[Nfbmo] More on Heritage for the Blind

Fri Nov 1 18:16:49 UTC 2013

Gary

You have a good idea.

Jim Moynihan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2013 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] More on Heritage for the Blind

> Hi, Jim. I think this must start with our individual calls. Perhaps Dan 
> can
> find out what the Attorney General from NY concluded.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of James Moynihan
> Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 8:38 AM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] More on Heritage for the Blind
>
> Gary et al
>
> As I see it the main problem with Heritage for the Blind is that the 
> average
> listener can not sort through the confusion.  The public could donate cars
> to our vehicle donation program which is legitimate.  I think we should 
> make
> an effort to have the atgen scrutinize Heritage for the Blind.
>
> Cordially,
>
> Jim Moynihan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
> To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 5:18 PM
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] More on Heritage for the Blind
>
>
>> Hello, Dan. Thank you for sending this to the list. I read the 
>> information
>> you sent, and if this is in fact Heritage for the Blind, perhaps we have
>> more of a case than we thought. We have looked at this before and have
>> concluded that, while it is highly unethical, it may not be illegal.
>> Certainly ABC news does not claim to verify the accuracy of all of its
>> commercials. Heritage for the Blind runs commercials here at least six
>> times
>> a day. Gene Coulter has verified that the number called can lead to
>> several
>> different numbers.
>>
>> As far as I can tell the only thing they do is operate a website which, 
>> in
>> turn, makes referrals to other websites and uses the publications of 
>> other
>> organizations. I think that what Jim's friend says is quite correct about
>> the fact that you can enjoy tax-exempt status based on the proclaimed
>> purpose of your organization and not on any in-depth study about how your
>> organization's funds are spent. Of course, I should observe here that a
>> number of people would complain if the Internal Revenue Service focused
>> more
>> on the objectives of the organization. Some of you will remember that 
>> they
>> are currently in trouble for showing bias against very liberal and very
>> conservative organizations, the thought seeming to be that the mission
>> statement should be the only thing used to determine whether or not an
>> organization should be tax exempt.
>>
>> I don't really know where to take this now. The best information I get is
>> that what they are doing is not against the law. If we could cause the
>> Missouri Atty. Gen. to have a different view, this probably would be a
>> good
>> thing for blind people and for those wanting to donate to us. The
>> unfortunate consequence of this kind of activity, however, is that it
>> subjects all of us to extra scrutiny and this scrutiny translates into
>> extra
>> time we have to spend making sure that we document the good that we do.
>> You
>> may remember that a disgruntled woman who was once one of our members
>> reported to the Atty. Gen. that we raised money only to give gifts to
>> ourselves. It turns out that her allegation revolved around the fact 
>> that,
>> instead of giving flowers to those in the hospital, we were taking the
>> money
>> we would have spent on them and giving it as a gift card. We had to
>> demonstrate to the Atty. Gen. that these expenditures represented a small
>> percentage of our program services and that we were not raising money for
>> the purpose of giving it to ourselves.
>>
>> I welcome your ideas.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
>> DanFlasar at aol.com
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 9:19 PM
>> To: nfbmo at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [Nfbmo] More on Heritage for the Blind
>>
>> Hi all,
>>     I've been following through on the "Heritage for  the Blind" issue 
>> and
>> found that it is only one instance of a large group of  similarly unknown
>> 'charities' all related to a New Jersey religious sect called  the Oorah
>> in
>> New Jersey.  I'm sending a link that refers to a St. Louis  Post-Dispatch
>> story from last year which details a lot about Oorah based ona  deceptive
>> charity called "Kars4Kids".  The New York Attorney General  identified
>> "Heritage
>> for the Blind" as being another front for the Oorah  sect.  As the 
>> article
>> below notes, donations to these websites  have little if any relation to
>> services for the blind.
>>   Note that all these false charities seem to all have IRS  certification
>> for their non-profit status, but there are numerous stories from  the
>> Better
>>
>> Business Bureau noting that they received little or no requested
>> information from these 'charities'.  The question is, what do we do 
>> about
>> it?  I
>> don't think we need to spend any money, get any lawyers  or anything like
>> that,
>> but a note to the Attorney General might make a  difference.   And to the
>> point, since this is a national problem, is  it something the national 
>> NFB
>> should get involved in?  Should the NFB call  out "Heritage for the 
>> Blind"
>> as
>> a fraud, and if so, how?
>>
>>    Here's the link - it's a pretty disheartening  story.
>>
>> http://kars4kids-scam.blogspot.com/
>>
>> Dan
>>
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