#Nonprofit 990

[skypevevo]

looked up the 990 forms for the last nonprofit I worked for (that tried to straight up not pay me) and the CEO made $360,000 🙄. meanwhile according to my current org’s 990 forms the CEO only makes $6k more than me a year. now that’s what i call equality

#personal #in case anyone else is interested you can google search a nonprofit name + 990 and find their tax forms available online

[fiercynn]

on ao3's current fundraiser

apparently it’s time for ao3’s biannual donation drive, which means it’s time for me to remind you all, that regardless of how much you love ao3, you shouldn’t donate to them because they HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY AND NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

we’ve known for years that ao3 – or, more specifically, the organization for transformative works (@transformativeworks on tumblr), or otw, who runs ao3 and other fandom projects – has a lot of money in their “reserves” that they had no plans for. but in 2023, @manogirl and i did some research on this, and now, after looking at their more recent financial statements, i’ve determined that at the beginning of 2024, they had almost $2.8 MILLION US DOLLARS IN SURPLUS.

our full post last year goes over the principles of how we determined this, even though the numbers are for 2023, but the key points still stand (with the updated numbers):

when we say “surplus”, we are not including money that they estimate they need to spend in 2024 for their regular expenses. just the extra that they have no plan for

yes, nonprofits do need to keep some money in reserves for emergencies; typically, nonprofits registered in the u.s. tend to keep enough to cover between six months and two years of their regular operating expenses (meaning, the rough amount they need each month to keep their services going). $2.8 million USD is enough to keep otw running for almost FIVE YEARS WITHOUT NEW DONATIONS

they always overshoot their fundraisers: as i’m posting this, they’ve already raised $104,751.62 USD from their current donation drive, which is over double what they’ve asked for! on day two of the fundraiser!!

no, we are not trying to claim they are embezzling this money or that it is a scam. we believe they are just super incompetent with their money. case in point: that surplus that they have? only earned them $146 USD in interest in 2022, because only about $10,000 USD of their money invested in an interest-bearing account. that’s the interest they earn off of MILLIONS. at the very least they should be using this extra money to generate new revenue – which would also help with their long-term financial security – but they can’t even do that

no, they do not need this money to use if they are sued. you can read more about this in the full post, but essentially, they get most of their legal services donated, and they have not, themselves, said this money is for that purpose

i'm not going to go through my process for determining the updated 2024 numbers because i want to get this post out quickly, and otw actually had not updated the sources i needed to get these numbers until the last couple days (seriously, i've been checking), but you can easily recreate the process that @manogirl and i outlined last year with these documents:

otw’s 2022 audited financial statement, to determine how much money they had at the end of 2022

otw’s 2024 budget spreadsheet, to determine their net income in 2023 and how much they transferred to and from reserves at the beginning of 2024

otw’s 2022 form 990 (also available on propublica), which is a tax document, and shows how much interest they earned in 2022 (search “interest” and you’ll find it in several places)  

also, otw has not been accountable to answering questions about their surplus. typically, they hold a public meeting with their finance committee every year in september or october so people can ask questions directly to their treasurer and other committee members; as you can imagine, after doing this deep dive last summer, i was looking forward to getting some answers at that meeting!

but they cancelled that meeting in 2023, and instead asked people to write to the finance committee through their contact us form online. fun fact: i wrote a one-line message to the finance committee on may 11, 2023 through that form, when @manogirl and i were doing this research, asking them for clarification on how much they have in their reserves. i have still not received a response.

so yeah. please spend your money on people who actually need it, like on mutual aid requests! anyone who wants to share their mutual aid requests, please do so in the replies and i’ll share them out – i didn’t want to link directly to individual requests without permission in case this leads to anyone getting harassed, but i would love to share your requests. to start with, here's operation olive branch and their ongoing spreadsheet sharing palestinian folks who need money to escape genocide.

oh, and if you want to write to otw and tell them why you are not donating, i'm not sure it’ll get any results, but it can’t hurt lol. here's their contact us form – just don’t expect a response! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#ao3 #otw #archive of our own #organization for transformative works #ao3 is not your savior #and they don't need your money #otw finances

[bantucola]

Check out the Gulf Coast Black Business of the Day: Allen & Associates Learn More: https://tinyurl.com/23pf2zet #blackowned #blackbusiness #buyblack #spend$20 #showyourreceipts #supportblackbusiness #local #gulfcoast #groupeconomics

#BankingFinance #100 #990 #accountant #accounting #audit #bookkeeping #Consulting #financial #nonprofit #notforprofit #payroll #startup #taxes #treasurer #volunteer #Pensacola

[olderthannetfic]

it's so weird seeing people misusing marxist language to be anti-ao3. otw isn't stealing the labor of writers. writers don't have to post there. we can post on ffnet or wattpad or any other site. writers can even make a new site ourselves, like otw did. it also feigns ignorance to the fact that otw/ao3 is nonprofit. if anyone has any doubts, they can request to see otw's form 990 from the irs. it's not some big secret. no one is hiding information. because it's nonprofit, we can all find out this info for ourselves. and it also pretends as though otw/ao3 makes money by abusing others' labor. it isn't google or apple. running the site, itself, is labor. free labor. because it is, again, a nonprofit. go to ffnet where they actually do make money from whatever you post. no one is forcing you to post on ao3. no one is forcing you to keep up with them. put action behind your words and stop using the site so you can make your own.

