(Or, what I learned when I raised thousands of dollars to restore a local school band and music department, post-hurricane Sandy, only to discover the money had been hijacked by an independent non-profit organization!)
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy devastated Union Beach. Houses, schools and their contents were destroyed. I worried about the traumatic consequences—especially to the children.
I saw a Facebook post by the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation that UB’s Memorial School (K-8) had been destroyed and the entire Music Dept. gutted. Lost were the acoustic piano, band instruments, music library, and uniforms. The FB post urged people to donate musical instruments.
With the help of Facebook, I began a campaign to replace the band instruments. I raised the greater part of $19,280 to repair donated instruments, and to pay for other music related items and projects. I led with my heart, knowing nothing about raising large sums of money --something we artists traditionally don’t train for. Donations came in from all over the U.S. In my mind, I saw the music teacher having direct access to the funds for her students’ music education…and the band would march again!
Fast forward to 2016. I learned the music teacher did not have access to the money, but an outside non-profit organization did! I also learned that I and others had raised $25,000. I recently discovered that the music teacher had been jumping through hoops for three years to get money from the Union Beach Memorial School Education Foundation. In 2013, the ill-advised and soon-to-depart superintendent of schools gifted the money to the UBMSEF. It appears that the foundation was created with an eye toward taking possession of this monetary windfall and spending it for whatever it wished.
I began to learn how non-profits operate, and about the responsibilities of donors. And, clearly, no matter how much money is raised by well-meaning people for any charitable cause, all it takes is a misstep of someone at the top to throw the whole effort into chaos! That’s what happened here.
It was critical that individual donors specified on their checks that the money was to be used for the school band/Music Dept. Legally, that should be its only use. In this case, there seems to be no rational reason why anyone would gift the money to an outside organization. The outgoing superintendent made a big mistake.
A 501(c)3 foundation licensed in NJ, is a charitable organization that awards grants to smaller charities. And such an organization must use complicated bookkeeping to comply with rules and regulations of the state, like filing tax returns, and submitting lists of charities it will support each year.
I was appalled when the UBMSEF’s lawyer said the org can spend the money I raised on whatever it chooses. He contends that the money was raised for the foundation. How dare he presume to know my intentions and the will of the donors. Result: The music teacher and her kids have been deprived of the money I and others raised for them. The teacher has to apply to the foundation for grants for specific purposes. The UBMSEF’s seven-member board meets to decide if the grant requests are necessary and a wise use of funds. Many of the teacher’s grant applications have been denied.
I learned from the Non-Profit Assistance Fund, about three kinds of donations and how they can be used: restrictive, partially restricted, and non-restrictive. When you fundraise, be clear which type donation you intend to make. Do you want the money to be used for a specific purpose, or should it support a charity’s general operating budget?
Also, a letter of agreement should be drawn up describing terms of the donation to which both parties agree, including specifically how the funds should be used---if that matters to you.
The people who created the UBMSEF may be well-meaning, but challenged in areas of communication and courtesy. I resent that my effort to raise money was taken advantage of to the degree that in three years no one from the foundation thought of contacting me to say they had the money I raised. Don’t you think that under these circumstances, a serious organization would make a point of contacting a fundraiser…if only to say thank you…and give assurance that the money is in good hands? It didn’t occur to the outgoing superintendent either.
I hope to speak with the president of the foundation in the hope that we can come to a common-sense solution to this conflict. I will forgive the superintendent his mistake of gifting the money where it did not belong. I will overlook the foundation’s failure to contact me that they had taken possession of the money I raised for the school. In return, I want the foundation to do the right thing and return the money to the Memorial School Music Department -- if necessary, in the form of a grant.
The takeaway is: Don’t be impulsive. Use your head in donating to any institution or organization. Before beginning sizable fundraising, create a letter of agreement between donor and recipient. If it matters to you, indicate a specific use for the money in the letter of agreement and on individual checks. That way, the money must be used for the purpose intended.
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