Transparency and honesty in a non-profit organization

Here's something I found a bit odd and just noticed this discrepancy after I checked the DH Foundation 2010 donors page. On the main page on Deafhood Foundation page you will see a thermometer bar graph where it looks like its about 2/3 the way to $50,000 (between $10,000 to $50,000). In other words, they're saying they've collected about $35,000 to date since 2010 when the organization first started. If this is accurate then congratulations! Great! However, I am questioning whether their thermometer donation bar graph is accurate on amount shown.

Allow me to elaborate here.

Let's assume that each donor donated the maximum amount in each of the donated category amount. Adding up all of the donors in 2010 would turn out to be $18,137 on maximum amount of money donated in each donation category ($1 - $99, $100 - $499, $500 - $999, and $1000 - $2,499 with none donated higher than $2,500) while at a minimum it would be $4,242 in total. The amount donated for 2010 would fall between $4,242 to $18,137. Unfortunately, their donors page do not state specifically the total amount donated in 2010.

I took the liberty of screen capturing the main page with the thermometer donation bar graph on January 25, 2011 and added separation notches between $10,000 to $50,000 in $10,000 equal increments. 

From what it looks like the amount donated to date (January 25, 2011) is about $35,000 since starting last year (see their 1 year anniversary announcement) when they officially became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in their first tax year of 2010.

If the thermometer donation bar graph is accurate assuming they used equal increments of $10,000 between $10,000 and $50,000 then that means from January 1 - 25, 2011 they appeared to have collected an additional $17,000 to $31,000 if you take into consideration last year's donation amount between minimum to maximum amount donated ($35,000 - $18,137 = around $17,000, and $35,000 - $4,242 = around $31,000).  I sincerely hope that thermometer bar graph is correct. Did the DH Foundation collect between an additional $17,000 to $31,000 on donated money over the last 25 days in 2011? Yes, I'm questioning the validity of that amount.  Is the graph accurate on total donated amount since 2010 at around $35,000, currently shown?

Yes or no?

Just as I have questioned DBC's website (NOT a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) about their hit counter showing 2.4 million hits (currently it is at 2.6 million hits four months later) making it look like people are flocking to it in large numbers, I feel it's appropriate to ask about the accuracy of that thermometer bar graph.

For any 501(c) non-profit organizations transparency and honesty are expected from them. This organization made that clear on their status seen at the bottom of their website:

The Deafhood Foundation is a non-profit community foundation incorporated in the state of California with 501(c)3 tax exempt status. Tax identification number 26-2603125.

Transparency and honesty.

ADDENDUM: In December of 2010 they were able to raise over $12,000. But that is not shown in the 2010 tax year Donors page .

ADDENDUM II:  Here's a PDF file of Deafhood Foundation's 2009 tax year return where it shows a $6,400 worth of contribution(s) for 2009 tax year. You can access any non-profit 501(c)3 organization's tax filings through Guidestar and you can get information on the organization's business and taxes.

DBC in Violation of IRS Charitable Contribution Law?

Two questions stood out when I visited DBC's donation page (if unable to link go here to an archived section) and noticed a couple of things that merit serious questions as to their tax deductibility claim.

Consider making a donation to the Deaf Bilingual Coalition. All donations go directly towards promoting the mission, purpose, and goals of DBC.

You may donate through Pay Pal via California Association of the Deaf
http://www.cad1906.org/.
DBC is under Programs on the Home Page. Please go to donate:

http://cad1906.org/programs/support-for-the-deaf-bilingual-coalition/

or...

Make checks out to the Deaf Bilingual Coalition

And mail to:
Deaf Bilingual Coalition
c/o Alyce Reynolds
40002 Catalina Place

Fremont, CA 94539

Your donations are tax deductible and are greatly appreciated!!

According to DBC in an older blogsite:

CAD has a federal I.D. number as non-profit organization with a 501(c) status. All donations are tax deductible according to federal tax laws and it must be reported to theIRS as well as to the members of CAD. Every dollar donated helps increase awareness andsupport actions to ensure that ASL is not denied to Deaf children.