--

It's the usual myopic, individualistic view where only artistic "genius" counts. Secretaries and agents and janitors alike are just unimportant props to launch The People Who Matter into prominence.

People see artists as lone creators, which is more true of authors than of, say, filmmakers, but is still pretty much bullshit. All the other labor of getting something out the door and then of getting it in front of eyeballs is ignored in favor of this Lone Great Man way of thinking.

It boils down to "Boo hoo, why can't I have a free storefront and marketing department? Those aren't real work!"

[the-eternal-quest-for-balance]

BREAKING: OMG Team infiltrates secret NO MAS MUERTES encampment in the middle of the desert in Aravaca, Arizona near the border.

When the illegal immigrant asked where the Mexican men dressed in military attire associated with the No Mas Muertes nonprofit were from, one responded, “From Sonora,” while another was from Tijuana – notorious Mexican cartel hotbeds.  “I have a friend coming soon.  He will take you to the city,” said one of the cartel-appearing men.  “How much does he charge?” asked the illegal immigrant.  “$300,” responded one of the cartel-appearing men.  Hours later, these cartel-appearing men pointed guns at the illegal immigrant.

In the middle of the Arizona desert over 60 miles southwest of Tucson, O’Keefe Media Group (“OMG”) risked their lives to investigate the shady activity of No Mas Muertes, or No More Deaths, a nonprofit organization claiming to provide humanitarian aid to illegal immigrants but has been raided by US law enforcement and whose members have been arrested by border patrol numerous times.  Posing as donors and land surveyors, and with the help of an illegal immigrant working undercover, OMG recordings show this nonprofit repeating “we are a little paranoid,” refusing to state their names, voicing hostility towards law enforcement, interrogating the undercover illegal immigrant “Why don’t you ask for asylum? Why don’t you ask border patrol for asylum?” and offering to transport the undercover illegal immigrant for $300 cash before pointing guns at him – actions related more to a human trafficking operation than a humanitarian nonprofit.

No Mas Muertes workers refusing to provide their names or identifications stating: “You also don’t need the mask. I only put it on when the military shows up or when those white people show up, so they won’t take my picture” flies in the face of No More Deaths’ obligations as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization to follow the law.  Instead, it seems to skirt immigration laws and traffic humans.  OMG’s exposé of secret illegal immigrant compounds funded by Catholic Community Services of Tucson coupled with this undercover footage of No More Deaths reveals the shocking proliferation of private tax-exempt nonprofit organizations working with the government or potentially dangerous cartels to engage in what amounts to human trafficking into the United States under the guise of humanitarian aid, without any scrutiny or accountability.

Off the outskirts of the tiny town of Arivaca 40 minutes on a dirt road from Interstate 15 at 36455 S Papalote Wash Road, several people wearing construction vests planted flags into the ground as land surveyors would before being approached by someone who told them to leave: “Hey guys, this is private property.”  These people were not, in fact, surveyors.  They were James O'Keefe and members of his OMG team, equipped with hidden cameras to investigate the rise in suspicious nonprofit organizations operating at the U.S.–Mexico border.  The team was outside the secretive location of No Mas Muertes, or No More Deaths.

Couched as a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, whose tag line is “a liberal light in the desert,” No More Deaths appears to use its relationship to Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson to evade filing IRS documents of financial transparency (IRS Form 990) under an IRS exemption for religious organizations.  After confirming the location was No More Deaths property, an OMG team member posing as a donor called Mary Weiss, an administrator for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson.  On the call, Weiss represented No More Deaths was an “organization we actually partner with,” as “a ministry of the church,” located in Arivaca with a staff of 4-5 employees and budget of $400 Thousand.

As the OMG team continued planting flags around the perimeter of the property, they sent a volunteer illegal immigrant with a hidden camera to observe No More Deaths from the inside.  No More Deaths workers welcomed OMG undercover illegal immigrant and explained how they “always have threats” at the camp on account of “bad people” and “the [border] patrols.”  They described wearing masks so they could not be identified or photographed “when the military shows up or when those white people show up” and declared the men at the perimeter to be white supremacists “looking to cause trouble.”  Apparently, government workers, law enforcement, and white people, made them “paranoid” – a very strange mental state for people working at a “humanitarian” nonprofit organization.

