The Company that is making these calls for the Shriners used to be called Cunningham and Moore, but it now goes by the name Agente Communications; even though many of the older callers still use the name Cunningham and Moore on the phone. Their main phone number is 972-702-8600. If you call that number, someone in the processing department will answer the phone and you can ask to speak to whoever you need to, and they will transfer you. They do call nationwide, raising money for many of the local Shriners. Some people may call this a Shriner scam, Shriners scam, or Shriners telemarketing scam. I'm just going to list some of the facts as they stand to the best of my knowledge in 2013 and let you be the judge as to how you feel about your donations to this company calling for the Shriners.

The actual truth is that they have "cold callers" and "tap callers". A cold caller is a person who starts out with the company or who has been there a while and hasn't proven their sales ability yet. A cold caller basically calls cold off from a lead list that is organized by zip code. Cold callers call people who have never donated before (however, some of the numbers may include those who have but just by chance) in the hopes that they can get a donation. Once a cold caller gets a person to commit to giving a donation that donor then becomes a tap. A tap is basically a lead of a person who has donated before, a prior donor for the company. These taps, leads, are stored in a different database from then on out, and on your receipt you will see your tap number in the upper left or upper right hand part of the receipt. All the older receipts used to end with either just a number, or the letters top or bull depending on how valuable a donor you were. now they took the letters of and they end with no letters or just the letter t or b so donors would stop asking what that meant. Now a tap caller is a caller who has proven their sales ability and only calls taps, which are prior donors. Again there are different levels of taps depending on how valuable a donor you are: there are "room taps", "top taps", "bull taps", and even taps in what is called "the premier database".

As far as pay for callers is concerned, all callers are guaranteed to get $10 and hour as a base or commission, whichever is higher at the end of the week. The caller gets 35% of every "cold sale" made. So that means that if you have never donated to this company before then you are a cold sale and the caller gets 35% of your donation. As far as taps are concerned, the caller gets 20% of every "tap sale" made. Again, that means that if you have donated to this company then you are a tap sale and the caller gets 20% of your donation. Unfortunately it gets much worse sounding than that though, because most callers are not good enough on the phones to commission at the end of the week, so they just make the $10 per hour. What that means to you is that if a person only raised $800 in donations for the whole week, and that person worked 40 hours, then that caller made a paycheck of $400; and, therefore, that caller alone got 50% of your donation. Keep in mind that that is just the pay to the individual caller and there is a whole office of staff, office rent, etc, etc,.

So you may be wondering how much the top callers at Agente communications make? Well, there are about 5 bulls at this time at Agente Communications. A "bull" is what they call their very top callers. A few of these bulls consistently pull paychecks of $4,000 to $7,000 each and every week. Yes, you read that correctly, and I did not typo and add an extra zero by accident. I have repeatedly and first hand seen their paychecks and seen their weekly tmr report, which is a report off the donations they brought in. So for you big donors out there, listen up: if you donate $1,000 to a shrine circus or hospitals, then that caller you are on the phone with is guaranteed top get 20% of your thousand; again, factually if you donate $1,000 to a shrine circus or hospital or even a shrine golf tournament, $200 of your $1,000 check is going right into the pocket of the caller that is on the phone with you. Believe me I know I have been that caller many times.

So there are some of the facts as far as pay is concerned with the company called Agente Communication, formerly called Cunningham and Moore. I am thinking about starting a website describing the full range of my knowledge of this company in the hopes of giving donors a more informed decision of where their money is going. I will do so if some of you who reply on here would think you would be interested in seeing a website fully detailing this company and how it is run to the best of my knowledge. just reply to this message with your opinion.

By as I said this company calls over many parts of the country for local Shrines, raising money for their circus' and also hospitals, as well as the shrine charity golf tournaments. Here is a short list of many of the local Shrines that we called for while i worked there, along with the local Shrine name, its location, and the caller ID number that may have been in use at that time (keep in mind they change these numbers frequently to keep donors on their feet:

Hella Shrine Ciircus  (Dallas) and Shriners Hopsitals 972-702-2955 (however they have a few more numbers and i don't have them written down.

Al Amin Shrine Circus (Kingsville, Victoria, Hidalgo, Beeville, Alice, and Corpus Christie, Texas) 361-225-2584

Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Circus (Springfield, MO) not sure of the caller id number

Alcazar Shrine Circus (Montgomery, AL) 334-264-1104

Al Chymia Shrine Circus (Memphis, TN) 901-387-0448

Alhambra Shrine Circus (Chattanooga, TN) 423-892-9266

Al Menah Shrine Circus (Nashville, TN) 615-262-2502

Alzafar Shrine Circus (San Antonio, Seguine, Laredo, Texas) 210-892-0006

Beja Shrine Circus (Green Bay, Neenah, Shawano, Waupaca, and other cities, WI) 920-497-0079 and 920-494-3401

