Charitable claims of Tvind questioned

By TODD MILBOURN
Tuesday, November 21, 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, Calif. 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 France and the Netherlands rescinded the licenses of one of its used clothing charities because investigators couldn't follow the money.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 channeled 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 San Francisco Bay Area. Tvind also opened a school on the outskirts of Etna, Calif., a Northern California logging town, to recruit and train volunteers for environmental and educational projects in poor countries.

The group's local leaders acknowledged that Tvind is big business, but said they've seen the group's good works with their eyes: Trees planted in Mozambique. Health education in Nicaragua. AIDS outreach in Namibia. The bins also keep old clothes out of landfills.

"The top guys can get into trouble in any corporation," said Bernie Banderas, who volunteered in Mozambique last year and now manages Gaia's growing Sacramento operation. "They do have a humanitarian heart. It's just that the group operates a little differently than a church or the Peace Corps."

Standing more than 6 feet tall and resembling giant metal mailboxes, the Gaia bins are hard to miss in Sacramento. Placing them is easy. All the charity needs is a property owner's permission.

Kim Hanks, a self-described environmentalist liked Gaia's idealistic message.

"It's very convenient," said Hanks, a 42-year-old state worker who donated a garbage bag full of old sweaters and socks that had been taking up space in her closet. "At the very least, it keeps it from going into the landfill."

About 20,000 pounds of clothes are dumped into Sacramento's bins every week, Banderas said. Some of it is sold to local thrift stores. Most of it is shipped and sold abroad, tapping a booming market for Western styles and raising money for Tvind.

"There's a huge demand for American fashion, especially in places like Japan and Brazil," said Banderas, who was tossing garbage bags of clothes into a moving truck recently. "That stuff sitting in your closet is worth more than you think."

Gaia says it then uses the revenue _ more than $1 million through the Chicago office alone in 2004, according to the most recent tax records _ to support environmental programs. But tax records don't show how much money was spent on specific programs.

Much of Tvind's labor is supplied by a small army of volunteers. Many are idealistic 20-somethings looking for a chance to travel and help the world's poor.

Volunteers get six months of language and cultural training at one of Tvind's three schools in the United States. They are then sent abroad to help with aid efforts.

After paying $3,300 for tuition, students must raise $7,000 before going overseas.

Some of Tvind's efforts have fared better than others.

Zahara Heckscher, an editor of Transitions Abroad magazine, worked on a Tvind tree-planting project in Mozambique in the late 1980s. She returned to Mozambique 10 years later while researching a book on overseas volunteering. To her dismay, every tree had died. They had not been suited to the climate.

Heckscher, whose book includes a chapter on Tvind, said many of Tvind's programs are marred by poor planning. For instance, she said some Tvind volunteers are sent abroad on tourist visas, which can cause problems if the host country finds them working.

"I can't say they don't do some good," Heckscher said. "But the staff who join aren't well-trained, there's sloppy planning, and some of the programs aren't culturally appropriate."