Nonprofit Imperative
…your nonprofit browser
June 2016
The
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:
Wounded Warrior Project:
May Smith Trust…more
Breaking
the Silence:
American Red Cross
Charity Check Up:
Hindu Temple
A Thought or Two:
Principle
For Charities To Live By
Nonprofit News-In Case You Missed It:
Healing Arts Initiative;
Donald Trump Charities…more
Political/Official Chicanery:
MI CA; ME; AK; RI…more
What Do You
Think?
·
To do good, donors must do their homework
· Give without being taken
In spite of what the
Independent Sector has said for decades:…”(the charitable sector) doesn’t have
one center of organization and imagination looking out at the far horizon to
inspire and guide all of the component parts to get to a place together that
none operating independently could ever get to on its own. It doesn’t have one
voice to tell the rest of the world where it is headed and what it requires to
get there. It has no coordinated analytical capability to help it understand
its progress.” (Harvard Business Review)
--------------------------------
"Board members of the city’s nonprofits must take
more responsibility and become better stewards of their organizations, says a
new report released, the second self-examination of the sector to come out in
the past month, a recently released report from
the Human Services Council said.”
---------------------------------
Skunk of the Month…
“They came to
do good and they did very well indeed (for themselves).”
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:
More Congressional Talk…awaiting action
To his credit, Senator
Chuck Grassley has brought to the public’s attention many abuses in the charitable
sector.
But change, in the past,
has not been readily forthcoming (ie, American Red Cross, Smithsonian)
Now, Grassley and the Senate Judiciary Committee have been looking
into the spending at the Wounded Warrior Project, specifically trying to make
sense of the proportion of spending on veterans programs against the total
budget.
The
organization provided the committee with the requested financial documents
around a month ago, and Grassley yesterday sent a follow-up letter requesting further clarification.
WWP’s
claims that it spends 80 percent of its expenses on veterans’ services.
Charity watchdog groups have estimated the percentage as low as 43
percent excluding
fundraising related costs.
The
committee questioned even the services themselves: “It appears the vast
majority of the 94 percent of program services provided to veterans consisted
of tickets to sporting events,” Grassley said in the letter. Grassley further
questioned the characterization of placing $37 million over 2013 and 2014 into
a trust fund as a program expense.
The
senator finally ventured that, “Of the $242 million WWP spent on program
expenses in FY 2014, it appears that approximately $150 million of it was not
actually spent on veterans by WWP and a large portion of it was in-kind
donations.”
The
Grassley letter concluded with a set of further questions to be completed by
June 1st, including a request for the independent review of spending
practices commissioned by the board and copies of the fundraising materials
against which the joint cost allocations were made.
Lets hope that the WWP
response fully addresses the questions and that the committee concerns don’t
get lost in the daily Finance Committee charge.
Update from recent Grassley email: Based on WWP's Consolidated Financial Statements, you claim
that 80.6% of its total expenditures went to provide services for veterans.
That includes free media as a program service to veterans as well as
$40,916,885 on program service costs that were joint educational and
fundraising solicitations. It is questionable “if these solicitations
provide any benefit to veterans or provide direct support to WWP's mission.”
Aside from attending sporting events, only a little amount was spent on program
events that were Physical Health & Wellness. In total, when taking the
aforementioned into account, of the $242 million WWP spent on program expenses
in FY 2014, it appears that approximately $150 million of it was not actually
spent on veterans by WWP and a large portion of it was in-kind donations.
A Grassley victory: Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa released
the results of his 16-month-long inquiry into a Missouri non-profit hospital in
the spotlight for aggressively suing low-income patients. Thanks to Grassley’s
inquiry and persistence, Mosaic Life-Care approved debt forgiveness for 5,070
patients totaling $16.9 million. “Tax-exempt hospitals cannot be in business to
profit off of poor people who may not know what form to file,” Grassley said in
a speech on the Senate floor in announcing the results. “That is not what
Congress intended to happen when we created the tax exemption. Now,
thousands of people have a new lease on life, thanks to Mosaic’s meeting its
tax-exempt responsibilities.
Trustee Raids Charitable Trust For $52 million
A former trustee for two charitable trusts was
sentenced to 13-plus years in jail for spending $52 million of one of the
organizations’ funds on aircraft, boats, and personal expenses over six months
in the mid-2000s, The Boston Globe write. He used May Smith Trust money for a spending spree
that included purchases of private jets, military planes and helicopters, a
patrol boat, a yacht, and a $700,000 home. He was convicted in February on 11
felony counts in what federal prosecutors said was one of the largest cases of financial
fraud in Alaska history. Philanthropy experts told the Globe inherited trusteeships
remain commonplace.
