Are There Any NY Charities Worthy Of Your Support?

by Gary Snyder

 Nos Quedamos and two related entities, NQ Development LLC, and NQ Management Inc. apparently were the piggy banks to its executive director. Yolanda Gonzalez, worked from 2005 to 2011 as its executive director and was arrested on on charges that she stole nearly $900,000 from the group to pay for personal expenses, including a new $29,000 Toyota Sienna and trips to department stores, jewelry stores, nail salons and movie theaters.

Nos Quedamos and the other two related entities is a housing and social service organization to help residents in the Melrose section of the Bronx from being pushed out by redevelopment efforts. Ms. Gonzalez was charged with grand larceny, attempted grand larceny and falsifying business records at an arraignment in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. 

Joseph Ingenito, the former chief financial officer of Nos Quedamos, was also charged at the arraignment with falsifying business records. The attorney general’s office said that Mr. Ingenito helped Ms. Gonzalez conceal the thefts by misrepresenting information in financial documents.

New York state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman started investigating Ms. Gonzalez in early 2011 after receiving a complaint from some Nos Quedamos board members about funds that were missing or misappropriated from the group’s bank accounts. Ms. Gonzalez was removed by the organization’s board amid complaints that she was hiring relatives and questions of financial irregularities. 

If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison, the attorney general’s office said. (source)

This is the latest of a series of New York embezzlements that have amounted to millions of dollars. 

"In public testimony before the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, some of New York’s top prosecutors called for significant changes

Including increased oversight of the nonprofit organizations that have been the nexus of numerous corruption schemes. Investigations by federal prosecutors have exposed, through subpoenas and wiretaps, the seedy underbelly of Albany deals exempt from disclosure under current law, and politicians’ personal relationships with nonprofit organizations receiving state funding."

Nonprofit organizations are experiencing an upsurge in unethical practices on par with those found in the for-profit sector, according to the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

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: Charity Navigator, Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio (NPR), Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), “Betrayal”, (a movie), NBC (on Charity Fraud…TBD), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Marie Claire, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, Charity Navigator, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, Board Room Insider, USA Today Topics, Accountants News, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times, Portfolio Magazine, The Virgin Islands Daily News, NANKAI (China) BUSINESS REVIEW, National Religious Broadcasters newsletter, The Charity Governance Blog, American Chronicle, Palm Beach Post, Detroit Free Press, Oakland Press, Nonprofit World, Socially Responsible Business Forum, PNNOnline, Ohio Nonprofit Resources, Nonprofit Good Practice Guide, Nonprofit Startup Guide, Nonprofit Blog, National Coalition of Homeless Newsletter, Finance and Administration Roundtable Newsletter, MichiganNonprofit.com, CORP! Magazine, Crain’s Michigan Nonprofit, ncrp.org, PhilanTopic, Nashville Free Press, Nonprofit Law Blog, Seniors World Chronicle, Carnegie Reporter, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examiners Examiner, msnbc.com, Worchester (MA) Telegram and Gazette, Carnegie Corporation of America, EO Tax Journal, Wikipedia: Non-profit Organizations; Parent: Wise Austin, Accountants News, Veterans Today, Answers.com, Far-roundtable, #Nonprofit Report, nonprofithelpnews, nonprofit news; National Enquirer, Northwest Herald, The HelpWise Daily, The #Nonprofit Report, Wikipedia (Nonprofit Organization), Answers.com, Nonprofits: On the Brink (2006) Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (2011)