Thursday, April 24, 2014

You Won't Believe These Stories, or Maybe You Will

by Gary Snyder


The Internal Revenue Service has paid more than $2.8 million in bonuses to employees with recent disciplinary problems, including $1 million to 1,150 workers who owed back taxes. Employees with tax problems received a total of 10,582 hours of paid time off — valued at about $250,000 — and 69 received permanent raises through a step increase.

Some of the disciplinary misconduct was by workers misusing government credit cards, drug use, violent threats and fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits.

Non-payment of taxes by federal employees is a government-wide problem. The IRS says 311,536 federal employees were tax delinquents in 2011, owing a total of $3.5 billion.

This reminds me... several years ago, nearly 55,000 exempt organizations had almost $1 billion in unpaid federal taxes including 1,500 of these entities each had over $100,000 in federal tax debts with some owing tens of millions of dollars.
For the 25 cases investigated, GAO found abusive and potentially criminal activity, including repeated failure to remit payroll taxes withheld from employees. Officials diverted the money to fund their operations, including paying themselves large salaries ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to over $1 million.
Many of the case studies accumulated substantial assets, such as million-dollar homes and luxury vehicles. Key officials and employees at 4 exempt organizations were engaged in criminal activities, including attempted bribery of an IRS official and illegal gambling. Despite repeatedly abusing the federal tax system, these entities continued to retain their exempt status.
To add to the pain, over 1,200 of these exempt organizations with unpaid federal taxes received over $14 billion in federal grants.

GAO referred all the cases to IRS for collection activity and criminal investigation. I am unaware of the outcome of these investigations.








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)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Unchecked Abuse At Prominent Charity For Decades

By Gary Snyder


The community leader who led the Metropolitan New York Council on Jewish Poverty for two decades, William E. Rapfogel, plead guilty in connection with a scheme to loot more than $7 million from one of New York City’s most influential social service organizations. 

Another defendant charged in the scheme, David Cohen, who was Mr. Rapfogel’s predecessor at the council, is also scheduled to plead guilty.

Mr. Rapfogel was arrested in September and charged with grand larceny, money laundering, conspiracy and other crimes in a criminal complaint filed by the state attorney general. 

Both were accused of colluding with others to steal millions through a scheme that involved overcharging the council for insurance policies and then skimming off the margin in cash. 

Rapfogel was also accused of manipulating the city’s matching-fund formula to fraudulently increase campaign contributions to politicians who gave government grants to his organization.

More than $400,000 in cash was recovered, including about $372,000 Mr. Rapfogel had hidden in his homes and turned over to investigators after they asked about the scheme, and an additional $48,000 that was recovered later during the execution of a search warrant. (NYT)









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)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Mid April Edition-Nonprofit Imperative E-Newsletter


Nonprofit Imperative
Your nonprofit browser
April 2014
The twice-monthly newsletter dedicated to:
  • exposing the crisis in nonprofit fraud leadership…a crisis of pervasive and monumental waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and malfeasance throughout the charitable sector which costs taxpayers and contributors tens of billions of dollars annually; and,
  • seeking reforms that will restore the public’s lost confidence in the sector.
What’s Included:
Skunk of the Month:
Archdiocese of Detroit and the “Angel Fund”.; Gambling Addiction
Charity Check Up:
Charity Malfeasance in Canada, Too
A Thought or Two:
St. Vincent de Paul (WA)
Nonprofit News-In Case You Missed It:
 Portola Valley (CA) School Foundation; Fiesta Bowl; Five Rivers Community Foundation; …more
Political/Official Chicanery:
PA; TX; GA; CO; NC; OK; AL; AL; RI; SC…more
What Do You Think?


