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Monday, August 22, 2016

Foundation Assisting Seniors Financials Create Concerns...Need Answers

Community Reacts to Board Member's Demand for 
Foundation Assisting Seniors Financials


We originally published an article written by Sun City Anthem Director Carl Weinstein on August 2, 2016 that uncovered a number of concerns as to the Association Assisting Seniors request that they NOT PAY Sun City Anthem any rental subsidy.

Mr. Weinstein brought out the need to examine that organization's  financials in order to determine if such a request was reasonable, and  will likely be brought up at the August 25, 2016 Board Meeting.

As financial information for non-profit organizations is public information, we uncovered the Income Tax filings for that organization from 2011 through 2014.

As such, we had an opportunity to examine them and after that review,  we too had concerns that we strongly believe should be addressed before any decision is made.

Here are our findings:


                                  2010                              2011                  2012 



Gross Revenue      $103,664                      $136,393             $81,865              


Expenses                   54,285                          81,728            50,038               



Net Income                49,379                           54,465                31,827



Total Assets            544,542                          599,156              642,261



Grants                        19,613                           41,701                11,958

Other Grants                  0                                    0                          0

Accounting
Fees                              5,000                            1,000                  1,000

Investment Mgmt.
Fees                                0                                     0                        0

Golf Tournament
Net Income after

Expenses                    25,246                          31,278                29,257

Net Income
from Coffee Shop           0                                    0                         0

Volunteer
Recognition
(party?)                           50                              6,780                 6,005 

                 
                                      2013                                  2014

Gross Revenue       121,201                             181,057

Expenses                   58,428                             122,318

Net Income                62,773                               58,739

Total Assets             667,205                             738,761

Grants                       35,124                                31,267

Other Grants             11,845                               22,117

Accounting
Fees                             1,000                                 8,800

Investment Mgmt.
Fees                                0                                     4,645
Golf Tournament
Net Income after
Expenses                    30,321                              18,048

Net Income
from Coffee Shop           0                                   20,143

Trosper
Communications*          1,500                            25,375

Volunteer Recognition

(party?)                           8,581                              9,054

Notes:

*Trosper Communications is owed by a woman named Elizabeth  Trosper....she was also a 2014 Trustee for the Foundation. This firm has to do with social media

For the fours years reported the percentage of administrative expenses ranged from 30-62% which appears to be very high in relation to donations collected.

Trustees have also been named on each return.


Because there was such interest in this organization, we have also reprinted the reaction of our readers and hope you too will further comment on these findings.

As you can see, in each case, concerns were expressed.

We also would like Director Weinstein to let us know if any progress has been made in obtaining the information he requested.

       August 2, 2016 
From Keith Coffin...to...Anthem Opinions

We should keep the income generated, at least until we see their financials.

My guess is their administrative expenses are higher than some of the charities listed as not good for donating.
       August 2, 2016
        From Ruby Leong...to...Anthem Opinions
  1. I totally agree that FSA needs to pay rent to SCA and SCA should NOT donate the rent received back to them since they are now an outside organization.
SCA can't and should not provide free rent to outside organizations. If we do, how is it different than any other organizations coming to SCA for free rent.
As a matter of fact since they are an outside organization, they should rent outside of SCA.

Yes they must provide a financial statement. We need to know what percentage is truly going to charitable causes versus administration expenses.

As a charitable organization I believe they must file with IRS and it should be made public.

I do not donate to charitable organizations if I don't know how much or what percentage is going for the true charitable causes.


August 2, 2016
  1. From Joe Mihalich...to...Anthem Opinions
  2. The key thing to know is this
The financial report of a charity should cover their ENTIRE operation so that givers can determine what percentage of the funds go to "administrative" expenses versus what percentage goes into reserves or for charitable uses.
  August 2, 2016
  1.     From Dorothy Yu...to...Anthem Opinions
  2. As I understand, charter clubs also asked to donate to this foundation annually. The transparency of this foundation's financial report is so important for donors as well as for events organizers to choose which charitable organization to handle a disastrous situation.
I believe this is a very reasonable request.

We, a group of Chinese American residents, sponsored two major events right here at Sun City Anthem, (before Chinese Heritage Club was established).

An Ad Hoc Committee was formed and studied each charitable organization's administrative cost online before our decision to have Tzu Chi be the charitable organization to handle those two disastrous events.

One happened in Sichuan, an earthquake in 2008, and the other one happened in Taiwan's flood in 2009. Due to the administrative cost ,Tzu Chi was the lowest.

After we found out how much Red Cross pays it's Director, I never donated a dime to that organization again!

There were a lot individuals who contributed not only money, but time to those two events.


