Feed the Children Debacle
This kind of story is why there a lot of us that are somewhat skeptical about *religious* based charities and the Life Churches of the world....$110 mil on advertising in the last three years?
http://www.newsok.com/feed-the-child...ad_story_title
Internal documents at Feed The Children reveal that the charity last year had problems ranging from the embezzlement of $100,000 at an overseas office to major theft at an Indiana warehouse.
The son of the charity’s founders had work done on his personal home at charity expense and had a charity credit card even though he is not an employee, the records show.
The documents also reveal the Oklahoma City-based charity spent almost $110 million over three years not on food but on radio and TV advertising.
Five of the charity’s directors have complained that the charity’s founder and president, Larry Jones, made repeated decisions without board approval that ended up hurting the charity. Jones, in turn, complained that the ministry’s mission to feed children came to a standstill for months because he was bootstrapped "with committees, after committees, after committees.”
The five directors and Jones are now in a legal fight to control the charity.
Much is at stake. The charity had more than $1 billion in donations last fiscal year, according to the lawsuit. The charity reports Jones’ compensation was $224,883 in fiscal year 2007.
The charity’s internal documents became public because they are exhibits in the legal case. They include board minutes and an internal auditor’s memo. Jones, 68, said the memo is "half-truths, rumor and innuendo.”
Records show problems
The internal documents and other records show:
• An audit discovered more than $100,000 was embezzled by the son of a Feed The Children consultant in South Africa. Directors voted last year not to add international offices for a while because of such problems.
• A charity warehouse in Elkhart, Ind., was "stripped” over two to three years. An internal inquiry found a management company’s staff removed building components and excess equipment and sold them at salvage yards. The costs to fix the building were estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars. A director said the site was stripped while under the oversight of the founders’ son, Allen Jones, "who had been involved in previous incidents which affected Feed The Children and its reputation among potential donors.”
• Allen Jones was required to repay the charity $3,874 for a garage door and other work on his home done at charity expense. Directors also sought $12,705 from him for the personal storage of his boat and other items at the Indiana facility.
• The board discussed putting restrictions on Allen Jones’ ties to the charity because of his "destructive” behavior. The board said, "Allen is not an employee, though (he) has a company credit card and holds himself out as being involved with Feed The Children by using offices, storage space and (he) operates company equipment and vehicles.” Allen Jones could not be reached for comment.
• Larry Jones was barred last year from charity matters involving the Indiana facility. Despite the ban, he allegedly threatened to fire an employee who did an investigation for not briefing him on the results.
• The internal auditor reported Larry Jones entered into costly agreements on behalf of Feed The Children even after the board agreed no executive officer could have sole authority to do that.
• The charity paid almost $110 million for radio and television advertising over three years. The charity paid more than $80 million on direct mail advertising for those years.
• The charity lost $1.67 million in litigation costs because of decisions by Larry Jones to install and then remove a call center at the Indiana site. The call center solicited donations.
• Larry Jones promoted paying a professional golfer, Lee Janzen, who had worn a shirt with the charity’s logo in tournaments. "More discussion was had regarding the sponsorship price of $250,000 per year,” according to minutes of an Aug. 1 meeting. The partnership was announced in September. Jones had a contract for 2˝ years sent to the golfer even though directors wanted a one-year deal.
• The board had concerns about how much Larry Jones’ wife, Frances, was working for the charity because of health woes. "It was discussed that the relatively low number of hours worked in relation to the compensation paid might draw unwanted attention from the” Internal Revenue Service, according to the minutes of a June meeting. Frances Jones in fiscal year 2007 was paid $173,049 by the charity. The board discussed making her a contract employee to get around the problem.
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Originally Posted by mugofbeer
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