logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Money for Public Project Gone Like the Wind

Bruce S Trachtenberg
November 24, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

November 23, 2010; Source: News Tribune | Washington state released an audit this week that confirms an accountant’s findings from last year that a Tacoma nonprofit spent $1.8 million in public funds to pay off loans and offset other operational costs instead of using the money to help construct a business center that has yet to materialize.

According to the News Tribune, despite many millions spent since 2007, the planned center stands as “little more than a fenced-off vacant lot.”  While the audit faults the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association for improper use of the money, the newspaper, which has been digging into this story since 2009, reports that the state’s Commerce Department also was slammed for “for failing to adequately monitor the nonprofit’s spending.”

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

In addition to detailing how the $1.8 million was improperly used, the audit revealed that in one instance the nonprofit billed the state for work it claimed it paid a subsidiary, although there are no supporting records. On other occasions, it failed to forward reimbursements collected from the state for work it had contracted from vendors. The audit also found that the development association submitted the same bills to the state and federal government, collecting duplicate payments. The News Tribune reports that since 2007 more than $4 million in state and federal grants have been awarded for the business center, and after all that the only thing to show is a very detailed record of poor financial management, lack of oversight, and wasted money.—Bruce Trachtenberg

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell, Jenn Stowe and Mary Wilder

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.