Two things stand out starkly so. First, you can donate money to CAD via PayPal or you can donate money DIRECTLY to DBC using your paper check and not to CAD and use DBC's organization address.

Secondly, an organization must be qualified before you can deduct your contributions as tax deductible according to "IRS Publication 1771, Charitable Contributions - Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements" that explains federal tax law for organizations that receive tax-deductible charitable contributions (e.g. cash) and for taxpayers who make contributions. You can find out whether an organization qualifies if they are listed under IRS Publication 78 by doing a simple search for names of qualified charitable organizations by visiting the Publication 78 search page. A simple search reveals that CAD would qualify for IRS tax deduction but not DBC. And this raises a question about sending a check directly to DBC using their home address on the check. It does not say "Or send check to CAD." DBC cannot, according to the IRS, receive donated money directly as an organization because DBC is not listed under IRS Publication 78 list of qualified organizations for IRS tax deduction purposes.

Thirdly, money donated to CAD would be legitimate according to IRS Publication 78 and that they are obligated to disclose to the public on the amount of money that was donated. If money was donated to DBC via CAD's PayPal then CAD must also be obligated to disclose publicly monies donated according to IRS guidelines. Not doing so would be a breach of IRS’ requirement on disclosing money. If you donated money to CAD for DBC, CAD is required by IRS law to send you a letter of acknowledgement on cash contribution/donation to CAD. The penalty for an organization that do not meet the written disclosure requirement is $10 per contribution, not to exceed $5000 per fundraising event or mailing. An organization may avoid the penalty if it can show that failure to meet the requirements was due to reasonable cause. For more info on this go to Section 170(f)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 1.170A-13(f) of the Income Tax Regulations. The “low-cost article” rules are set forth in Section 513 (h)(2) of the Code. You can find this information at http://www.irs.gov/ .

Now, some questions. Is DBC part of an umbrella organization under CAD which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization? Did CAD file DBC as part of their umbrella organization with the IRS? As for money donated to CAD for DBC, how is money given to DBC even though it is an organization that doesn't qualify under IRS' Publication 78? What are the legalities concerning a non-profit company such as CAD on giving or passing donated money to an unlisted organization not on IRS list of qualified organizations? What I what I want to know as a tax payer is how much money was donated to CAD (e.g. via PayPal) where the money is funneled over to DBC over the past year starting in 2007. Does this sound like a money laundering effort even though it is NOT in the usual sense of the word? The IRS explains exactly what money laundering is. I'm not saying it's being done that way but I am asking questions about the legalities and processes of how money goes from CAD to DBC. Does CAD have to report to the IRS on who and how much of the donated money goes to DBC? And what about checks sent directly to DBC? How does DBC report the financial transaction on donated money sent directly to them and not through CAD? Who is controlling this flow of donated money? How were donated monies spent by DBC? Were travel expenses paid? What about hotel costs? Convention costs? Do these things get reported to CAD? To the IRS? Is CAD responsible for reporting these things? Or DBC?

See where I'm getting at?

Where's the accountability here?

Where's the money coming from?

Where's the money going to?

Does the IRS know about this?

So many questions regarding financial transactions and charitable donations. Barry Sewell asks similar questions as well regarding accountability, bylaws and such that question the whole movement by DBC. Transparency is not there. No accountability. No Democracy in action. Simply too many red flags at the moment. All we have are these questionable activities and supposed hidden agendas by DBC and the people involved (or were once involved but were dropped or kicked out). But I think the IRS issue could be a potentially serious one that perhaps even NAD may not be aware of. We need some kind of transparency here to explain these things whether it's DBC, CAD, or even NAD.

A mission ought to be simple and direct. In the case of babies or children with hearing loss it should be about providing positive and valuable information for hearing parents to have about ASL and English (spoken, signed, and/or written) as being equal without all the added baggage and guilt thrown at them. Even if parents choose a different mode of communication or method they should not be made to feel guilty when it was an informed decision process.