The charity world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
                                                -------------
Charities using professional fundraisers to raise money in Michigan received only 38 cents of every dollar raised through those campaigns last year, according to a report from Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Skunk of the Month…
Skunk of the Month is the twice-monthly designation made by Nonprofit Imperative, the organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in nonprofits and government. The Skunk of the Month award is given to charities and government officials who show blatant disregard for the interests and trust of contributors and taxpayers. This month’s example is:
“They came to do good and they did very well indeed.”
Could Embarrassment Have Killed A $17 million Fund
An unknown person has donated $17 million since 2005 to help less fortunate people through the Archdiocese of Detroit (MI) and the “Angel Fund”. This person’s generosity paid for necessities like rent, medicine and overdue utility bills.
Because of incompetence or sheer embarrassment the fund ended. The decision is just weeks after the Angel Fund’s existence was publicly revealed because of alleged fraud by a Detroit priest, according to the Detroit Free Press
For over three years, a Detroit priest would fill out false applications for grants from the Angel Fund. The fraud involved a sum between $1,000 and $20,000, according to the charges.  After catching the perpetrators the donor was disappointed and the charity was frozen.
The donor’s decision had nothing to do with the alleged fraud, according to the Archdiocese. The fund’s end “cuts back seriously on what we can do,” Sister Jolene Van Handel, a pastoral minister at Detroit’s Nativity Catholic Church, said. However, the publicity could be one reason for the decision that undermined the fund’s under-the-radar service.
Gambling Addiction Hurting Charities
Despite that the former treasurer of the Depew Saints Hockey Club (NY) took and subsequently repaid her 4 year $90,000 embezzlement from her children’s league and after leaving her position as club treasurer, she sent letters to several Depew-area businesses requesting donations for the club from January 2010 to last April and kept the money to support her gambling habit.
State Supreme Court Justice told Teresa A. Fusani he went light on her sentencing because she apparently has become rehabilitated from her gambling addiction as well as becoming an exemplary citizen. She was sentenced to weekends in jail for four months followed by five years’ probation and 500 hours of community service.
Gambling has had a huge impact on charities though fraud. Did this perpetrator get off easy?
Nonprofit Imperative has dozens examples of charity fraud caused by gambling addiction amounting to over $13 million
A Charity Check Up:
Big-Time Charity Malfeasance in Canada, Too
The Portland Hotel Society’s top managers stepped down under pressure from government officials over the spending reports. Auditors said that the Portland Hotel Society’s spending of nearly $26-million in annual taxpayer funds to run housing and addiction services—including Canada’s only supervised-injection site for drug users—was subject to lax oversight, allowing the charity’s leaders to charge lavish travel, dining, and other costs to the organization at a time when it faced financial problems. Managers and directors expensed more than $69,000 over three years on restaurants, and more than $300,000 on travel to Vienna, Paris, Istanbul, New York City, Los Angeles, Banff and Ottawa, among other locations. Hotel rooms of up to $880 per night were charged for trips to the United Kingdom and Austria, including flowers, alcohol and spa services.
There were also more than $8,658 in limo fees in 2013, a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, a $5,832 cruise for a PHS manager, a $917 baby shower and a $7,025 “celebration of life” for a deceased employee.
The PHS is in a “weak financial condition” and could have trouble paying its obligations. The society would have run a $2.07-million deficit in the last fiscal year if not for a one-time cash infusion
A Thought or Two:
The devastation of a charity by fraud
St. Vincent de Paul is a Catholic charity dedicated to serving needy people. The Tacoma office is now missing a half-million dollars. 
Executive Director Charlie Thompson described the theft as embezzlement, and an "inside" job that may have spanned a decade.
Last summer, the charity's board discovered some bills weren't being paid, including $200,000 to a garbage company. Thompson said, “Items were disguised as payments to a regular vendor, one that you would expect to be paying, but they were rerouted into personal accounts.”
Two of St. Vincent’s employees were fired and the authorities were called. 
The fallout has been layoffs.  St. Vincent had to let more than 40 percent of its staff, a total of eleven people, go. 
It had to close one of three thrift stores it operated in January.  Insurance will cover some of the losses.
Thompson said there's a chance of getting restitution if someone is prosecuted for the theft.  He said the FBI is investigating.
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories to Nonprofit Imperative. Follow us on our blog or on Twitter---Nonprofits News