Upon the OMG team leaving the area, No More Deaths workers intercepted their car and questioned them.  After O’Keefe mentioned the Unitarian Universalist Church and No More Deaths, the No More Deaths workers denied knowing either organization and never provided their names. 

Back at the “humanitarian” camp, the two military-dressed men from Sonora and Tiuana – cities famous for Mexican cartels, interrogated OMG undercover illegal immigrant.  “Where are you from?”  “Why don’t you ask for asylum?”  “Where did you cross through?”  “Who are they?  Who brought you here?”  “How much did they charge you?”  “Your watch is expensive right, you got a camera in there?”  Ultimately, they offered to find someone to take him to Phoenix…for $300 despite the nonprofit’s budget of $400 Thousand.  OMG undercover illegal immigrant eventually reunited with the OMG team, but not before having guns pointed at him at “humanitarian” No More Deaths camp.

That night in the desert raised more questions than it provided answers.  Why are people at a nonprofit pointing guns at people?  Why is a humanitarian nonprofit adverse to border patrol?  Why does a humanitarian nonprofit have armed cartel-like men offering for-profit smuggling services?  How does an organization which routinely violates the law keep its tax-exempt status?  OMG’s investigation into No More Deaths reveals the growing abuse of nonprofit laws by organizations hiding under the cloak of religious affiliation and potentially profiting off human trafficking.  One thing is clear – men are armed, secrecy is rampant, and fear is wielded by nonprofit organizations running unfettered.

WATCH MORE ON YOUTUBE / ON X

[the-empress-7]

Also for people who want to give money to charity — there’s some research you can do to find out how/what they allocate to administrative expenses.

The higher the administrative expense ratio (also sometimes called administrative fundraising rate), the more money in the nonprofit’s annual budget that goes to paying staff, office expenses, rent, utilities, overhead, fundraising, etc. What you want to look for are nonprofits whose ratios are less than 25% - these are the ones who are doing solid impactful work and your donation will stretch very far for these organizations. Nonprofits whose admin expense ratios exceed about 30% tend not use monetary donations as effectively or don’t really do what they say they do.

For example, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has an admin rate of 31%, meaning 31% of your donation is not going to cancer research - it’s going to golf supplies for their annual fundraiser, car magnets, paychecks, etc. Meanwhile Big Brothers Big Sisters tend to be around 15% (depending on your geographical area), so 15% of your donation is going to admin expenses.

You can find this stat from websites like Guidestar and Charity Navigator, but they sometimes bury it. The best way to determine this stat is by looking at the 990s, and the Candid tool is super effective for this (beta.candid.org).

But honestly like Empress has said, the best way to make sure that your dollar is stretching as far as it can go is to donate to local charities and nonprofits. It’s the national organizations that tend to have broader focus with higher admin costs. And please, let me give a plug to Angel Trees. You can find them at local churches, firehouses and hospitals (sometimes), and Walmarts. These are children and families in need this holiday season and fulfilling their wish lists is an easy way to contribute meaningfully to your local community.

Thank you so much for this, especially given the time of the year we are in.

[camp-counselor-life]

If you have never looked up the 990 of your camp (nonprofit only, sorry), I think it's something really interesting and I recommend doing it maybe not every year, but like occasionally when you need to kill 15 minutes.

Basically a 990 form is a required, publicly available tax document that all nonprofits must file. Organizations have them on their websites (often buried unfortunately) or databases like ProPublica or Charity Navigator have them as searchable documents.

Some things you will see are your org's income, their reported expenses, executive salaries, and what part of your organization's income goes to overhead (usually split into categories). They're pretty interesting and, depending on the summary you look at, aren't super challenging to understand.

The one I linked is great because it's really accessibly formatted, but you can also find the actual 990 form instead of a summary on some other websites.

#nonprofit life

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam!

My mom wants to start a nonprofit as a second career, focusing on providing free menstrual products to schools, colleges, universities, homeless & domestic violence shelters, and prisons in our local area (feel free to dm me for specific location info!).

I was wondering if you had any insight on grants and funding ect. at the start of a new nonprofit since you've been working at one for so long? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Somewhat unfortunately in this case, I've always worked for very established nonprofits -- even at the much, much smaller nonprofit I work for now we have a multimillion-dollar yearly revenue, and we've been around for something like 20 years. FWIW my current nonprofit did start in a garage, so startup nonprofits can be successful! And I do have some advice but I'm not sure how helpful it will be.

