Charity Governance

SHOULD I STAY, OR SHOULD I GO? NO RESPECT FOR DIRECTORS OR DONORS AT ACORN

Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
       The Clash, Should I Stay or Should I Go

DATELINE: June 10, 2008, Chicago

Maude Hurd, the president of ACORN, a nonprofit group, certainly has a warped sense of what is right and what is wrong when she calls ACORN's response to an alleged near-million-dollar embezzlement a judgment call. According to Stephanie Strom's recent reporting in the New York Times last week, the brother of the organization's founder is alleged to have embezzled $948,607.50 from the organization. Funds Misappropriated at 2 Nonprofit Groups, June 9, 2008.  The alleged embezzler, Dale Rathke, apparently also was an Acorn employee. We would like to put that number in perspective by comparing it to ACORN's gross revenue, but we are unable to...

PROOF THAT CHARITIES DON’T WANT TO ENGAGE IN POLITICAL ACTIVITY: A FOODBANK LEARNS A LESSON

DATELINE: May 1, 2008, Chicago

All too often we see people suggest that the ban that prevents Section 501(c)(3) entities from intervening in political campaigns should be repealed. That would pose gigantic problems for charities, as the Wall Street Journal's Michael M. Phillips aptly demonstrates today in Payday Lender Presses Charity to End Support for Tighter Bills. The story involves lobbying rather than a campaign intervention, but the lesson is the same. Phillips reports that the Ohio Association for Second Harvest Foodbanks (OASHF) endorsed legislation coming out of the Ohio legislature that would have capped the interest charged on pay-day loans at 28% per annum. The endorsement appears to have been somewhat indirect.  OASHF had joined the Ohio Coalition for Responsible lending, an organization that supported the legislation in question.  OASHF's named appeared on the Coalition's Web site. 

We suspect that many might conclude that this is...

GIVER BEWARE: THE WASHINGTON POST’S EXPOSE ON VETERANS GROUPS RAISES LEGITIMATE CONCERNS, BUT COULD RESULT IN POLICYMAKER OVERREACH

DATELINE: December 14, 2007, Chicago

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post had an interesting article in yesterday's paper covering veterans charities and their generally poor performance in terms of serving veterans. Study Faults Charities for Veterans: Some Nonprofits Shortchange Troops, Watchdog Group Says, Dec. 13, 2007. At the outset, we should point out that not all veterans charities are or should be suspect, but for purposes of this post, we focus on the troublesome ones when we refer to veterans charities.

The numbers will be shocking to the public, but will come as...

THE UNREGULATED IN HAWAII MAY BE TOO SMART FOR THEIR OWN GOOD

DATELINE: September 17, 2007, Chicago

Honolulu Advertiser reporter Rob Perez's article in today's paper has some hidden implications for Hawaii's unregulated charities. In the piece, Perez concludes that efforts to enact legislation to require charities to register with the state have been blocked by influential politicians, business leaders, and labor union officials. See Registration of Hawaii Charities Doomed by Political Clout. In this rather lengthy article, all sides are given the opportunity to voice their opinions regarding registration.

According to Perez, many charities view any registration requirement...

JERRY LEWIS AND MDA TELETHON OFFER INSIGHTS FOR OTHER CHARITIES WHEN IT COMES TO HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF

We thought that this weekend’s Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon would be another victim of Hurricane Katrina.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that more than $400 million has already been collected for Katrina relief.  That’s well ahead of the pace that was set in December 2004—January 2005 for South Asia tsunamis relief.  See, E. Bernstein, Katrina Prompts Record Pace of Giving (September 6, 2005).  With that much money being sucked out of the system for Katrina relief, it is truly amazing...