Nonprofit News…
In Case You Missed It:
1.     The investment account of the Portola Valley (CA) Schools Foundation, which was defrauded of $182,500 over the fall of 2013, has been made whole by the foundation's fraud-protection insurance.
2.     The Fiesta Bowl's chief executive, John Junker, was sentenced to eight months in prison for leading a campaign-finance scandal that ensnared the college-football organization he transformed from a low-key, postseason bowl game into one of the country's biggest sporting events. The Fiesta Bowl's former chief executive became the sixth former or current employee to be sentenced in a scheme in which bowl employees were reimbursed for making political contributions to those running for local, state and federal ­offices. The contributions went to high-profile politicians, such as U.S. Sen. John McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer. Prosecutors have said there was no indication that any of the candidates knew the contributions were tainted. Other expenses included throwing Junker a birthday party in Pebble Beach, Calif., and trips by Junker and others to strip clubs.
3.     A Linden (NJ) woman was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for her role in the theft of $7 million worth of HIV and cancer medications from a charity then distributed the medicines to patients who could not afford them.
4.     A Colorado woman who allegedly convinced her young son he had cancer is accused of scamming more than $25,000 out of her family and the local community. She allegedly told her 6-year-old son -- along with the community -- that he was diagnosed with cancer in September 2012. Money collected by Nguyen through school fundraisers and other donations was used to finance a trip to Disneyland. "We don't have any reason to believe that anyone other than her knew the truth." "The little boy believed he had cancer. The rest of the family believed he had cancer. "When investigators issued a search warrant of her home on Thursday, they said they found $23,000 in cash. Police say she then admitted that her son doesn't actually have cancer.
5.     How novel; fully discharged restitution is an anomaly and enforcement seldom happens butA probation revocation hearing in Georgetown could determine whether Dayo White – the former chief financial officer of Five Rivers Community Development Corp. – will be headed to prison for failing to pay restitution for money she illegally took from the nonprofit agency. White and her mother, Beulah White, pleaded guilty in March 2009 to a combined six felony charges related to their theft of public money from Five Rivers, which was supposed to help low-income people find jobs and buy homes. Both women were given five-year suspended prison sentences and placed on probation for a five-year period. They also were ordered to pay a combined $65,617.17 in restitution, including interest. Beulah White, the nonprofit agency’s executive director, repaid the $3,500 she owed and her probation expired this week. Dayo White, however, still owes $31,146 – about half of the $62,117.17 she was ordered to repay five years ago. The restitution the Whites were ordered to pay amounts to a little more than 1 percent of the $5 million Five Rivers received in state and federal grants and other funds during its 10-year history.
6.     Some of Australia’s best-known charities have signed an open letter urging Tony Abbott to abandon plans to scrap the national regulator. They said the launch of the commission in 2012 was a “major step forward in creating a regulatory environment that works for the not-for-profit sector rather than against it”. “In little over one year of operation, the ACNC has built a strong, positive reputation by establishing the first public national register of charities, registering more than 2,600 new charities, responding to over 70,000 requests for information from charities and the broader community, investigating and resolving over 200 complaints against charities, and monitoring the extent of red tape and level of public trust and confidence in our charities,” the letter said.
7.     Among 66 foundations that provided seven years of data, assets in 2013 were still 16.6 percent below the total $223.7-billion reported in 2007. Grant making last year among those organizations was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007 according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy survey.
8.     A Los Angeles County judge signaled that Department of Water and Power union chief Brian D'Arcy will have to turn over records showing how two nonprofit trusts he co-directs used $40 million in ratepayer money. The nonprofits — the Joint Training Institute and the Joint Safety Institute — were created more than a decade ago after a grueling round of job cuts at the city-owned utility. The institutes were charged with improving relations between labor and management, and have received up to $4 million per year. Judge James Chalfant in his ruling noted that the DWP managers had provided "no supervision" and "little control" over the nonprofits' spending and therefore shares the blame for the controversy. "This failure is serious and has resulted in well-warranted public scrutiny as to how $40 million of public funds was spent," Chalfant wrote.