If she hasn't worked for/with nonprofits before, she should find something adjacent to her interests -- probably a food pantry or shelter, since they deal in similar "procurement" work, getting needed products into the hands of people who need them -- and volunteer (or even apply for paid work there). It'll give her an idea of how they work, how much work is involved, and even to an extent the landscape of nonprofits in her region. Possibly (usually very likely) there's already a nonprofit doing the work she'd like to do, in which case if she doesn't work with/for them, she should at least know a great deal about what they do and how. Starting up a nonprofit is pretty similar, laborwise, to starting up a for-profit company; it can be both complicated and labor-intensive, so if she isn't knowledgeable about nonprofit work, that's where I'd recommend starting.

If she is familiar with nonprofit work, and just needs insight on funding, I do have a bit more to offer there. First, she should be sure she's aware of any similar nonprofits and have a pitch ready about how hers differs. As with a for-profit businesses, she should have a plan for how funding will be deployed -- how many units can be bought for what price, how they'll be distributed, how she can track the work she does so she can provide statistics to potential donors. If she's capable of beginning the work before landing any big donors (ie -- if she has an existing grant or some independent wealth to put towards it) she should use that "startup" time to figure out how this will work and at what level before she brings donors onboard. Regardless of anything else, I recommend starting small, so that she can scale up rather than trying to manage a large org all at once.

Data is the name of the game these days -- she should track everything possible and keep extremely good records, because that's the kind of thing large donors and grantors want to see. The amount of information you usually have to provide to a granting foundation is significant. We have very poor records from our earliest days as a nonprofit and that's also difficult at times, because we can say we EXISTED in 2010 but we don't have a great idea of who we were interacting with, and a lot of institutional knowledge lives in the heads of longtime employees. She's going to want to have some form of good book-keeping, and start building a database as soon as possible not just of donors and mailing-list recipients but of foundations, grantors, and beneficiaries.

Charity Navigator will be a good friend because you can find registered nonprofits by region; I would also recommend a Guidestar.org account (they're free) because Guidestar will help find local family foundations, who are more likely to support poverty alleviation/aid nonprofits -- these are basically legal entities that hold the money a family wants to use for philanthropy, and the family directs where the money goes. You can see where they've given if you look in their 990 records (available on Guidestar) so if you can find say, a wealthy local family who gives regularly to food pantries, they're a good candidate for solicitation.

A friend of mine works for Resilia.com, which is aimed specifically at providing digital solutions to nonprofits; they have some really nice free offerings, especially for people looking for help incorporating or finding funders. Can recommend as a good place to start if she's not sure where to start. :D

Readers, feel free to chime in with advice! Remember to reblog or comment, as I don't post asks sent in response to other asks.

#nonprofit #charity #fundraising

[saintmeghanmarkle]

ARCHEWELL FOUNDATION on CharityWatch (America's most independent assertive charity watchdog) "Watch List" by u/OwnedByBernese

ARCHEWELL FOUNDATION on CharityWatch (America's most independent, assertive charity watchdog) "Watch List" InternationalAd1512 touched on something in my last post that seems not to have gotten the attention it should. I looked in this sub to see if a post devoted to this had been shared and did not find one. Mods, please remove if I just overlooked it. https://ift.tt/3V1PAyz Foundation Does Not Respond to Request for FinancialsCharityWatch contacted the Archewell Foundation on 01/22/2024 via email and U.S. Postal Service mail requesting copies of its most recent IRS Form 990 and Audited Financial Statements. As of 2/1/2024 the charity has not responded to our requests. Should it provide these documents at a future date, CharityWatch may update our profile of Archewell Foundation at that time. Inadequate Governance & TransparencyArchewell Foundation reports in its 2022 tax filing (IRS Form 990, Part XII) that its financial statements were audited by an independent accountant. However, as of February 1st, 2024, CharityWatch has been unable to locate a copy of this audit on its website or in public databases. In addition, the charity has not yet responded to CharityWatch’s January 22nd, 2024 request for a copy of this document.Though the charity reports a total of five “Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, and Highest Compensated Employees” (IRS Form 990, Part VII), it reports only two board members—“Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex” and “Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex.” (note: This is a HUGE red flag for those of us in the Charity regulation / consumer protection field) This in not in keeping with widely accepted best practices in the United States for nonprofit boards of directors, which generally advise a minimum board size of five to seven members. According to the IRS, “Small boards run the risk of not representing a sufficiently broad public interest and of lacking the required skills and other resources required to effectively govern the organization.”How do these grifters keep slithering through anything/anyone who calls out their talent for grifting? post link: https://ift.tt/yoAJ6Nj author: OwnedByBernese submitted: March 16, 2024 at 06:38PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

#SaintMeghanMarkle #harry and meghan #meghan markle #prince harry #fucking grifters #Worldwide Privacy Tour #Instagram loving bitch wife #Backgrid #voetsek meghan #walmart wallis #markled #archewell #archewell foundation #megxit #duke and duchess of sussex #duke of sussex #duchess of sussex #doria ragland #rent a royal #clevr #clevr blends #lemonada media #archetypes with meghan #invictus #invictus games #Sussex #WAAAGH #american riviera orchard #OwnedByBernese

[beardedmrbean]

A board member for a self-styled "disinformation" tracking group that seeks to "defund" and shut down conservative news outlets is being "forced out" of a senior role at Harvard University.

