If you've ever wondered how much money charities spend mailing you those glossy brochures and free address labels along with their request for a donation, the answer might surprise you.
CNN has found that this type of direct-mail marketing cost two veterans charities tens of millions of dollars.
Los Angeles-based National Veterans Foundation raised more than $22 million in donations over the past three years to help veterans, yet spent approximately $18.2 million paying its direct mail fund-raisers, according to IRS 990 forms.
For nearly a year, the charity has been trying - without success - to get out of its contract with Brickmill Marketing and its parent company, Quadriga Art, according to NVF's Rich Rudnick.
"We were told for two years it would be very expensive, then we'd be going into the black," Rudnick told CNN. "That never happened."