A California judge has ordered Kars4Kids to stop airing its ubiquitous jingle in the state unless the Jewish car-donation charity discloses that its funding is dedicated to Orthodox Jewish programs for families and adults in New York, New Jersey, and Israel.
The ruling last week by a California Superior Court judge found that Kars4Kids had violated the state’s false advertising and unfair competition laws by failing to disclose where it allocated funds from its donations.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a California donor, Bruce Puterbaugh, who argued that he would not have donated his vehicle to the nonprofit if he had known that the funds were “directed at a Jewish organization in New York.”
Esti Landau, the chief operating officer of Kars4Kids, testified that the nonprofit serves as the primary funding mechanism for Oorah, a Jewish outreach nonprofit that runs a summer camp in upstate New York, according to court filings. Kars4Kids is based in the heavily Orthodox city of Lakewood, New Jersey.
Landau said in the filing that Oorah’s programs include “matchmaking” for young adults as well as “gap year” trips to Israel for 17- and 18-year-olds and that the nonprofit operates no functional programs in California.
“The failure to disclose that funds benefit adults and families, and that this support is contingent upon a specific religious affiliation, is a material omission,” Judge Gassia Apkarian said in her ruling. “A reasonable consumer donating to a ‘kids’ charity would attach importance to the fact that their donation is actually supporting adult matchmaking and general family subsidies.”
Kars4Kids was given 30 days to stop airing ads that do not disclose its religious affiliation, the location of its beneficiaries, or the beneficiaries’ ages.
Decision 'misapplies the law,' says Kars4Kids
In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Kars4Kids denounced the decision and said it planned to appeal.
“We believe this decision is deeply flawed, ignores the facts, and misapplies the law,” said Wendy Kirman, the organization’s communications director. “It’s well known that we are a Jewish organization, and our website makes it abundantly clear.”
The organization’s website includes this line: “Kars4Kids is a registered nonprofit Jewish organization that, together with Oorah, our sister charity, helps thousands of children develop into productive members of the community.”
The California lawsuit was not the first time that Kars4Kids has faced allegations of false advertising. In 2009, Pennsylvania and Oregon fined the organization for deceptive advertising, accusing the nonprofit of obscuring the fact that most of the money it raises goes to Orthodox outreach rather than to needy children.
And in 2017, the Minnesota attorney general said she was “concerned and troubled” by the organization’s practices after finding that only 1% of its funding went to children in the state.
The California ruling is separate from a federal class action lawsuit filed in Northern California last year, accusing Kars4Kids and Oorah of deceptive fundraising practices.
In 2023, Kars4Kids’ founder, Eliyohu Mintz, who is also the CEO of Oorah, filed a lawsuit challenging New York state’s concealed carry law, alleging that it left children vulnerable to antisemitic attacks. That lawsuit is ongoing.