Joan Donovan is on the board of the Check My Ads Institute, a nonprofit group pressuring advertisers to cut ties with right-leaning websites that are purportedly peddlers of disinformation, according to its website. Earlier this month, multiple reports surfaced detailing how Donovan is being forced out by the Harvard Kennedy School from her "misinformation" research director role at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy.

DISINFORMATION INC: CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHES RECORDS INQUIRY OVER CONSERVATIVE NEWS BLACKLISTS

"I would not describe Joan Donovan as an academic but, rather, a political activist who has done agenda-driven work since she went to the Shorenstein Center," Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, a group seeking to "uphold the standards of a liberal arts education," told the Washington Examiner.

"What it tells me that she is one-quarter of the board of Check My Ads is that it is not a serious organization but, rather, a partisan outfit," he added. "Donovan is a liar and a very poor scholar, if she's any kind of scholar at all, and a political agent."

Check My Ads was co-founded by Nandini Jammi, who previously helped launch a group called Sleeping Giants that waged a successful campaign pressuring advertisers to defund Breitbart. Its other co-founder is Clare Atkin, who, like Jammi, is an adviser to Good Information, a Democratic strategist-run operation that owns websites critics allege are overly partisan and posing as local news outlets.

It's unclear who or what funds Check My Ads. The group did not reply to a Washington Examiner request for this information but did forward a copy of its Form 990-N tax filing covering a period between January and December of 2021 — its first fiscal year. Check My Ads disclosed on the form that its "gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less."

"We don’t take money from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple or Amazon," according to Check My Ads's website. "We’re supported by grants and our Checkmates."

Donovan, the Check My Ads board member, was a research lead between 2016 and 2018 at the Data and Society Research Institute, a left-of-center think tank that has been slammed for promoting censorship, according to her LinkedIn profile. The institute has received funding from Arabella Advisors, a dark money consulting firm that manages nonprofit organizations that, in turn, oversee other entities that don't file tax forms with the IRS.

The board member made national headlines in February following a bombshell report by the Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper affiliated with the university, outlining how Harvard is forcing Donovan out by summer 2024 from her role heading up the Technology and Social Change Project.

Donovan's project at Harvard has published research on alleged "disinformation" and "misinformation" in connection to COVID-19 and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — among other subjects. While it's unclear why Harvard decided to shutter her project, Donovan has clashed with her Harvard colleagues on the topic of content moderation on social media, according to Semafor.

She delivered an October 2021 presentation dubbed "Curbing the Damage Caused by Misinformation" to supporters of the Kennedy School, resulting in Elliot Schrage, Facebook's ex-policy head, questioning why Donovan should be the arbiter of truth, according to the outlet.

Donovan, whom Democrats have championed as a purported expert on the spread of alleged disinformation, has also discredited the authenticity of Hunter Biden's infamous abandoned laptop. She tweeted in April 2022 that published content based on the laptop is a "straw man."

During a Harvard Kennedy School podcast published on the day of the 2020 presidential election, she more overtly questioned the laptop's legitimacy, Fox News reported.

"The sourcing of the laptop being dropped off in Delaware at a lonely repairman's shop that's just — if you can charge $85 for fixing a broken laptop, I want to know you," Donovan said. "It's a broken laptop, right? So, the sourcing of it just stinks of tradecraft. It stinks of a drop. And many cybersecurity professionals are waiting for an opportunity to forensically analyze the contents of this hard drive."

"What we see as researchers when they're trying to make a story happen time and time again, and it doesn't, then you start to see the intensification and adaptation of tactics," she said on the podcast. "So, we pretty much expected more and different styles of attack, including a leak, but was really suspicious of it, is you've got someone with millions of dollars. He can't afford Geek Squad at Best Buy to come to his house for the laptop that he's evidence of crimes on? I mean, it's really hard to believe."

In December 2022, Donovan also authored a Politico op-ed that claimed the "Twitter Files," sets of documents being released from Jack Dorsey's time as CEO of Twitter, "are a desperate attempt to legitimize a well-worn conservative narrative that the suppression of Hunter Biden’s 'laptop from hell' proved collusion between the so-called deep state and social media companies."

L. Brent Bozell III, founder and president of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, told the Washington Examiner that it is clear Donovan is in no position to "make a call" about what is disinformation or not.

"We find on a regular basis that fact-checkers or social media companies, like Facebook, or advisory boards they put together don't know what they're talking about," Bozell said.

