3. Related Organizations. "There needs to be a complete understanding of all related organizations – both for-profit and non profit – of a charity. It is important that the public be able to understand the big picture of what is going on at a charity."
4. Joint Ventures "To know the work of the charity it is critical to understand the joint ventures in which the organization is engaged."
5. Governance. "Time and time again, we have seen poor governance at the core of problems at charities."
6. Dollars raised v Dollars for Charity. "There is probably no greater interest of the public then wanting to understand the answer to this question when they make a donation: How much of the money is actually going to the charitable activity?"
7. Hospitals. Many of the issues we've discussed above have significant applicability to hospitals.
One non profit hospital that could benefit from these reforms is the Shriners Hospitals for Children. A March of 2007 New York Times front page article questioned how the Shriners have used burned and crippled children to raise money allegedly for the hospitals that was, instead, spent on lavish ceremonies, executive mortgages , partying, trips and lawsuits.
To say the very least, the Shriners have serious paper work problems that could, if scrutinized by state and federal authorities, jeopardize their non profit status.
Case in point involves what was found after recent headlines described a recent Shrine parade crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (1)
Though the local prosecutor decided to not file charges against the Shriner driver who crashed into a crowd, injuring eight and sending five to the hospital, further investigation reveals that, according to Tennessee charity officials, the group sponsoring the parade, the Southeastern Shrine Association (SESA) is not registered as a charity. A search of Guidestar.com shows that SESA has not filed tax returns with the IRS nor is the group listed as a "related organization" on the group returns of the Alhambra Shrine Temple.
This pattern of omissions is modus operandi for Shriners corporate and their fraternal counterpart, from the top all the way down through the 191 temples and over 1,900 clubs.
If the Shriners Hospitals for Children had filed accurate and complete tax returns, the public, donors, members (the "stakeholders") and IRS would know that:
Charitable donations funded executive and employee mortgages.
Governing documents were changed so that top executives had nearly unlimited power to execute any and all types
of transactions.
Charitable donations were used to defend against and settle malpractice and discrimination lawsuits as well as prosecute a current defamation lawsuit against a fellow Shriner and a former IRS agent. (2)
Related organizations include the Masons, the Knights Templar and secret group, the Jesters. (3)
A lobbyist was hired in 2005 to lobby against the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, on which some of these 990 reforms are based.
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