Kars4Kids is a Jewish nonprofit car donation organization based in Lakewood, New Jersey in the United States. Kars4Kids is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that states that its mission is "to fund educational, developmental and recreational programs for low-income youth" through programs largely facilitated by its sister charity Oorah, which focuses on Jewish children and families. It was founded in 1994 and is currently headed by Eliyohu Mintz.
Background
Kars4Kids is a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status, operating in the United States and Canada. Kars4Kids takes donations of cars, boats, yachts and real estate, accepting over 40,000 cars annually.
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".
Work
Kars4Kids offers financial assistance to students to help pay for private school tuition and GED testing. The organization also sponsors a youth program known as Chillzone, an after-school program teaching Jewish culture and moral values. Additionally, they sponsor the summer camp TheZone, which operates Jewish sleepaway camps in the upper Catskills region of New York State. They also offer small grants to other nonprofit organizations, and in 2016 Kars4Kids awarded $5,000 to Girls on the Run International.
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.
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. 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." In Brooklyn, Congressman Ed Towns and Kars4Kids distributed winter jackets to underprivileged children, including at the Marcy Avenue Houses.
The organization saw a boom in donated cars following Hurricane Sandy, with owners donating cars totalled by hurricane damage.
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. 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.
In 2014, Kars4Kids released an app for Android, Kars4Kids Safety, 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.
Ratings
Kars4Kids receives Charity Navigator's "Needs Improvement" rating of two out of a possible four stars.
Song
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". 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.
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". 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.