9.     With 11 of the worst offenders [among charities soliciting funds from the public] across the nation, Florida is taking charge. It is instituting a public-access charitable database.
10.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and U.S. Senator Charles Grassley are calling for a look into hospital compensation and whether compensation incentives are properly designed. For example, one hospital reportedly paid $5.3 million in salary, a bonus and cash retirement benefits to its chief executive in 2011.  His bonus of $1.2 million was attributed to his having “met every goal in his incentive plan, including targets related to quality of care and ‘stakeholder satisfaction.’”  However, the hospital’s attorney declined to identify the specific goals achieved. (see #11)
11.  U. S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, in 2010, sought oversight measures for nonprofit hospitals. “These reforms were the culmination of a review of nonprofit hospitals I began in 2005 that revealed that the practices of many nonprofit hospitals were virtually indistinguishable from their for-profit counterparts,” Grassley writes in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. He is now asking the Commissioner to give him an update as to their implementation.
12.  New York officials say they will appeal a state judge's ruling against the $199,000 salary cap intended for executives at the Health Department's nonprofit contractors. State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Feinman finds the department overstepped its authority and that the Legislature has rejected similar proposals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo more than two years ago issued an executive order to limit administrative costs and executive pay at state-funded service providers, noting one chief executive was drawing a $2.2 million salary. The lawsuit was brought by the Agencies for Children's Therapy Services, an association of 33 agencies in New York City and Long Island providing early intervention and special education services.
13.  Atlanta archbishop apologized for building a $2.2 million mansion as his residence. He bowed to criticism from local parishioners and said he would consider selling the new home in Buckhead, Atlanta’s toniest neighborhood. The Tudor-style mansion, stretching nearly 6,400 square feet, includes two dining rooms and a safe room.   In Newark, N.J. donations were withheld after they learned the archdiocese was spending at least $500,000 to expand his retirement home, adding an indoor therapy pool, fireplaces, and an office library. Last week, Pope Francis removed German bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst after he spent $43 million on a new residence and related renovations.
14.  A professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore was convicted April 1 in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Science Foundation and his students, the Baltimore Sun reported.  He was accused of fraudulently obtaining $200,000 in grants from the NSF’s Small Business Technology Transfer program in 2008 and 2009 and applying for an additional $500,000 through the same program. Prosecutors claimed he falsified expenditure reports and time sheets and used the funds for personal expenses, including paying his mortgage and credit card bills and paying his wife about $11,000, though she did no work for the NSF. He also had oversight for another $100,000 in U.S. Department of Defense grants that were supposed to be distributed to students working on contracts, but he falsely told students they needed to return part of the stipends to him. Students returned about $36,000 in grants, which he deposited in his own bank account.
15.  China lawmakers are passing laws requiring charitable organizations to publish their financial information and issue new standards for the annual inspection of charitable organizations after the Smile Angel Foundation (SAF) had embezzled more than 50 million yuan ($8.09 million) of its donations and that its co-founder, actor-turned-businessman Li Yapeng, had failed to donate 1 million yuan ($161,000) of funding capital as he promised.
                                                ***
The economic recovery is leaving behind many nonprofits and communities in need:
• 80 percent of respondents reported an increase in demand for services, the 6th straight year of increased demand.
• 56 percent were unable to meet demand in 2013 -- the highest reported in the survey's history.
• Only 11 percent expect 2014 to be easier than 2013 for the people they serve.
Nonprofits are working to bring in new money; in the next 12 months:
• 31 percent will change the main ways in which they raise and spend money.
• 26 percent will pursue an earned income venture.
• 20 percent will seek funding other than grants and contracts, such as loans or other investments.
Forty-one percent of nonprofits named "achieving long-term financial stability" as a top challenge, yet:
• More than half of nonprofits (55 percent) have three months or less cash-on-hand.
• 28 percent ended their 2013 fiscal year with a deficit.
