Santorum's charity had 60% overhead; industry standard is 35%.

Source: Philadelphia Enquirer

Where the industry standard for "percentage of donations used for charitable donations" is 40% or below, a whopping 60% of Sen. Rick Santorum's (R-PA) went to overhead and non-charity expenses.

WASHINGTON--Sen. Rick Santorum's charity donated about 40 percent of the $1.25 million it spent during a four-year period--well below Better Business Bureau standards--paying out the rest for overhead, including several hundred thousand dollars to campaign aides on the charity payroll, records show.

The charity, Operation Good Neighbor, provides grants to small nonprofit groups, many of them religious.

This so-called "charity" seems a little fishy to me. It sounds more like a political action group or a tax shelter, not a group out to help the fellow man.

ConsumerReports.org reports that this high percentage of money's not going to charitable causes in one of several glaring red flags that something may not be on the up and up.

Here are some other red flags to watch for:

* More than 40 percent of spending is used for fund-raising and administrative costs. Nonprofit organizations should be using the bulk of their income on their charitable programs.

* Unfixed assets, including unrestricted cash and securities, equal more than three times annual expenses. Charities should be using their money for public good, not hoarding it.

* Joint education and fund-raising expenses make up a large portion of total spending. The group may be trying to disguise the cost of its fund-raising solicitations as public education.

* The board of directors has fewer than five voting members, more than 10 percent of the members are compensated, or compensated members hold the position of chairman or treasurer. Board members should be independent of management and free of potential conflicts of interest.

The BBB says such groups should allocate 65%.

Is this a charity or something more nefarious? Without proper oversight, we only can make assumptions.

I know one thing: certain people's bank accounts and other fellow GOP members are getting more love from this charity than the people in need.