Noel |date=September 26, 2019 |title=The Good Place Season-Premiere Recap: Semi-Charmed Afterlife |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/the-good-place-season-4-episode-1-recap-a-girl-from-arizona.html |accessdate=September 27, 2019 |newspaper=Vulture}} A 2018 episode of Last Week Tonight presented a song promoting China's Belt and Road Initiative performed by children, which host John Oliver likened to a "Kommunist Kars4Kids".{{Cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/john-oliver-china-president-xi-jinping-winnie-the-pooh-video/|title=John Oliver Pokes Xi Jinping Over His Resemblance to Winnie the Pooh|date=2018-06-18|website=TheWrap|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-18}}{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2018/06/john-oliver-lets-kids-sing-about-chinas-xi-jinping-video.html|title=Last Week Tonight Debuts a Song About Xi Jinping That Will Surely Be Banned in China|last=Martinelli|first=Marissa|date=2018-06-18|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-03-18}} After moving to a temporary studio in 2020 with a solid white backdrop, Oliver described the new set as being either "the place movie characters go when they've just died, or where they shot the Kars4Kids commercial". He also said the commercial was "the coronavirus of commercials, in that it is horrifically infectious and ruins people's lives."{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-coronavirus-donald-trump-967747/|title=John Oliver Contends With Coronavirus Pandemic on Makeshift 'Last Week Tonight'|last=Blistein|first=Jon|date=2020-03-16|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-18}}

The organization has been criticized for inadequately disclosing its Jewish educational work.{{cite web |url= https://www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-articles/costly-and-continuous-kars4kids-ads-disguise-charity39s-real-purpose|title= Costly and Continuous Kars4Kids Ads Disguise Charity's Real Purpose|last= |first= |date= 2017-03-10|website= |publisher= CharityWatch|access-date= 2022-01-03|quote=}}

"[https://archive.today/20130410155749/http://www.bnd.com/2013/03/01/2515904/answer-man-whats-up-with-kars.html Answer Man: That little ditty about donating your car can drive you crazy]". Bellville-News-Democrat. March 1, 2013. In 2009, Joy for Our Youth paid $65,000 in fines in Pennsylvania;"[https://web.archive.org/web/20140712030148/http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20090130/NEWS01/301309969/nonprofits-for-kids-accused-of-misleading-donors Nonprofits for Kids Accused of Misleading Donors]". The Pottstown Mercury (Pottstown, Pennsylvania). July 12, 2014. Archived from [http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20090130/NEWS01/301309969/nonprofits-for-kids-accused-of-misleading-donors the original] on February 20, 2013. while Kars4Kids paid $65,000 in fines in Oregon"[http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090415/NEWS/904150343 Charity Misled Donors, AG Says]". Mail Tribune (Medford, Oregon). April 15, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2013. in settlements reached with the respective state attorneys general as a result of their contention that the organization had to state clearly that the beneficiaries were of a "certain religious affiliation." In Oregon, the attorney general added that Kars4Kids failed to disclose that its offer of a "free vacation" for vehicle donors was designed to recruit people to attend timeshare presentations.In 2017, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson conducted a compliance review and submitted a 300-page report to the Internal Revenue Service. The report found that 44% of funds raised by Kars4Kids went to program expenses, and most of that money had gone to its sister organization Oorah, whose concentration in New York and New Jersey meant only one Minnesota child was believed to have benefited from one of its programs in the years 2012–2014. The report also mentioned the charity had lost money in real estate investments in the financial crisis of 2008 and may have been a victim of losses from a Ponzi scheme.{{cite web|last1=Prather|first1=Shannon|title=Minnesota attorney general finds that less than 1 percent of donations to Kars4Kids charity goes to Minnesota kids|url=http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-attorney-general-finds-that-less-than-1-percent-of-donations-to-kars4kids-charity-goes-to-minnesota-kids/421323363/|work=StarTribune|date=May 5, 2017 }}

On November 3, 2018, Bob Diachenko, a cyber security researcher, discovered a publicly accessible MongoDB database that contained the emails and personal details of 21,612 Kars4Kids donors/customers plus super administrator password/login details. The database also contained a ransomware note that the files had been stolen and would be returned for bitcoin.Diachenko, Bob (November 9, 2018). "[http://securitydiscovery.com/kars4kids-data-leak/ Children’s charity Kars4Kids leaks info on thousands of donors, internal passwords online, and evidence of a ransom attack]". Security Discovery.

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{official web site|http://www.kars4kids.org}}

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