Veterans, Again, Used For Personal Gain
Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3)
sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald asking for the
resignation of J. Thomas Burch, the Deputy Director in the Office of the
General Counsel at the VA, who runs an allegedly fraudulent charity called
the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation (NVVF). Yesterday, CNN reported that in
the past five years, NVVF has taken in $29 million in donations and spent less
than 2 percent on veterans. According to Charity Navigator, which audits
thousands of charities in the United States, NVVF spends 90 percent of its over $8 million
revenue on fundraising expenses, and is one of
the most inefficient charities in the country.
Congressman Jones is “outraged
that Mr. Burch receives a taxpayer-funded salary from the VA and drives a Rolls
Royce to work while cheating veterans out of their money and the services he
promises them. In 2014 he drew a salary of $65,000 as
head of his "zero-star" charity while pulling down $127,000 in salary
in 2014 VA Deputy Director.
According to Charity Navigator,
they don't have an independent board of directors, they actually don't even
have a comprehensive board of directors -- only three members on the board at
this point in time and some of them are family. (CNN)
Add Two Celebrities To The Charity Fraud List
Former NBA player Kermit Washington—who had a
10-year career primarily with the Lakers and Trail Blazers but is best known
for brutally
punching Rudy Tomjanovich in the face—was arrested after
being indicted for
allegedly running a charity fraud scheme. According to the Department of
Justice, Washington worked with lawyer and NFL Hall of Famer Ron Mix (who plead guilty to felony tax fraud charges) to siphon
money supposedly destined for Africa into his own pocket. If convicted, he faces over 40 years in prison and
a million dollar fine.
Breaking the Silence:
Red Cross Botched
Response To Mississippi Flood
“There wasn’t any coordination.” They
were in the wrong place.
Red Cross’ response was “marginal at best” at the Mississippi flooding.
“The problem is their inability to develop tactical plans for their relief operations.”
It has been extensively reported that the Red Cross ’botched responses to Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and its failure to follow through on promises after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
The Mississippi emails also show the effects of deep cuts to the charity’s network of local chapters made by CEO Gail McGovern, who has struggled to get the Red Cross on stable financial footing since she took over the charity in 2008. The Red Cross closed several Mississippi chapters since McGovern became CEO. The downsizing hasn’t been limited to local offices. Last month, a Red Cross senior vice president sent an email informing his staff that positions in the Disaster Cycle Services would be cut.
Mississippi emergency management officials said the state has suffered from the Red Cross’ cutbacks. (Source)
Red Cross’ response was “marginal at best” at the Mississippi flooding.
“The problem is their inability to develop tactical plans for their relief operations.”
It has been extensively reported that the Red Cross ’botched responses to Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and its failure to follow through on promises after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
The Mississippi emails also show the effects of deep cuts to the charity’s network of local chapters made by CEO Gail McGovern, who has struggled to get the Red Cross on stable financial footing since she took over the charity in 2008. The Red Cross closed several Mississippi chapters since McGovern became CEO. The downsizing hasn’t been limited to local offices. Last month, a Red Cross senior vice president sent an email informing his staff that positions in the Disaster Cycle Services would be cut.
Mississippi emergency management officials said the state has suffered from the Red Cross’ cutbacks. (Source)
Further
update: Rep. Bennie Thompson,
D-Miss., the ranking member of the congressional committee that oversees the
Red Cross, sent a three-page letter to the charity’s CEO
demanding that she explain why the Red Cross struggled to respond to record
flooding in Mississippi this spring. Thompson pressed Red Cross CEO Gail
McGovern for details on the impact of its staffing cuts and how it plans to
coordinate better with state emergency managers. (propublica.org)
Charity Check Up:
Hindu Temple Hit With Embezzlement
He led major
renovations of a Flint-area (MI) Hindu temple and embezzled more than $400,000
while he was its director, according to authorities. Investigations revealed
that the director was writing checks to himself and his businesses from the
temple's account. He said his investigation into temple finances only went back
six years due to the statute of limitations. He was the primary person in
charge of temple finances
The executive also has another case open in Genesee County Circuit Court, where last
year he pleaded no contest to two charges stemming from writing bad checks. A
no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for the
purposes of sentencing. Sentencing in that case is pending a resolution in the
embezzlement and larceny case, court records show. (source)
A Thought or Two:
RAY DALIO at Bridgewater Associates shares some
thoughtful fundamental life principles that are certainly applicable to today’s
charitable environment. We will present one principle each newsletter. (principles)
Have
integrity and demand it from others. a) Never say anything about a person you
wouldn’t say to them directly, and don’t try people without accusing them to
their face. b) Don’t let “loyalty” stand in the way of truth and openness.
