You may be familiar with Humanity Unites Brilliance, if you are not, you will be. Its a multi level marketing organization that is attempting to combine charity with profit. I recently went to a presentation and afterwards attempted to find some info on the scheme online. The problem is all the information is created by 'HUB' sales people so its hard to get a straight answer. Hence.. this blog.
Now, I will preface this with saying that I am not the absolute expert on HUB. My information is drawn from their website and the presentation I attended. If you want an in depth description on how the whole process works go to their website. http://www.hubhub.org/
To start off I do not think its a full blown scam. The people involved seem to honestly think that this can help African people and make people money. The group parades a bunch of high profile people onto the stage to make you think that the whole thing is legit. Again, I think that all these people have their hearts in the right place. They want HUB to succeed and they want your help. That being said:
YOU SHOULD NOT INVEST IN HUMANITY UNITES BRILLIANCE.
From my point of view you are either joining HUB to help the poor or to make $ .
If you goal is to help the poor:
Their big push is that it is better to give money to a growing organization which can generate money in the future, than to give a one time amount. This is true. But this depends on the success of the multi level marketing. As soon as HUB stops growing the whole process grinds to a halt. HUB gives only a % of the money to Charity. Thus, if the firm is not growing, then you have a lot of people, giving $100/month so that more than half of it can be divided up among the members. There are much better, efficient ways to give. Plus, you miss out on any potential charitable donation tax breaks.
If you goal is to make $.
Just like all MLM schemes the people at the top make the money and the people at the bottom feed their greed. It is true that there are profits to be made here, but you have to be prepared to work really hard generating leads and closing deals. Who do you target first? Your family and friends... to make a quick buck? The typical investor is paying around a $100 per month. Most of the money you make is from starting new people on HUB. For each person you start you earn roughly $100. The residuals from other sales and your peers further sales are very small. The % keeps getting lower and lower the further it gets from you. They pitch the fact that you can sell tickets to events. The value of the events are grossly over priced.. and really who is going to go to these things? Will HUB even be around to put these on? The same can be said for the revenue sharing and the stock they are handing out. If HUB is not around, these are useless.
To sum up. HUB will only work as a special charity if it grows continuously. If it does not, then it is simply an inefficient charity. Plus, if you want to make any money you will have to work hard setting up more than 1 person per month to just break even. Life lesson: You should always be leery of anything that has more descriptive words than required. Humanity Unites Brilliance? Come on.
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7 comments:
I am amazed that you and I are apparently the only people in whole world to be questioning HUB. I am somewhere between angry & outraged and sick at heart
It is true that my friends who are enamored by this thing that seems to me to be a flagrant scam for all the reasons you mentioned, are good (for the most part) well-intentioned people; however, they have turned off the critical thinking part of their brain. The siren song of somehow being able to contribute to a good cause and still MAKE MONEY has made them silly. It seems almost too good to be true; BECAUSE IT IS! Somebody will be left holding the bag, but as soon as those people enroll 3 of their friends they won't be bag-in-hand anymore and the pyramid will be supported by those people. They don't seem to know the implications of exponential growth.
The training aspect of the 'business' is almost an afterthought for them, and certainly not something that they are personally interested especially since they are so busy selling HUB; however, all the trainers are very famous people and a BARGAIN AT $100/mo.
To me it seems to be different from other multilevel businesses that have an actual produce and you just cutting out the middle man. It seems like the derivatives market of MLM
You guys are not the only ones. I have been on the trail of this scam in Canada since losing 2 close friends to it last year. Unlike you, I think the entire thing is a fraud, and it's easy to follow the breadcrumbs and see who is raking it in. The internet is like a worm hole when it comes to HUB and its organizers. The question is, how deep do you want to go?
I have reported my information and research to pertinent government and watchdog organizations for frauds of this type in the US and throughout Canada.
I just can't believe it has perpetuated this long. I think the worst thing about HUB is the reason people hesitate to question it. It preys on good natured, honest people and their best intentions. Most despicable.
Excuse me, but you are all completely and totally mistaken.
HUB has a completely different model for business, and because it's so unusual, many people think that it is a scam.