Check My Ads, which bills itself as “adtech’s first watchdog," has taken credit for getting conservative radio show host Dan Bongino dropped from Google's ad service. It's unclear whether or not Check My Ads, like other self-styled "disinformation" monitors, compiles a secret blacklist of conservative websites that it feeds to ad companies.

Donovan did not reply to a request for comment.

"Harvard Kennedy School is committed to the teaching and study of misinformation and disinformation, and several faculty members are leading significant projects that address these topics," a Harvard Kennedy School spokesman told the Washington Examiner. "The Technology and Social Change Project is winding down, through an extended transition, because it does not have academic leadership by a full HKS faculty member, as required of all long-term research and outreach projects at HKS."

#nunyas news

[theaword-livingwithautism]

Where NOT to go to learn about Autism (a.k.a. why I don't support Autism Speaks)

Hi, and welcome back! At the end of the last post, I briefly talked about the existence of some organizations that exist for the purpose of “curing” autism. So today, we’ll be doing a more in-depth review of those organizations and discussing the nuances of autism and nonprofit organizations. So, let’s jump in!

What is Autism Speaks?

Autism Speaks is one of the most well-known nonprofit organizations that specifically targets autism. While they have done an excellent job of making certain things more accessible to autistic individuals and supporting families with autistic children, as well as bringing public awareness in recent years to the struggles of parents with autistic children, unfortunately, nobody’s perfect. Out of their impressively large yearly budget, only about 1% is dedicated to family services at any given time. Fundraising, “awareness”, and lobbying receives about 68% of their yearly budget, and research makes up 27%, with another 4% as miscellaneous spending. While I’m sure there have been recent changes or deviations from these exact numbers, these percentages are pulled from their 2018 copy of their 990 Non-Profit Tax Exemption Form, on a flyer produced by autismadvocacy.org, linked at the bottom of this post.

Additionally, as of 2020, there is only one autistic individual out of twenty-eight total individuals on their Board of Directors. An organization that speaks for autistic people without the leadership and inclusion of autistic people for me personally, is a bit of a red flag. Not only are there plenty of autistic individuals within the area of advocacy and non-profit organizations for autism, but the Autism Speaks Board of Directors is primarily headed by current and former CEOs of major (non-autism centered) corporations such as PayPal, Goldman Sachs, and American Express, individuals with little to no prior career experience in autism advocacy or non-profit work. However, Autism Speaks has since released a statement still available on their “questions and answers” page about their employment of autistic individuals and volunteers throughout the organization and their attempts to be conclusive, so this stands as one of the less effective, but “good to keep in mind” criticisms.

While there are many possible reasons for these things and these things don’t necessarily cement Autism Speaks as an organization you should avoid supporting, the nail in the coffin is their “awareness” videos, marketing, and core values.

What is the “I am Autism” Controversy?

“I am Autism” was a video advertisement/PSA produced by Autism Speaks in 2009 which depicts autistic individuals as burdens on their family and on society. In this video, autism is portrayed as some kind of evil entity, “Invisible until it’s too late,” and “knowing where you live”. The video has since been pulled from all public platforms, but transcripts of the video remain online. The intention, as I understand it, was to depict families and communities coming together to “fight” autism through prayer and genetic research. The link below contains the full transcript. A fair warning: This PSA was intentionally fear-mongering. It contains scare tactics and blatant lies about autistic individuals and our “intentions” towards others and towards society as a whole.

In response to widespread public outcry both at the time and after-the-fact, Autism Speaks removed the video from all broadcasting networks and public channels. As of 11/26/2022, their website reads that the video was a “mistake”. Although they have publicly apologized for the harm that the video “may have caused,” they also ask people to stop sharing the video, as it is “no longer an example of our current campaigns and messaging”. This lack of straightforward accountability reflects poorly on them as an organization.

What is the Puzzle Piece?

The puzzle piece is the logo of Autism Speaks. This was originally the widespread symbol for autism awareness, although the symbol is now widely looked down upon. Autism Speaks has refused to openly define the meaning of the puzzle piece logo, although their website states that “For some, we hear it represents hope for increasing our understanding of autism and the many other issues linked with autism like sleep issues, GI issues, anxiety, seizures, and more.” Many other autism organizations such as the Autism Society of America previously used the puzzle piece logo in some form or another, although many, like the ASA, have now changed their logo in the face of criticism from both the autistic community and the general public. The puzzle piece was first used by the UK’s National Autistic Society in 1963, and depicted a crying child inside a puzzle piece, demonstrating the “puzzling” nature of autism at the time and the burden of autism on both a child’s and a family’s life.