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News
Nonprofit
News…
In
Case You Missed It:
1.
Healing Arts
Initiative—a Queens-based charity that provided performances and workshops for
over 300,000 poor, disabled, and elderly New Yorkers—shut its doors after it
failed to regain its footing from the discovery of a $750,000 embezzlement. Shortly after being hired last summer, the director, D.
Alexandra Dyer, was disfigured in an attack that led to three arrests and the
exposure of what prosecutors said was a $750,000 embezzlement scheme. In April,
Ms. Dyer sued the board on behalf of the charity itself, claiming that the
board’s negligence had enabled the thefts. Last week, the board fired Ms. Dyer and her chief financial officer, Frank Williams. The board
said through a spokesman, Timothy Gilles, that expenses for program, payroll
and administration had exceeded revenue for many months but that the board did
not know the extent of the problem until this week because Ms. Dyer and Mr.
Williams had withheld “crucial financial information.” Ms. Dyer and Mr.
Williams said that they supplied all possible information and that the board
ignored complaints about malfeasance for years.
2.
In January, Donald Trump
skipped a GOP debate and instead held his own televised fundraiser for
veterans. At the end of the night, Trump proclaimed it a huge success: “We
just cracked $6 million, right? Six million. ”Now, Trump’s campaign says
that number is incorrect. Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said the
fundraiser actually netted about $4.5 million, or 75 percent of the
total that Trump announced. Lewandowski blamed the shortfall on Trump’s own
wealthy acquaintances. He said some of them had promised big donations that
Trump was counting on when he said he had raised $6 million. But Lewandowski
said those donors backed out and gave nothing.
Update: Almost four months after promising $1 million of
his own money to veterans’ causes, Donald Trump moved to fulfill that pledge —
promising the entire sum to a single charity as he came under intense media
scrutiny.
Another update: Florida Attorney General
solicited a donation from Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an
investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates. The
$25,000 donation came from a Trump Foundation apparently in violation of rules
surrounding political activities by charities. (source) In a strange
twist, the AG says se tried to return the money but Trump would not accept it. “They rejected it and sent it back.”
3.
The Annual Fraud Indicator 2016
estimates that the cost of fraud affecting the
voluntary sector was £1.86bn ($2.7bn) in 2013/14, or 2.5 per cent of the
sector’s annual income and expenditure in the U.K.. In the U.S., it is at least
three times that percentage. And guess what, no one cares!
4.
An
early-childhood-education nonprofit headed by Diana Rauner, the wife of
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, has joined a coalition of charities suing her
husband and several members of his administration over failure to pay off state
human-service contracts, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
5.
Fighting charity fraud
could become more difficult under a bill that, if it becomes law, would
prohibit the Internal Revenue Service from collecting the names of top
donors to charities and other nonprofit groups, Reuters reports.
Currently under consideration in the House of Representatives, the bill would
protect the privacy of wealthy donors who make anonymous gifts to politically
active groups and eliminate a decades-old IRS donor-disclosure requirement for
a range of organizations, including hospitals, universities, and community and
sports organizations. Critics of the proposal argue that it
would negatively affect state regulators, who sometimes review charities'
Schedule B forms for conflicts of interest, questionable movements of money,
and in-kind donations between charities. "It's important forensic data to
us state regulators," Hugh Jones, deputy state attorney general in
Hawai'i, told Reuters. "It's evidence we can consider using in an
investigation to determine whether a charity’s board has breached its fiduciary
duty."
6.
Charity Navigator, a
charity-rating website is changing the way it rates nonprofit groups, saying
the new method gives donors a better picture of how a particular charity
performs over time. Charity Navigator, which rates charities on a zero- to
four-star scale, will start using the new rating system. The system changes the
way the group assesses a charity’s financial health, but it leaves intact the
way it rates a group’s “accountability and transparency,” the second major
performance category. Charity Navigator is one of the more influential charity
assessment organizations, rating about 8,000 charities. Many groups consider
the rating “absolutely critical to attract new resources and donors,” said
Elizabeth Ashbourne, executive director of the Partnership for Quality Medical
Donations, which helps coordinate supplies and equipment for disaster relief
operations. Michael Thatcher, president and chief executive of Charity
Navigator, said website users would still see charities rated on an overall
scale of zero to four stars. “Will the user experience be dramatically different?”
he said. “I don’t think so.” But some underlying measures have been adjusted,
based on a continuing analysis by Charity Navigator’s staff in collaboration
with a task force made up of financial experts from the nonprofit world. The
group also surveyed all the organizations it rates. The new ratings mean donors
“can have even greater confidence in the financial health of the charities they
choose to support,” Mr. Thatcher said. (nytimes.com)
7.
