Just to the right of the Receptionist at my charity sat a red folder, the
Public File. It included Annual Reports, copies of audits and basic
hand-outs.
Why? IRS requires that every 501 ( c ) 3 organization must immediately
upon request produce that information to anyone who walks in the door and
asks.
Yes, some do.
I remember women sent by a national organization to check-up on my place.
Among their orders: find out about car the charity supplied me – ‘be sure
to get the make and the model, such as Infiniti Q45.’ (Back then my ride
was my pick-up truck, way past 200,000 miles on the road.)
The vast majority of charity leaders don’t get cars or country club
memberships or relocation assistance. A few do get such perks and even in
stogy St. Louis it’s not hard to find charity leaders making $250,000 or
$500,000 or more each year.
That’s acceptable to IRS, the Missouri Attorney General and such so long as
all the right forms are filed honestly and the charity follows all the
rules.
Comes now Eric R. Greitens. As he’s quick to share: former Navy SEAL,
renowned scholar, inspirational author and founder of The Mission Continues
– a 501 ( c ) 3 charitable organization operated out of St. Louis. He led
his charity for several years (and remained on its board as
Founder/Director through 2015 [ www.guidestar.org – sign-up for free!])
He knew the rules.
Yet, he didn’t think the rules applied to him or his charity…
❶ Charities are for public benefit, not private benefit.
A review of Annual Reports and news coverage makes it
clear that promoting E.R. Greitens tied with helping vets as the
organization’s mission.
❷ He converted a charity asset – its mailing list – into a
political tool.
The list has a monetary value which the charity must
collect from any user – and record as unrelated business income on the annual
IRS return. No UBI is shown.
❸ Charities cannot allow their staff to be used for political
purposes.
In every version of events as to how the governor’s
campaign got the mailing list, then-current employees were helpful and complicit.
Here’s something else very concrete: The Mission Continues’ 2015 and 2016
IRS 990 returns have a question (Part IV, #28) about Business Transactions
with current or former directors and officers: both years they wrote NO,
even though that mailing list was shared.
Remember that red Public File? Not having the info at hand can lead to
fines…up to thousands of dollars levied by IRS. Not reporting transactions
with a founder, giving away valued charity property, and a lot more things
can cause IRS fines or the death penalty – loss of charitable tax status.
Eric Greitens and The Mission Continues need to be investigated and held
accountable.
Oh yes, when I ran charities I did fundraisers to make money. On that 2016
return The Mission Continues reported a loss of $50,417 on their fund
raisers…what a great group.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member