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It isn’t easy being a charitable organization.

Even at this normally generous time of year, raising money can be a tough, uphill slog.

But for one Utah group, the difficult part is not raising the money. The difficult part, believe it or not, is giving that money away.

Bob Somers is a past president of the Ogden Fraternal Order of Eagles organization. By virtue of his former position, he’s also a member of an organization called PAAP’s Guide Dog Club — the PAAP’s part stands for Past Area and Auxiliary Presidents.

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For a number of years now, PAAP’s Guide Dog Club, in Utah, has partnered with Guide Dogs for the Blind, out of San Rafael, Calif., to provide free guide dogs and training to the visually impaired.

Guide dogs don’t come cheap. Somers says it costs tens of thousands of dollars just to train one guide dog. But Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Eagles group provide all dogs and services for free.

“We had one gal in Park City, she came from New York and got her first guide dog there — she had to pay 25 grand,” Somers said. “She heard about us, and her next dog didn’t cost her anything.”

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Specifically, the Utah group helps with picking up the $3,000 it costs to send a blind person to San Rafael for the two weeks of training when they pick up a guide dog.

It’s a worthy cause, to be sure, and one that many generous people support through the Eagles group’s fundraising dinners and other functions at Eagles lodges throughout the state.

“We had one guy who donated 10 grand a year, for 10 years,” Somers said. “Another woman was sending us five grand a year.”

So the problem hasn’t been raising money for the guide dogs program. Indeed, the Utah group currently has sent enough money on to the San Rafael organization for about a dozen clients — money that has gone unused by members of Utah’s blind community.

Somers says, in the past, they’ve provided guide dogs for as many as four or five blind people in a year. But these days?

“The last few years, we’re lucky if we get one,” he said.

Why isn’t anyone taking them up on their offer? The problem is twofold, according to Somers.

For starters, very few people have heard of the Eagles organization’s work with guide dogs. He says it’s been difficult to get the word out, and as a result very few people know about this free help for the blind.

“Publicity for the Eagles is all but nonexistent,” Somers said.

And then, once folks do hear about the free guide dogs program, they tend to think it’s just too good to be true.

“They think it’s a scam,” Somers said. “They just don’t believe it’s real.”

He remembers approaching one woman who worked with blind students in the area and trying to explain the program to her.

“I told her, ‘If you let me know, I can get one of these gals a guide dog and it won’t cost them nothing,’ ” Somers recalls.

He never heard from her again.

Somers says the Eagles are willing to help anyone who is blind and needs a guide dog. The only real stipulation for the guide dog program is that the person has to be at least 16 years old and have at least one year of training on a cane.

And if the Utah group were to suddenly find themselves with more than the dozen clients they’ve already paid for at Guide Dogs for the Blind?

“We’ll come up with more money,” Somers said.

So, if you know of anyone in need of a good guide dog, Somers and his cohorts are eager and willing to help. Call him at 385-205-0187, and he can get the paperwork started.

Seriously, who knew trying to find people to be charitable to could be such hard work?

Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SEMarkSaal.