President of Feed the Children Larry Jones, model Petra Nemcova and CEO of NutraCea Brad Edson attend a party celebrating the new relationship of NutraCea, Feed the Children and Happy Hearts Fund
Posted on 07/19/2009 11:43:32 AM PDT by PhiKapMom
Please do not donate to this charity as long as Jones has anything to do with the funds.
Looks like The Oklahoman’s investigation has hit paydirt. Jones need to be in jail for taking money meant for children — it wasn’t meant for his family to live a lavish lifestyle.
Man... South Park was right all along.
Just goes to show you. After researching I have sent a fair amount to Feed the Clidren because they have one of the highest % of dollars actually spent on actually feeding the children. I guess you never know.
It was pretty funny.
Dennis Prager is nearly screaming that there was no hunger in America, they go to break, and play a ten minute tape of him lobbing softballs to a FTC representative.
Next, you've got Medved doing it, who's also pointed out that folks aren't in need of food here either, and then he does it.
What an embarrassment.
I have heard rumors for years and why I wouldn’t donate a penny to them even though they are right here in OK. From the first time I saw him making a plea on TV, he raised the hair on the back of my neck and thought I was dead wrong as so many people thought he was wonderful.
South Park was right.
That’s one reason I put this up on Front Page News because Jones has done the perfect scam although they have been right there when there is a disaster but the problem is the excess amount of donations versus what they give. I have heard rumors for last few years they take in a huge amounts compared to what they give out but never saw any facts.
Several years ago we had Richard Roberts living the lavish life style while begging for money for Oral Roberts University in Tulsa and he was finally fired. ORU is only now starting to recover with a new person in charge separate from the family.
*crickets*
Why does this always seem to happen?
Answer: Because people are so damned corruptible. Just look at our government as an example. When you’re given other peoples’ money and resources to spend, use, distribute, etc., perspective and integrity seems to be lost in a fog of irresponsibility and greed and a tendancy to squander what isn’t your own.
I cannot figure out why they didn’t investigate this a long time ago when the first rumors surfaced. It came out in May that family members make $500,000 a year for this charity.
I think the photos is what turned me off and made me never donate him a penny.
I just read a comment on one of OK blogs that Larry Jones refused to join the evangelical charities group. Now we know why because they could have wanted info for him to join to be part of their group. Jones wanted this group to remain alone — easier to skim I guess.
Exactly! Money corrupts when there is ZERO accountability. In this case, he fired his board when they wanted accountability.
My brother lives in Oklahoma City and is fairly socially connected there.
He said, based on what he has heard about Larry Jones, he would never give him a penny.
Among the board’s concerns were that Jones allegedly did not receive board approval for major purchasing commitments, including approximately $35 million per year for a “Television Buying Agreement,” and evidence of a son’s personal use of charitable resources.
FC, which has consistently received an F grade from AIP for low program spending and high fundraising costs, continues to receive a failing grade based on its 2007 tax form and audit, the most current available.
The charity claims on its web site that it spends 83% of its budget on its programs. What some donors may not realize is that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of donated goods are included in this high program percentage, some of which are “worthless to most people” according to one Oklahoma based charity, Mission Shawnee (MS).
FC receives a large share of its donations from its “corporate partners,” such as Avon, Frito-Lay, ADM Co., Coca-Cola, among a long list of other companies. Companies have incentive to give in-kind donations of what FC refers to on its web site as “unsaleables, overages, and dated products” to charities such as FC in exchange for the lucrative tax deductions such donations may generate. In fact, FC lists tax savings as the first reason companies should consider donating, touting that companies “can receive up to twice the cost of the products you donate,” and that FC works to “maximize benefits to your company.”
Unfortunately, not all of the items FC accepts and later distributes to its partner charities are in usable condition or appear to be worth the value that FC is placing on them. MS received a shipment from FC late last year that included 265 cases of canned goods, most of which were “severely dented or rusted,” or “without labels” and had to be thrown away, according to MS president, Dr. Robert Dawson. This shipment, which also included 1 pallet of containers, 72 cases of bottled water, 50 bags of flour, and 1 case of discount pharmacy cards, was valued by FC at $118,932.61, according to the “Certificate of Donation” FC provided to MS. This amount seemed extremely high to Dawson, who later contacted FC for a breakout of how the different items were valued. He discovered FC was valuing the pharmacy cards at “about $23 per card,” accounting for about $112,000 of the shipment’s total value, according to Dawson.
This is not the first time AIP has caught a charity using donated cards of questionable value to puff up its program percentage. Help Hospitalized Veterans (HHV) took credit for $18,750,000 worth of “phone cards” it received and passed through to its related charity Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes (CSAH) in fiscal 2006. These “phone cards,” which were distributed to overseas military personnel by CSAH, were not for soldiers to call home to their family but rather to make free calls for sports scores with ads provided by a company called EZ Scores. HHV and CSAH, who share the same president and founder, each counted $18,750,000 of the sports score cards as a contribution and program expense in their respective fiscal 2006 financial statements. These sports score cards and $2 million in donated public service airtime accounted for 85 percent of CSAH’s total program expenses reported in its 2006 financial statements.
Since FC does not purchase the donated goods that it distributes, nor does it pay to deliver goods to its recipient partner charities, donors who contribute to FC may be wondering what happens to their cash donations to the group. About 60% of FC’s cash was spent on “television and radio” and “direct mail” in 2007 according to the group’s audit reporting of the same year. AIP determined that in 2007 FC spent only 18-19% of its budget on its programs once noncash items are excluded.
******
From the Summer 1999 Watchdog Report
Feed the Children Execs Accused of Stealing Donated Supplies Intended for the Needy
After conducting a four-month investigation, WTVF, a Nashville television station, recently reported that it had secretly videotaped Feed the Children’s (FTC) Nashville front office “from the executive director on down” regularly taking boxes of donated goods. WTVF reported that “even family members [of FTC staff] got in on the action.” Warehouse workers, who tipped off WTVF about the alleged thefts, told that station that they saw staff takes boxes they believed were intended for Kosovar Refugees and Oklahoma Tornado Victims. The Associated Press reported that Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents had raided the charity’s Nashville office and the homes of six administrative employees producing boxes of shoes, videos, blankets, food and other goods they believe were donated for the needy. “Merry Christmas to me” was written on one box according to the AP.
http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/feedchildren.html
President of Feed the Children Larry Jones, model Petra Nemcova and CEO of NutraCea Brad Edson attend a party celebrating the new relationship of NutraCea, Feed the Children and Happy Hearts Fund
Did you know that decades ago the Red Cross was a legitimate charity too? Shysters and con artists generally manage to gain control of most institutions eventually.
Happens.
Bingo.
I was a kid living in OKC when this guy got his start.
Just sayin' for the sake of conversation, if we give him the benefit of the doubt and say he started out as a legitimate Christian charity, look how corrupt he became in time.
No accountability, no oversight, apparently no responsible financial peeps working for him, and what, 40 years later... look what he came to do "with enough rope".
Another study in human nature and religious exploitation, (have we seen this show before?) and all the more reason to respect honest people who handle money for a living.
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