They were: Bob Chang, Wen-dar Cheng, Meisheng Chou, John Hsu, Shirley Shiuh, Peter Tu, Joe Wang, Kenneth Wu, Betty Yuan, and Emily Chu (Tzu Chi Representative)

We are caring, loving and retiring residents here at Sun City Anthem.

Most of us were privileged and be able to sustain and take care of ourselves, yet, we also want to extend our hands to other less privileged ones within our community and making this Sun City Anthem a true Heaven for retirees to spend our golden years.

Volunteering is just like Charitable, both respected words in my dictionary, unless people misuse them.
  1.  August 4, 2016
  2.     From Keith Coffin...to...Anthem Opinions
  3.  I agree with carl..we shouldn’t donate the space for free to the foundation. He is correct in stating that since they do work for other than sca, then they should be treated like any other outside charity group. And, as all charities that get donations, they should reveal on an ongoing basis a full accounting of their income, income sources, and all expenditures.
Keep posting updates and how the responses are please.

Thanks for the good work you do.
August 21, 2016 
  1. From Robert Leclerc...to...Anthem Opinions
  2. I believe Mr. Weinstein is on the right track. Why would we select one group, a Foundation about whose financial affairs we know nothing, and give them a free pass? More must be known. Foundations do not enjoy universally good reputations when it comes to financial stewardship.
  3. August 21, 2016
  4. From Robert N...to...Anthem Opinions
If F.A.S. has nothing to hide, it should readily submit the requested documents...and yes the rent could be returned to F.A.S. as a humanitarian gesture, but SCA should withhold any costs of occupying the SCA space (e.g. utilities, etc.). Anyone with any business experience understands that.
  1. August 21, 2016
  2. From Jerry Eisenberg...to...Anthem Opinions

    If the foundation has moved on, to other communities,so should an equal cost of their expenses. Other communities should be responsible for costs i.e. rentals, maintenance of vehicles, cost of vehicles, etc. Communities benefiting should also provide volunteers from their own communities without pulling volunteers away from SCA. Volunteers from SCA should not leave the boundary of SCA.

    The foundation should definitely provide financials.
 From Irv Prail...to...Anthem Opinions
 Regarding the matter of The Foundation, I agree with Mr.  Weinstein  that there is no “legitimate” reason for the secrecy, but there is a reason.

The obviousness of the situation screams “Fraud!”, or at the very least, unethical/immoral activity.

If the obfuscation continues for longer than 89 days from notice, my vote would be to bar The Foundation from our property, and urge county/state and/or federal (due to TF’s special IRS non-profit status) investigators to take a very close look at this organization’s operation.

There is no doubt there is something very wrong with our association with this organization.
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Note: Anthem Opinions is not a CPA firm, but we are also aware that The Association Assisting Seniors Treasurer, Dan Forgeron, (also a former Sun City Anthem Board Treasurer) does not, hold a CPA certification.



Also, this is in NO WAY any attempt to condemn the Association Assisting Seniors, only an active search to obtain a full disclosure as to its fund raising activities, financial income, and miscellaneous expenditures in order that individuals and organizations many feel secure in their contributions.



Would you like a copy of the Income Tax Returns?



Do you have an additional comment?



Let us know by sending us an email at:

  1. Anthem Opinions Administration

    1. Unfortunately the blog format cuts the cross column format of the table so some of these bizarre numbers are difficult to compare. In summary:

      From 2011 to 2014
      Income increased 33%
      Assets increased 23%
      Accounting increased 700% (yes, that is the correct number)
      Expenses increased 50% (in relation in income increase this seems weird?)
      Social Media increased over 2,500 % (and the owner is a trustee?)

      Doesn't having a trustee also being an outside paid vendor cross some ethical guide for non-profit charitable organizations? Expenses includes salaries too, so what portion of expenses are salaries and who gets them?

      And one wonders why they need free rent. I don't believe they pay rent even for the coffee shop, which nets them over $20,000. That is $20,000 which the Sun City Association could be earning. I suspect they do good work, but it should not be at the expense of the Sun City Anthem homeowners.

1 comment:

  1. Unfortunately the blog format cuts the cross column format of the table so some of these bizarre numbers are difficult to compare. In summary:

    From 2011 to 2014
    Income increased 33%
    Assets increased 23%
    Accounting increased 700% (yes, that is the correct number)
    Expenses increased 50% (in relation in income increase this seems weird?)
    Social Media increased over 2,500 % (and the owner is a trustee?)

    Doesn't having a trustee also being an outside paid vendor cross some ethical guide for non-profit charitable organizations? Expenses includes salaries too, so what portion of expenses are salaries and who gets them?

    And one wonders why they need free rent. I don't believe they pay rent even for the coffee shop, which nets them over $20,000. That is $20,000 which the Sun City Association could be earning. I suspect they do good work, but it should not be at the expense of the Sun City Anthem homeowners.

    ReplyDelete