Other stuff

News reports in the last week about Wounded Warrior Project – 3/30

Here are a few articles I found interesting about WWP in the last week, including an interview with the departed CEO and COO.

3/28 – News 4 Jax – Wounded Warrior Project names interim COO – The WWP board appointed retired Major General Charlie Fletcher as interim COO beginning April 11.  He has 30 years experience on active duty. He currently is one of the people on the advisory board.

3/28 –Board Source – Wounded Warrior Project-A Classic Case Study – Author is paying close attention to the WWP story. Real, current situations are wonderful teaching tools. Responses to Sen. Grassley’s inquiry letter will provide lots of insight.

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Jim Ulvog

A song to explain why this is such an important day to so many people.

In case you were wondering what is so wonderful about today, here is a song to explain why this is a celebration of the most wonderful thing that has ever happened in the world. Repost from March 31, 2013.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

This morning my wife and I attended a sunrise service. Haven’t done that for many years. A wonderful way to celebrate this day. On our way to celebrate with our church family momentarily.

Here’s a selection of 3 videos to help your celebration:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dT7dGcsrPkQ]

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Jim Ulvog

More Wounded Warrior coverage – 3/24

Here are a few articles in the last few days that caught my eye which follow-up on the media firestorm surrounding Wounded Warrior Project.

3/21 – Charity Defense Council – Letter to Senator Grassley – The letter from the Charity Defense Council (CDC) to Senator Grassley is in response to the senator’s information request to WWP. The Senator asked for an explanation of the relationship between CDC and WWP along with an explanation of how a donation to CDC furthers WWP’s mission.

The letter provides CDC’s explanation.

Let me try to boil it down to a few sentences …

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Jim Ulvog

Wounded Warrior Project fiasco moves into the political realm. Other comments over the weekend.

Stars and Stripes has a good article summarizing the current story and looking forward a few steps. Senator Grassley pulls the WWP story into the political realm.

3/18 – Stars and Stripes – New project for Wounded Warrior charity: Regain trust. Article discusses the dangers facing WWP in terms of public perception and the impact on donations.

Article summarizes a number of recent articles, which makes this a good survey to catch up on what’s happened lately.

I recommend the article for you because of the great way it brings together a number of different threads of the story.

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Jim Ulvog

More coverage of Wounded Warrior Project – First defenses of WWP – 3/18

Lots more discussion of Wounded Warrior Project in the last few days, including a major defense of WWP and the first public comments I’ve seen from the former CEO and COO.

3/17 – Charity Defense Council – Preliminary Media Advisory – Material Errors and Omissions Uncovered in Media Reporting on Wounded Warrior Project – This is a major discussion of the media coverage of WWP’s spending and programming.

I don’t have time to summarize the comments. Hope to do so this weekend.

If you have been reading any of my discussion of the media firestorm, you will definitely want to read this discussion. There is a large volume of information that hasn’t been mentioned in public and a large amount of interpretive comments on how to look at financial statements.

In fact, I’ll suggest you read that article before you read the rest of this post.

3/18 – Fox and Friends on Fox News – Executives fired from Wounded Warrior Project speak out – Departed CEO and COO go on camera. The segment is 7 1/2 minutes. Actual interview is only a two or three minutes since there is an intro, extro, and the headline accusations were repeated.

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Jim Ulvog

How to notify California Secretary of State of a change in your charity’s articles of incorporation

Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

If your charity makes a change to the articles of incorporation, you need to notify the Secretary of State. I had opportunity to look at the process in California for filing such a notice.

There are comparable filing requirements in your state. Explore your Secretary of State’s website to find instructions. To help others here’s what I found for California.

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Jim Ulvog

More coverage of Wounded Warrior Project

Last week, the WWP board fired their CEO and COO.

Most of the articles I’ve glanced at in the last few days are merely a rewrite of the board’s comments on the WWP website and the initial articles from CBS and NYT.

Some substance in the last few days for your consideration:

3/14 – Prof. Brian Mittendorf at Counting on Charity – Four Unsolicited Suggestions for the Wounded Warrior Project Board – Opening line highlights the challenges for all charities of being dependent on public perceptions:

When it comes to popular charities, I am of the opinion that the general public largely believes they can do no wrong, but once the public feels they have done something wrong it’s almost as if they can do no right.

The professor’s four suggestions with a couple of comments from me. (more…)

Jim Ulvog

First day coverage of WWP firing its CEO and COO

Major news yesterday was the CEO and COO of Wounded Warrior Project getting fired by the board of directors. Here are a few articles on the story. Also, my rant on the long-running pattern of media articles that focus on trivialities.

3/10 – CBS News – Wounded Warrior Project execs fired – CBS is reporting that on 3/10 WWP fired Steven Nardizzi, CEO, and Al Diordano, COO. CBS reports preliminary results from a financial audit have been received and reviewed by the board.

