Charity Accountability

Have to admit, until a few years ago ... this subject didn't really come up much with me.  I've blogged about it before a few times.  Over the years, I've seen where Charities abused their authority .. the funds .. you name it. Yesterday I was involved in a heated discussion that burned me on how funds were potentially to be used.  I think things got back on the correct track, but got me thinking about it all .. resulting in this post.  My frustrations on this subject actually go back much further.  Back in late 2016, I became interested in the dealings of a specific one that I'd given a lot of money to over the previous several years, and didn't like what I found.  What I found was minimal accountability.  What I found was the main person behind the curtain was bragging about the revenue coming in .. but.. never discussed the total of dollars given. In other words, I believed they were hiding their overhead.  As I've said before, if a charity brings in a dollar, and they only give out ten cents ..   why are you bragging about the funds taken in?  Brag about what was given in the name of the charity.  Most every 501(c)(3) charity has overhead .. though not all. Some give away 100%  ...  wrap you head around that one.. but ... usually, there has to be overhead.  Lot of folks will buy vehicles, buildings, land ..you name it .. and attach them to the charities as write offs. It's legal in the big picture. Then at the end of the year when they do their taxes, they show their 990s and it's all legal once the IRS gives it the thumbs up.  

One problem I've always had.. and this is just me personally ... is 'what' drives some folks to create these charities?  Usually ... the majority .. .do it all for the right reason. They've lost a child.  Someone in their family died from a specific disease.  A veteran buddy of theirs committed suicide.  The list goes on and on.  I was looking a few months ago at Charities in TX alone and it's mind numbing how many there are.  Hell, even here in my CMVA family, most chapters are 501(c)(3)s which allows us to take in the funds, not be taxed on it, give the funds and our time away as needed, and allows contributors to get tax write-offs.  Standard Ops in the Charity world.  But there are a few that hide behind these charities for their own personal gain.  They can write off personal property in the name of charity. You name it.  Some skim off them, with shoddy bookkeeping.  We read about this crap too often in the news.  So, historically I like to research the charities I donate to before giving.  Sometimes I like what I see.. sometimes not. We've all heard stories of some CEO's with big paychecks that seem .. wrong.  Other-times, they spend way to much in advertising. Sometimes we hear that some folks never recieve help from them ..... our perception is .. something wrong is going on here.  The list goes on and on.

My pet peeve as of late is when a charity is pushed hard for Event(s), and people attend them thinking all the money they pay is going to a good cause.  However, most folks never follow up to see where their money actually went.  Never ask to see the accounting of it all. Kicker is .. its sorta' simple to ask a few basic questions. One of them is "Can I see  your 990(s)?"  This is what they file with the IRS and has to be made Public.  You can usually find this on the IRS web site. Many post them on their websites.  Most will share them with you if you ask. Now, you may catch them off guard with the response, but it's legit. Most people don't ask. Most people don't seem to care.  Most assume everything is 100% legit.  When they do NOT provide them ... is when all the flags should go up that something is ..... wrong?

I focused hard on a specific charity back in early 2017 and asked some easy questions and when I got push back .. I pushed harder.  I got excuses why taxes weren't filed.  I got excuses about the overhead.  Hell, ignorance was claimed as to what I meant by 'overhead.'  More I tried to explain it, the more I felt like something was .... wrong.  Well, I was right .. at least legally.  Here I am today in June 2021 looking at it all again and the WRONG is so obvious.   This particular charity filed in '14 claiming less than 50k so they didn't have to do a normal 990. I was told by someone in the know it was 55k .. but I don't' have proof; just hearsay.  In '15 the IRS doesn't show a 990 filed.  After I called them out publicly in this blog, they filed their '16s though the numbers don't jive with what was posted on Social Media for overall revenue.  In '17 the event was even larger, but ... no 990 filed.  Nor .. '18, '19 or '20.  In May 2020 the IRS stated their status was revoked ... .. how the hell that took that many years .. never mind.. this is the IRS... is what it is.  But now, the charity has hired (or Pro Bono?) someone to get their status back as of Dec 2020.  Supposedly the taxes have been done since then, but the 990s don't show up .. and I was told they weren't for me to see.  If this doesn't sound like a mess to anyone with common sense.. well.. sorry you read all this so far?  So, now it all continues on again ...   hey .. won't see more of my money so .. whatever?  But all the flags are up to me.

Pet Peeve.  Here's my final comment on the subject.  Contributions / tax write offs.   Here's one for those that have stuck with me so far.  If you give a $1 to an organization that qualifies for that to be a taxable write-off, you can only write off the part that is over an beyond the value of what you paid.  In other words, if you give $1, but receive in return item(s) that equal half that .. you can only write off .50 cents.  One more time ..... if I give $100 and in return I get a shirt with a value of $50, a patch worth $5 and a meal worth $15 ..  I can only write off $30 for that $100 contributed to the ... charity.  Now, If someone thinks I'm wrong here please comment and I'll post a correction. But this is what I've been told and the rules I follow annually with the IRS.

Do your homework folks. Many (most?) charities do some good things for us and are worth contributing to. Others.... not so much.  Some are a sham .. worthless. Make sure if you are contributing you know it's a viable organization, doing the right thing with the funds.   If you see a few pics at the end of the year where they gave out a few $500 checks to a few folks/organizations .. but brought in six figures ...  something might be wrong here?