One of the largest criticisms of the modern puzzle piece (which no longer depicts the crying child, and is instead colorful), is that it infantilizes autistic individuals and leads the public to believe that autism is purely a childhood affective disorder. This minimizes the needs and experiences of autistic adults. Other criticisms state that it’s simply too old, and that in our current state of knowledge, autism is certainly far less puzzling than it used to be (although that certainly depends on what aspects you’re researching and who you ask). However, the least nuanced of these criticisms is perhaps the implications of the puzzle piece. You may notice that the logo is not a complete puzzle. It is simply a single piece. This seems to imply that autistic individuals are in some way unfinished, or incomplete. “Missing something,” as it were. Most directly, it implies that we as autistic individuals are missing a piece of ourselves due to our autism. Posing autism as a “puzzle” or a challenge to be solved, is damaging to the existence of autistic individuals of all ages on an emotional and mental level. Living our lives with the self-perception of an unsolved puzzle, waiting around for someone to “solve” us is no way to live at all.  

How Does Autism Speaks “Help” Autism?

Through fundraising walks, PSA videos, political lobbying, and media presence, Autism Speaks does provide awareness to the struggles of autistic children and parents of autistic children, and has several genetic research programs with the goal of providing specialized care to autistic individuals. While Autism Speaks encourages highly controversial therapies like Applied Behavioral Analysis (or ABA) therapy and interventions, they also are very up-front about their non-support of dangerous and non-evidence based practices used to “treat” or “cure” autism like bleach cures, electric shock, and aversion therapy. They are also up-front that vaccines do not cause autism, a position that the earlier years of Autism Speaks had a difficult time taking, with some of their senior leadership in 2014 echoing anti-vaccination sentiment. Although Autism Speaks used to promote the Judge Rotenberg Center, a special needs facility which was found to have been using electric shocks on its students, Autism Speaks (to the best of my current knowledge) no longer associates with or promotes any such treatment.

So, What Should I Think About All This?

Autism Speaks, like any organization for a condition that is still being researched, has had more than a bit of a rocky history throughout the years. While many of their current positions are forthcoming and positive, they have made their fair share of their mistakes in the past. While they certainly have room to improve and have made mistakes that are extremely heavy in nature, it is up to you as an individual to decide if they warrant your support or not. For me personally, the puzzle piece and their use of ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapies, in addition to the “I am Autism” controversy are my main reasons for non-support. But these are only my personal views, and what you choose to do with this information is entirely your own.

I will be creating a post later regarding ABA therapy and other therapies and interventions aimed at autistic individuals. Additionally, I am in no way sponsored or paid by any organization or corporation. All thoughts and sentiments within my posts are entirely my own. References and websites can be found below. Thank you!

Information on Autism Speaks:

“I am Autism” Ad Transcript:

Autism Speaks:

Opinion piece from The Mighty on the Puzzle Piece Logo:

2014 Letter to Autism Speaks regarding their support of the Judge Rotenberg Center:

#autism #neurodiversity #education #ut austin

[tearsinthemist]

The Washington, D.C.-based organization first surfaced in early 2021, shortly after President Joe Biden took office, and has portrayed itself as a “nonpartisan,” pro-transparency “nonprofit” dedicated to fighting government corruption and ensuring that federal officials play by the rules. It has filed a slew of Freedom of Information Act requests, ethics complaints and lawsuits targeting Biden Cabinet members and other high-ranking administration officials. It has at times succeeded in shining a light on conflicts of interest, and has even influenced questioning in congressional hearings.

But for all its talk of being a champion of transparency, PPT has been shady about its own precise nature, going as far as to misrepresent itself in public records requests.

In a FOIA request to the Department of Energy in May 2021, PPT described itself as a “501(c)(3) non-profit organization with supporters and members of the public who seek a transparent, ethical and impartial government that makes decisions in the best interests of all Americans, not former employers and special interests.”

A 501(c)(3) is a specific type of nonprofit designation awarded by the IRS to certain charitable, religious or educational organizations. These groups are exempt from federal taxes and allow for donors to write off contributions.

PPT, however, has never filed a Form 990 that is required of 501(c)(3) nonprofits, according to HuffPost’s review of the IRS’s nonprofit database and several other business and nonprofit search tools.

Over its two years as a group, PPT has repeatedly changed how it portrays itself.

By September 2021, it had dropped “501(c)(3)” from its description in public records requests, calling itself simply a “non-profit organization” — a state-level designation. In a lawsuit filed against the State Department in January 2022, the group called itself “an unincorporated association of retired and former public servants and concerned citizens that is dedicated to restoring public trust in government.” More recently, in January 2023, it labeled itself simply “a collection of individuals.”

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Forty members of Congress on Monday asked the IRS and the Treasury to investigate what the lawmakers termed an “alarming pattern” of right-wing advocacy groups registering with the tax agency as churches, a move that allows the organizations to shield themselves from some financial reporting requirements and makes it easier to avoid audits.

Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., raised transparency concerns in a letter to the heads of both agencies following a ProPublica story about the Family Research Council, a right-wing Christian think tank based in Washington, D.C., getting reclassified as a church. Thirty-eight other lawmakers, including Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., signed onto the letter.

“FRC is one example of an alarming pattern in the last decade — right-wing advocacy groups self-identifying as ‘churches’ and applying for and receiving church status,” the representatives wrote, noting the organization’s policy work supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its advocacy for legislation seeking to ban gender-affirming surgery.

“Tax-exempt organizations should not be exploiting tax laws applicable to churches to avoid public accountability and the IRS’s examination of their activities,” they wrote.

The Family Research Council did not respond to requests for comment. The IRS told ProPublica that it does not comment on congressional correspondence.

The FRC’s website describes the organization as “a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to articulating and advancing a family-centered philosophy of public life,” noting that it provides “policy research and analysis for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government.”

The FRC sought and received reclassification from a standard tax-exempt charity to an “association of churches” in 2020.

In its application for church status, the organization said it met 11 of the 14 characteristics that the IRS uses to determine whether an organization is a church, including an established place of worship — a chapel in the organization’s Washington office building, at which it said it holds services attended by more than 65 people. (Someone who answered the phone at the office said the group doesn’t offer church services.) The organization said its association comprises nearly 40,000 “partner churches” that must affirm a statement of faith to join; it did not offer the names of those partners on its form to the IRS or provide them to ProPublica.

The representatives’ letter asks the IRS to review the FRC’s status change and to examine its review process for organizations similarly seeking to switch their status to become a church or association of churches.

“It’s disturbing that a letter like this is even necessary,” Huffman said. “Unfortunately our IRS has been so worn down and beaten up by the right wing that they have essentially ceased all scrutiny of organizations that self-report as churches.”

The IRS classifies churches and associations of churches as tax-exempt charitable organizations, meaning that they do not have to pay federal taxes and that donors can deduct contributions from their own taxes. However, churches are exempt from submitting Form 990, the annual financial disclosure that nonprofit organizations use to list board members, key staffer salaries, large payments to independent contractors and grants given by the organization.

And unlike for other tax-exempt organizations, a high-level Treasury official must sign off on any audit of a church.

“We understand the importance of religious institutions to their congregants and believe that religious freedom is a cherished American value and constitutional right. We also believe that our tax code must be applied fairly and judiciously,” Huffman and DelBene wrote.

In their letter, the representatives asked for feedback from the IRS on whether it needs additional direction from Congress to enforce rules surrounding tax-exempt organizations and churches. Huffman said that he hopes to pursue legislative action if the IRS isn’t able to address these concerns, but that the letter is a first step.

“You need to start here — give the agency a chance to clean up its mess,” he said.

#us politics #news #2022 #propublica #irs #internal revenue service #department of treasury #us house of representatives #rep. Jared Huffman #rep. Suzan DelBene #rep. adam schiff #rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz #rep. rashida tlaib #rep. jamie raskin #family research council #tax exemption #tax the church #conservatives #Republicans #religious right

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[meret118]

Excerpt:

From its perch at the heart of the nation’s capital, the FRC has pushed for legislation banning gender-affirming surgery; filed amicus briefs supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade; and advocated for religious exemptions to civil rights laws. Its longtime head, a former state lawmaker and ordained minister named Tony Perkins, claims credit for pushing the Republican platform rightward over the past two decades.

What is the FRC? Its website sums up the answer to this question in 63 words: “A nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to articulating and advancing a family-centered philosophy of public life. In addition to providing policy research and analysis for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government, FRC seeks to inform the news media, the academic community, business leaders, and the general public about family issues that affect the nation from a biblical worldview.”

In the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service, though, it is also a church, with Perkins as its religious leader.

According to documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act and given to ProPublica, the FRC filed an application to change its status to an “association of churches,” a designation commonly used by groups with member churches like the Southern Baptist Convention, in March 2020. The agency approved the change a few months later.

The FRC is one of a growing list of activist groups to seek church status, a designation that comes with the ability for an organization to shield itself from financial scrutiny. Once the IRS blessed it as an association of churches, the FRC was no longer required to file a public tax return, known as a Form 990, revealing key staffer salaries, the names of board members and related organizations, large payments to independent contractors and grants the organization has made. Unlike with other charities, IRS investigators can’t initiate an audit on a church unless a high-level Treasury Department official has approved the investigation.

#Theocracy #GOP

[mumblingsage]

Honestly thank god for ProPublica because I can go on that site and find my nonprofit’s 990 filing for 2020, something the actual IRS website hasn’t updated yet.

I’m sending this link (or trying to send to) to the IRS to correct an erroneous notice we got claiming we’ve failed to file for 3 consecutive years.

Government can be wild sometimes.