After facing 112 fraud and
conspiracy charges in connection with diverting to his own companies $14
million in federal government funds meant for treating the poor and homeless,
Jonathan Dunning left as CEO of Central
Alabama Comprehensive Health in Tuskegee in late 2008 but he still called the
shots at that agency for years. Chief Financial Officer. Teri Mollica has
pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges involving millions of
dollars.
8.
The
Citizen of the Year in 2015 is under arrest, facing embezzlement charges.
Oakdale (CA) police was in custody following allegations of embezzlement by the
former former member of the Oakdale Youth Soccer League (OYSL) Board and coach.
9.
Move Minneapolis, a nonprofit sponsored by the city of Minneapolis
to promote walking, biking, ridesharing and transit may have been falsifying
accounts and misdirecting funds, according to an audit report made public at
City Hall. The executive director of Move Minneapolis had been placed on unpaid
leave. There were discrepancies
in the payroll records, particularly regarding vacation and sick time and employees
coming in and leaving early.
We flagged these few examples of charity misdeeds:
1.
World Ambassadors, Ltd.
$500,000
2. Firefighters Support Services, (MI) <$4.2 million
3. Hunger Free Vermont $165,000
4.
Woodbrooke Estates
Home Owners association (NY) $366,000
5.
Black Diamond Council
of Girl Scouts (WV) $2300
6.
Second African Baptist
Church (SC) $250,000
7.
Utility Workers Union of America Local 532 $50,000
to $100,000
8.
Salt Lake City
Firefighters Union Local 81 $37,000
9.
Hubbard Lake Fire Department (MI)
$60,000
10. Fake Charity (CO) $1 million
11. Clarksville (TN) Salvation
Army unknown
12. Mid-Central Educational Cooperative
(SD) over $1 million
13. Camarillo Fiesta Association (CA) $26,000
14. American Legion Post in Lancaster (PA) $50,000
15. University of Missouri-Columbia $716,000
16. University of Rhode Island Institute for Int’l
Sport $1 million
Political/public official chicanery (just a few):
1.
A former Mathison town
marshal has been charged with five counts of felony embezzlement, $75,000,
by a public official.
2.
Former
Keeler Township (MI) Fire Chief appeared in court for a preliminary hearing.
Both he and his wife are being charged with one count of embezzlement of more
than $1,000 but less than $20,000 from a nonprofit or charitable organization.
3.
City officials have revealed
that Placentia’s (CA) former finance services manager allegedly embezzled nearly $5 million
from the financially fragile city –
about $600,000 more than first believed.
4.
A
former city employee in Westbrook (ME) is accused of stealing
more than $100,000 in taxpayer money over the course of nearly a year.
5.
A longtime state
employee has pleaded not guilty to swindling two Arkansas agencies out of more
than $142,000 and giving the money to fake companies.
6.
The
former financial director of the Child Abuse Council of Muskegon County has
been arraigned on a felony embezzlement charge.
7.
Prosecutors filed embezzlement charges against the former
Beaumont (CA) city manager, finance director and other
officials, alleging that they siphoned as much as $43 million from city
coffers over the past three decades.
8.
El
Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills (CA) charged more than
$15,500 at an upscale restaurant to his school-issued American Express card. He
acknowledged charging El Camino for personal travel, also. All amounting to
more than $100,000 to the card.
9.
The
former Dexter (MI) schools IT director who stole more than $300,000 from the
district will serve six months in jail and two years probation.
10.
A Providence (RI) City
Councilman is accused of embezzling $67,732 in aid from city agencies and city
funds over the past decade.
11.
A former City of Petoskey (MI) finance department employee pleaded
guilty to an embezzlement charge in which she admitted to stealing more than
$189,000 from the city during the course of 30 years.
12.
An
Oak Park (MI) treasury clerk who authorities say took up to $50,000 from the
city has been charged with embezzlement and counterfeiting.
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 media sources...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. These incidents include
only a fraction of the estimated $40 billion of charity crimes. On rare
occasions, there may be duplicates.
We’re
noticed: 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, New York Times, 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, , 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,
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)
…”This book should be read by
everyone. It will send a shiver down the reader's spine to think that people
with little money to spare have given generously…”
- Nonprofits:
On the Brink (iUniverse,
2006)
- The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual, Governance Section
Our intent is to
keep you informed.... You may be removed from our
contact list and future mailings by emailing to garysnyder4@gmail.com with the word "remove" in the subject line.
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, 2016
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