Charity Governance

THREE CUPS OF TEA AND A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: DRINK THE TEA, DISMISS THE LAWSUIT

DATELINE: May 11, 2011, Chicago

Two Montana residents, Michele Reinhart and Jean Price have filed a lawsuit against Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea, and the Central Asia Institute alleging fraud on the part of both defendants and requesting that the lawsuit be certified as a class action.  Our initial reaction to the filing was that the claimed injury is a bunch of nonsense, but as we read the complaint, we realized the complaint raises some important issues.  Those issues don't change our initial reaction.

The federal district court judge who is assigned this lawsuit should...

THE NONPROFIT SCANDAL OF THE YEAR: THE FIESTA BOWL--PART IV, THE AUDITORS

DATELINE: April 1, 2011, Chicago

Well, we certainly aren't surprised.  In a March 31, 2011 editorial pertaining to the Fiesta Bowl (more aptly named the Fiasco Bowl) scandal, the Arizona Republic writes:

Hire real auditors. Another board imperative. There are a lot of stories yet to play out regarding the Fiesta Bowl, and here is one of them: How in the world could the Fiesta Bowl auditor not report to the board the kind of crazy spending by top management? The special investigative committee found that now-fired Chief Executive John Junker expensed nearly $5 million over the past 10 years, and just half of that amount could be itemized as legitimate expenses. Where was the auditor? Fix this.

Take Steps to Fix What We Can

We have no doubt that many members of the public are similarly scratching their heads, particularly because the Fiesta Bowl did have some very real auditors:  PricewaterhouseCoopers has handled the outside audit function since 2007, according to KMRC's report (p271).  Before that, it was KPMG (p271).  In theory, you can't get much...

NCAA PRESIDENT TALKS OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH--THE FIESTA BOWL SCANDAL--PART III

DATELINE: April 1, 2011, Chicago

In commenting on the Fiesta Bowl scandal, NCAA President Mark Emmert in his annual State of the NCAA/College Athletics address yesterday said,"You can't indict the entire bowl system because of what's gone out there".  Mark Blaudschun, Emmert Says Fiesta Scandal A Warning, Boston Globe (April 1, 2011). Emmert then continued:

My hope is that it will also serve as a warning shot that every community that runs a bowl game makes sure they’re doing the oversight compliance and due diligence to make sure their bowl games are well run. We have reason to believe that’s not the case.

The Final Four Questions...