Not seeing through transparency.

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Cause marketers and charity watchdogs always talk about being transparent. For the sponsor, that means making clear what portion of the proceeds goes to charity. For consumers, it means asking those types of questions. Those involved with the annual Seattle marathon must have been absent from class that day.

Officials at the University of Washington last month apologized to runners in the Seattle marathon, a day after a report in The Seattle Times indicated that only $12,000 (1 percent) of the $1 million raised during the 2006 race went to the university's Medical Center Patient & Family Housing Fund. Race registration fees, which can be as much as $120, do not go to charity, unlike a similar marathon in Portland, Ore.

The $12,000 for charity last year was derived strictly through contributions made directly to the fund while the university supplied about $110,000 in funding, as well as medical staff for the race.

"We weren't looking for $12,000 back," university spokeswoman Tina Mankowski told The Times. "We were really looking for an opportunity to talk to the public about organ donation."

The marathon, which uses volunteers, generated more than $1 million in revenue last year, most of it from registration fees, with a third of that went to pay organizers and employees.