Some New Brunswick charities are paying a significant amount of money to external fundraisers, a CBC News investigation shows.

For many charities, it costs money to raise money, so they hire external fundraisers that help solicit money from the public.

These external fundraisers, however, are keeping a surprising portion of the donations from the charities.

'When an organization that is a charitable organization needs fundraising, a lot of them are volunteer-driven and don't have full time staff to do it. Smaller organizations like that need assistance and expertise.'— Mark Fenety, president, Fenety Marketing

There are no rules that limit how much a charity can pay its fundraiser.

CBC News has learned that between 2004 and 2008, external fundraisers across the country were paid $762 million.

In New Brunswick, the province's Crimestoppers organization contracts its fundraising to Moncton-based Fenety Marketing.

In 2008, the charity's Canada Revenue Agency return shows that Fenety Marketing raised about $416,000 for the charity and kept $325,000, nearly 80 per cent of the money raised.

Ron Godin, an official with New Brunswick Crimestoppers, said Fenety does telemarketing and produces an awareness guide on the charity's behalf, something the organization couldn't afford to do on its own.

"Because we were looking at the possibility of doing it ourselves, but when we figured out the costs involved — phone lines, employees, training the staff, equipment, bookkeeping — we just couldn't do it," Godin said.

Federal guidelines

Canada Revenue Agency guidelines say it should cost charities less than 35 per cent to raise money.

It says anything over 70 per cent would need to be justified to the Canada Revenue Agency.

Mark Fenety, president of Fenety Marketing, is defending the amount of money his organization keeps when fundraising for charities.

"When an organization that is a charitable organization needs fundraising, a lot of them are volunteer-driven and don't have full time staff to do it. Smaller organizations like that need assistance and expertise," Fenety said.

Fenety said after harmonized sales tax and overhead costs, his company's net profit is only 10 to 15 per cent of the money raised.