3/10 – Chronicle of Philanthropy – Wounded Warrior Project Fires Top Officials After Query Into Spending Practices – Article points to CBS coverage above.  The board initiated a financial and policy audit.

In the hour since CBS broke the story, I saw several dozen articles hit the ‘net that report the story with merely a rewrite of the CBS coverage.

3/10 – Wounded Warrior Project – Board of Directors of Wounded Warrior Project Addresses Independent Review – Very tactful press release says the CEO and COO are no longer with the organization.

The independent review refuted the headline accusations against the organization and tactfully found room for improvement.

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Jim Ulvog

HR tips for charities

Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

Unless there is a religious exemption in an area of employment law, religious charities are required to follow all the rules and regulations that apply to businesses.

3/8 – CPA Practice Advisor – 6 HR Must-Knows for Small Businesses in 2016 – These “must-knows” apply to churches and parachurch ministries just as much as small businesses. If you’re not familiar with these issues, your organization could trip over the rules and create big problems.

The issues described in the article and my brief comment:

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Jim Ulvog

Ulvog CPA passes Peer Review inspection

Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

I am pleased to report my firm passed peer review in 2015.

Peer review is a process CPAs go through to inspect their audit and review work. Experienced CPAs from another firm look at your quality control procedures and read through the workpapers for a selection of audit, review, and compilation engagements.

In the current system there are three grades from a peer review inspection:

  • Pass
  • Pass with deficiency
  • Fail

I am pleased to report I received a pass report, the highest level currently available. I have gone through peer reviews in 2015, 2012, 2009, 2006, and 2003. Each time I received the highest grade possible.

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Jim Ulvog

Increased discussion of Wounded Warrior Project financial statements

 

Let's do a few calculations. Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Let’s do a few calculations before finishing this post. Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

Looks like the coverage of the Wounded Warrior Project financial statements has blossomed in the last few days. I will discuss that coverage and then discuss WWP’s public comments. Will throw in a reasonableness test of the conference expenses for no extra charge.

Rewriting the initial coverage

One of the things I have learned through blogging is that when a big story breaks there will be a few major articles covering the issue immediately. Over the next several hours many media outlets will repeat the initial coverage verbatim. I think this is done by buying republish rights from the major wire services or major newspapers.

The more fascinating thing I have learned is that over the next several hours there will be dozens of papers and wire outlets who rewrite the initial coverage. It will be done under the byline of their writer and with their copyright.

Having observed this multiple times and having read dozens of articles of follow-up, I have learned the rewrite jobs rarely bring in new information. They merely rephrase and reorganize the initial coverage, with a reference or two back to the initial article. If that was the only thing you read, you would have the impression the paper did their own original research.

I did a search on the net for coverage of WWP and noticed several dozen articles out on the same day which were nothing more than a rewrite of the initial Washington Post and CBS stories. Maybe it has always been that way and I’m only now catching on. I do find it amusing.

New coverage

Here is some coverage that goes beyond a mere rewrite:

1/28 – The Hill – Wounded Warrior charity pushes back against allegations of waste – Two of the major accusations by The Washington Post and CBS against WWP are spending $26M on conferences in total and spending $3M on a training conference in Denver. The overriding issue is essentially the same conversation about the functional expense allocation that has been in play for years.

WWP provided additional information.

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Jim Ulvog

Overhead ratios getting more attention. Wounded Warrior Project is again focus of discussion.

Working on overhead. Yeah, that's a poor joke. Photo courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Working on overhead.  Photo courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com. Yeah, I know that is a poor joke.

A running debate in the donor and nonprofit community is whether the ‘overhead ratio’ is a good tool to measure the effectiveness of a charity. There seems to be more discussion of the issue lately. Wounded Warrior Project is the focal point for recent discussion. A few articles of interest along with some background:

1/27 – New York Times – Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly on Itself, Insiders Say – Tell me your thoughts on the ongoing conversations in the nonprofit community about overhead ratios and I will tell you whether you will think this article is a balanced critique or a hit piece.

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Jim Ulvog

What to do if your charity gets a subpoena or is drawn into an official investigation

Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

If you receive a subpoena from some regulator or police agency asking for documents, it is imperative you process documents properly. Goofing up could cause serious problems, even if you aren’t the actual target of the investigation. If you are the target and you mess up, things could get really bad, really fast.

The law firm of Gammon & Grange provides some ideas on how to work through the serious issues without getting your organization in trouble:  When the Knock at Your Nonprofit Door is Not Some Pizza, but Subpoena.

There are many places in the audit rules where the guidance says something like consider consulting with legal counsel before taking the next step.

If you ever receive a subpoena, that would be an incredibly wonderful time to consult with legal counsel. Get your attorney on the phone. Immediately.

Jim Ulvog