• Only nine percent can have an open dialogue with funders about developing reserves for operating needs, and only six percent about developing reserves for long-term facility needs.
Nonprofits are taking wide-ranging steps to survive and succeed. In the past 12 months:
• 49 percent collaborated with another organization to improve or increase services.
• 48 percent invested money or time in professional development.
• 40 percent upgraded hardware or software to improve organizational efficiency.
• 39 percent conducted long-term strategic or financial planning.
Respondents said that more than 70 percent of their funders requested impact or program metrics.
• 77 percent agreed that the metrics funders ask for are helpful in assessing impact.
• Only one percent reported that funders always cover the costs of impact measurement; 71 percent said costs were rarely or never covered.
We flagged these few examples of nonprofit mischief 
1.     Tacoma-Pierce County St. Vincent De Paul Society (WA) $500,000
2.     Pitt County Board of Education (Carolina) $38,000
3.     Sullivan County Humane Society  $7,200
4.     Xavier University Preparatory School/ St. Katharine Drexel Preparatory High School (LA) $85,000
5.     San Marcos Chamber of Commerce (CA) $62,000
6.     Mobilization, Optimization, Stabilization and Training Trust (KS) $400,000
7.     Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bluegrass (KY) $430,000
8.     Bethel Park Junior Cheerleaders (PA) $19,000
9.     New Haven Land Trust (CT) $21,000
10.  Kennedy Little League (WI) $200,000
11.  Society for the Propagation of the Faith (NY) $1.77 million
12.  World Mission Thrift (MI) $74,000 
13.  Woodruff Arts Association (GA) $1.1 million
14.  Parchment School District (MI) $20,000
15.  Grove Youth Football Association and the Grove Youth Baseball Association (OK) under investigation
16.  Holy Family Catholic Parish (MI) unknown
17.  Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation (WA) $180,000
18.  CASA (OK) $70,000
19.  Santa Rosa Junior College (CA) $287,000
20.  Freedom by Faith Ministries (MI) $300,000
21.  Munson Medical Center (MI) $27,500
22.  Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund  (CA) $122,000
23.  Pioneer House (CA) $1.3 million
24.  Center Point Inc (CA) $300,000
25.  Northern Michigan University student government unknown
26.  Congregation Beth El (CA) $394,000
27.  Evangelical Lutheran Church in America synod in northwestern Minnesota $700,000
28.  Center for Independent Living of Southwest Florida $924,000
29.  Shorewood school district (WI) $310,000
30.  Sheet Metal Workers International Association (MT) more than $175,000 
31.  United Hebrew Cemetery (NY) $2 million
32.  Mason Dixon Ruffnecks (PA) $21,000
33.  Alcoa City Schools (TN) $344,000
34.  Bethany College (WV) $1 million
Political/public official chicanery (just a few):
1.     A former treasurer of a suburban Philadelphia fire company has pleaded guilty to taking about $250,000 from the nonprofit-Upper Gwynedd Township fire company-for personal expenses including trips and his daughter's wedding.
2.     Once president of the Illinois police chiefs association, a former suburban police chief has been indicted on multiple charges in the alleged misuse of more than $180,000 raised for a police helicopter program he ran.
3.     Seagoville (TX) former Economic Development Corporation chief is accused of embezzlement of over $70,000
4.     A woman accused of stealing more than $20,000 from a city employee's union was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and grand theft charges. She served as the treasurer and secretary of the Murrieta General Employees Association in California
5.     A former Montezuma County (CO) undersheriff charged with using taxpayer money to pay for personal items, including firearms, has pleaded guilty to public corruption charges. He was charged with 17 embezzlement counts and one count of official misconduct involving purchases totaling more than $7,400. He was accused of trying to sell some of the firearms by posting classified ads.
6.     Former Cherryville (NC) utility supervisor Jennifer Neal Hoyle tearfully apologized for embezzling nearly $100,000 in taxpayers’ money before she was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison.
7.     A Rush Springs (OK) city clerk who admits to embezzling more than $12,000 from the city remains a city employee.
8.     A former secretary at Bedford County Jail was sentenced to up to five years in the state correctional institution after embezzling nearly $50,000 from an inmate commissary account.
9.     Federal prosecutors say an ex-nonprofit director has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing nearly $500,000 from the organization.
Authorities said that 64-year-old Ruth Gayle Cunningham, former director of Jefferson County (AL) Committee for Economic Opportunity, was sentenced for conspiring with her daughter, Kelli E. Caulfield to defraud the organization. Cunningham earned an annual salary of $150,000 as director of the organization, which ran programs like Head Start for low-income and disadvantaged families.
10.  Embattled director of the Queens Library head Thomas Galante collects a $392,000 salary, but claims to have logged a super number of hours to collect $114,673 from consulting gig that was awarded 15 contracts to work on various Queens library renovations, Frank Marino of Advanced Consulting Corp., has ties to the same Elmont School District where Galante is a business consultant.
