Up Goes Charity Fraud

by Gary  Snyder

All embezzlement -- especially by women bookkeepers -- is rising sharply. A report found that 2012 cases represented a five-year high. The number of new cases has been growing steadily by about 10 percent each year since 2010, the Marquet report found, noting that the amount embezzled each year seems to be getting "bigger and bigger." 

In fact, the theft cases likely represent just the tip of the iceberg. Many cases go unreported to authorities, "due to embarrassment or a philosophy of forgiveness," according to a study published in 2010 by the Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting. That study notes that previous estimates have found as many as 15 percent of all U.S. churches have been victims; another 2007 study found that a whopping 85 percent of Roman Catholic dioceses surveyed reported that embezzlement had occurred in their dioceses within the last five years.

Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from public documents...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however. Cites in various media: Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, B, USA Today Topics, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times...and many more Nonprofits: On the Brink (2006) Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (2011)