What appeared to be a good cause may be something else entirely.
An excerpt.
Donor bins are a big business
But the nonprofit collecting clothes in the area has ties to a network that's facing worldwide scrutiny.
By Todd Milbourn - Bee Staff Writer Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, November 5, 2006
The big green bins make big green promises: Donate old sneakers and help save a barrier reef.
Give threadbare T-shirts and protect the mangroves. Offer out-of-style sweaters and support renewable energy.
More than 100 such bins have been set up alongside Sacramento sidewalks, storefronts and strip malls in the past year by a charity called Gaia-Movement Living Earth Green World Action. The Chicago-based nonprofit sells the donated goods to finance environmental projects around the world.
What Gaia doesn't advertise is that the used clothes also raise money for a vast, international used clothing empire whose finances are so inscrutable, several European governments have lost confidence in charitable claims of this network -- known as Tvind.
European authorities have cracked down on Tvind over the past decade. France and the Netherlands rescinded the licenses of one of its used clothing charities because investigators couldn't follow the money. The United Kingdom took control of a Tvind charity's assets for similar reasons. And Denmark accused eight Tvind leaders of running an embezzlement and criminal tax evasion scheme that channelled millions of humanitarian dollars into profit-making ventures. All but one of the defendants were acquitted at trial this summer.
Meanwhile, the Tvind network has extended its reach in the United States, particularly Northern California.
The group relied upon Gaia, one of its largest U.S.-based charities, to place used clothing bins in Sacramento and the Bay Area. Tvind also opened a school on the outskirts of Etna, a Siskiyou County logging town, to recruit and train volunteers for environmental and educational projects in poor countries.