Galante is the focus of an FBI probe into construction contracts as is his spending of $140,000 to renovate his executive offices in the Queens Central Library in Jamaica (NY), including $27,000 for an outdoor private smoking deck. Galante received a $37,000 car allowance from the city. Galante has a five-year “evergreen” employment contract that requires the library, a private nonprofit group largely funded with city, state and federal money, to pay him $2 million if he is dismissed. Upon being told of these revelations, the library’s trustees voted to restructure Galante’s contract and to adopt more stringent financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest requirements for Galante and his senior staff.
11.  A former Cumberland (RI) Fire District Tax Collector was arrested on for the alleged embezzlement of funds from the Cumberland Fire District. She allegedly embezzled $83,761 in cash tax receipts from the Cumberland Fire District from September 2008 through August 2013. She used Cumberland Fire District money to pay for and install a new personal home computer system at her Cumberland residence at a cost of $700.
12.  Between June 2003 and the time she left her position of director of Snow Hill EMS (NC) in June 2011, police say embezzled $132,000.
13.  A former Plano (TX) Intermediate School District employee pleaded guilty to federal program theft after embezzling between $2.5 million and $7 million from the school district
14.  Georgetown County’s (SC) former economic development director was arrested and charged with over $100,000 embezzlement of public funds related to his work in that county.
15.  An employee with the Kernersville (NC) Police Department faces 314 charges of embezzlement after she allegedly stole more than $9800 from the department’s evidence room.
16.  Columbia’s (SC) economic development director is accused of embezzling more than $100,000 
17.  A former Central Falls (RI) clerk pleaded no contest before a Superior Court judge to one count of wrongful conversion. She was sentenced to three years with six months to serve in home confinement and the reminder suspended with probation.  According to Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, She paid full restitution of $17,000, of which over $10,000 was paid from her pension fund. Officials believe Tager received the money from the Municipal Court Clerk, destroyed the records, and used the cash herself.
18.  A former volunteer fire chief for Inter-Canyon (CO) Fire Protection District, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft and one count of embezzlement of public property. He has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $647,351.59, the amount of the unauthorized purchases he made using the fire district's credit card and bank accounts between January 2010 and March 2013.
19.  Money stolen from the Barre City Firefighters' Union was earmarked for charity, but former president of the IAFF Local 881 union took nearly $5000 anyway
20.  The former Jefferson County (MT) treasurer, after an audit conducted on the 2013 fiscal year found $104,263 missing, was charged. 
21.  A former special assistant attorney general for Mississippi and his sister have been indicted on felony charges of embezzling more than $613,000 from the Mississippi Delta American Legion Post 1776. A grand jury in Bolivar County handed down the indictments March 26, about a month after Morgan P. Shands agreed to repay the American Legion in Cleveland $370,000. In that civil agreement, Shands didn't admit or deny violating the Mississippi Charities Act.
Readers, weigh in as to what you think…please continue the tips (they are very helpful) gary.r.snyder@gmail.com
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 there is money missing. On rare occasions, there may be duplicates.
Cites in various media:
Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Charity Navigator, Washington Post, National Enquirer, The Patriot-News, Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, In Touch, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, msnbc.com, Marie Claire, Ethics World, Tactical Philanthropy, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, 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, The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual, 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, VPR News, National Enquirer,
  • Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (Xlibris, 2011)
  • Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, 2006)
  • The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual, Governance Section
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Email: gary.r.snyder@gmail.com; 248/324-3700;
Gary Snyder is the author of Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (Xlibris, June, 2011) and Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, February, 2006) and articles in numerous publications. The book can be bought at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, Barnes and Noble (store)
© Gary R. Snyder, All Rights Reserved, 2014











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)