Marion telemarketer says business isn't highly profitable

Local telemarketer Joe Eagle's fundraising splits with Jaycees, band boosters and other civic groups appear as lucrative as the deals out-of-state fundraisers strike with charitable organizations in Iowa.

Eagle is getting 80/20 and 75/25 revenue splits, favoring his company, Charity Services Inc. Unlike out-of-state companies, Eagle said, he is providing something of value to donors and a genuine service to 14 charitable organizations across Iowa.

“Basically, we are selling (trash) bags to raise funds for the groups,” he said.

Eagle, 50, has been operating Charity Services with many of the same clients and donors since 1990.

“I wish I could say I make some killer bucks. It's nothing spectacular,” he said.

In his annual financial disclosure to the Attorney General's Office, Eagle reported raising $273,974 through telemarketing. His clients, which include the Jaycees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City/Coralville and North Liberty, received $59,651.

Eagle's expenses included $38,223 for trash bags and light bulbs. He paid drivers $45,200 to deliver bags and bulbs from Anamosa to Ankeny and beyond. He listed phone expenses at $3,085. He and four part-time telemarketers split $87,922. Insurance, payroll taxes, accountant fees and miscellaneous expenses ate up the rest.

Eagle said he also works at a funeral home.

“We've had to scale down,” he said. “It's expensive to do this. The bags have gone up four or five times in last couple of years. I can't ask for more donations to cover the cost of bags. We've been absorbing it. The delivery cost has gone up as well.”

Levi Good, new president of the Iowa City/Coralville Jaycees, said he inherited the arrangement with Charity Services and did not know the revenue ratio. Eagle lists it as 75/25.

Good said the Jaycees do most of their own fundraising but use Eagle's company to supplement revenue. Good said he was satisfied to receive $13,474 of the $53,894 raised in the name of the club by Eagle last year.

“We don't put any work into it,” Good said.