To show you that I am totally legit and knowledgeable, I point you to my blog on HUB: bonesrodriguez.blogspot.com Also, my cell phone number- 917-450-7925
To better understand HUB, imagine that your cable company gave 40% of it's revenue to charity.
As a member (customer) of your cable company, you give them money, and they give you entertainment. They keep all of the money.
As a HUB member, you give them $99, and they give you teleseminars, webinars, the HUB community webiste, and a bunch of other stuff. Then HUB donates 40% to charity.
Members donate NOTHING because they get membership, just like you get cable services.
The misunderstanding comes from people thinking that MEMBERS are donating- they are NOT, but it feels good to support that cause.
The other 40% goes into a multi-level compensation plan, which is also not the usual. Most charities pay their people a salary whether they are efficient or not. HUB only pays people who create more income for HUB. It is a BETTER system.
CNN is doing a piece on us now.
Feel free to call me if you still think it's a scam- 917-450-7925
Bones: The other posters are correct and you are incorrect. It is a terrible waste of a donation when 60% of the money is siphoned off the top and given to the participants.
HUB's business model IS an MLM and absolutely no different than any other MLM. If you think I am incorrect, Please show me how I am in errer. Just what is so completely different and unique about HUB's business model?
Comparing HUB to your cable company is like comparing an apple to an orange. It makes absolutely no sense even trying to make a comparison.
I find that you are trying to promote this scam all over the internet. You ran away from another site and never refuted my statements or answered my questions adequately. Here you are again with your smoke and mirrors nonsense trying to advocate the notion that HUB isn't an MLM.
For any readers, google hub scam and the top site should be Bones unable to answer the above referenced questions.
People profitting in the name of charity is disgusting. Hub's webpage has their donations to various organizations. Feed the children is on the top spot. Look into feed the children and you will find some interesting info. I didn't have the time yo verfy this info. but is is posted on scam.com.
Really, then why don't the Jone's pay themselves what normal people make instead of taking home $553,259 between the trhee of them?
Also, why with all these starving children they show on TV did Feed the Children have over $400,442,511 (Thats 400.5 MILLION) dollars listed as EXCESSIVE FUNDS. They also have $48.6 MILLION in private securities!
The complete IRS filings are here:
http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/....pdf?docID=785
The following post came from Topix:
Feed the Children receives an “F” grade from AIP because in our opinion it spends only about 14% of its cash budget on program services that are not conducted in conjunction with fundraising. In fiscal 1998, FTC spent almost $13 million on television programs and almost $12.9 million on direct mail and postage. These two items account for about 70% of its $37 million cash budget. FTC, whose primary purpose is to distribute donated goods and supplies to the needy, spent only $944 thousand, or less than 3% of its cash budget, on shipping, handling and storage in fiscal 1998.
The Daily Oklahoman reported that the son of Larry Jones, founder and president of Feed The Children (FTC), AKA Larry Jones Ministries International, stated in a personal bankruptcy filing that he owed his father’s charity $950,000.
If my math is correct, a little less than 5 cents of every dollar given to HUB actually goes to needy children in their feed the children donations. I don't care how you look at it, but that is pathetic! The rest of the money lines the pockets of the participants in one way or another.
I didn't realize that someone had answered me. Are you the same person on Sounding circle? If so, I have offered my phone number and contact information to discuss with you what you are missing.
If you aren't, I offered it above.
Also, if you think EVERY MLM is a scam, then there's no point in this conversation.
As for Feed The Children, I have no issue whatsoever with the Jones family making a million dollars for stewarding an almost billion dollar charity.
I'd love to see you do better.
Anyone who says "60% of the donation is siphoned..." doesn't understand that there is NO DONATION save what HUB the company itself donates.
The comparison to the cable company is EXTREMELY accurate if you understand the model. If you don't, you think someone is siphoning donations.
Again, anyone who thinks HUB is "siphoning donations" or is scamming for the sake of stealing monies from charities is totally and completely wrong.
Get real, actual information from someone who knows what they are talking about. I am one of those. 917-450-7925.
If you choose to slam me or HUB or Feed The Children without contacting me or HUB corporate or someone who DOES understand HUB, you are a coward.
The following videos speak clearly to attackers of HUB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQVDK7T0zBY
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/18/kimmie.weeks/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
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