Ben Hur Shrine Circus (Austin, TX) 512-646-0025

Elf Khurafeh Shrine Circus (Lansing, Flint, and Saginaw, MI) 810-686-7411

El Kahir Shrine Circus ( Cedar rapid, Iowa City, Mason City, IA) 319-804-1750

El Karubah Shrine Circus (Shreeveport, LA)  not sure of the number off hand

El Maida Shrine Circus (El Paso and Odessa, TX) 915-351-3794 and 915-351-3566

Jerusalem Shrine Circus (Thibodeaux and New Oleans, LA) 985-725-9333

Kaaba Shrine Circus (Davenport, IA) 563-359-6354

Maskat Shrine Circus (Wichita Falls, TX) 940-766-3700

Karem Shrine Circus (Waco, TX) 254-420-0091

Orak Shrine Circus (Richton Park, IL) 219-886-9650

Rizpah Shrine Circus (Bowling Green, Owensboro, Hopkinsville, KY) 270-843-0340

Suez Shrine Circus (Midland, San Angelo, and many other cities, TX) 325-949-0009

Tripoli Shrine Circus (Milwaukee, Antigo, Fond Du Lac, Sheboygan, Union Grove, West Bend, WI) 414-443-0441, 920-497-0079

Zelzah Shrine Circus (Las Vegas, NV) 702-366-9150

Zuhrah Shrine Circus (Minneapolis, MN) 612-379-1011

OK that is a list of most of the Shrine Circus' that this company has called for while i worked there. Oh and by the way they also call for the AMVETS over many parts of the country, and the Dallas Sherifs posse (which they are currently using as a sponsor for Christmas supplies since they lost the Jaycees contract for it). So if you donate to the Shrine Circus or hospitals through this company then you will become a tap, and you will be called for the AMVETS or any other charity that this company holds a contrat for in your area. And, yes, the pay structure is the same for these other charities also.

So there you have it. That is the facts as I know them to the best of my knowledge at the time of this writing. I still want to make a free website that exposes all the rest of this company as well as the lifestyle of the top callers there and how your precious donations are spent (Such as the one who feels that it is necessary to wear several thousands of dollards worth of clothes every day and has multiple expensive vehicles that are all customized). I hope this message on this board proves valuable to those who are thinking about making donations to the Shriners through this telemarking company.

Asked for a donation to Hella Shriners Circus.  Is this legit?

There is a special place in hell for these people. Taking donations from sick/hurt children to make their pockets fatter. It is so sad. The owner has been covering his tracks pretty well for a long time. He is very crafty. He will find and use resources until they dry up and they move on to find more. I think they are trying to spread this operation to other cities now as well. One day this will all catch up with them and they will have to suffer the consciences for their actions. Hopefully sooner than later.

I just called the Hella Shrine. Yes, they do receive donations from telemarketers that come pickup money under your doormat. BUT, they don't get all the money, just a percentage. She didn't know how much. I read another thread that stated they only get 20%. SO, I guess what they are doing isn't illegal. It doesn't sound on the up and up either if you ask me.
I calle the number on my caller ID: 214-623-7557 and "Kevin" answered. This did NOT sound like the man I talked to last night. When I told him I got a call last night, he went into the whole "we're just trying to help the children." I told him I called the Shriners and they said he gets a percentage. He said nope, 100% goes to the hospital. I said I've never gotten a receipt with a tax ID #. He sounded surprised because, a receipt should be left w/tax id # on it. I said I wanted the #. He was on a cell phone and did say he was on the toll road headed into the office. He said he would call me back with the #. If he does call back
Ten minutes later, Nicholas M Wright called me from his "home" ph 972-385-1812 (lots of office background noise) to "remind me" to put the check under the doormat. I got the ID # from him.
I called the Hella Shrine back. They verified the id # was for the HOSPITAL to which 100% of the donation goes. So, I will give them the check for the HOSPITAL only.
If you still feel "bad" about something, should you do it anyway if everything checks out?

It sounds like the Hella Shrine is calling for donations for handicapped and burned children. "We spend 2 million everyday." But, the number on caller ID says KTA 214-623-7557. The same man always calls me, a dallas lawyer donating his time for the cause. He always says put the money under the doormat and we will pick it up.  ...yes...I've given them a lot! I feel SO STUPID. They've picked up $100 checks from me maybe 5 times.
Never again.  I'm pissed off.
If they were legit, mailing would be fine. Mail fraud is not a pretty thing. They are avoiding that along with who knows what else. How can your donation be tax deductible without a tax ID #? DUH! He called me again last night, and I finally "woke up" and started investigating. I found another thread with a different phone # 702 and C Moore on the caller ID, but the same scam. Thank God I retrieved the check under my door mat before they came. I am calling the Hella Shrine today to report this, and I'm willing to call the police too.