Nonprofit Organizations

An audit report released Monday cited serious financial and operational problems involving a nonprofit organization's handling of federal grant money flowing through its social service centers in Inglewood and Long Beach. A Washington-based agency conducted the audit of the United States Veterans Initiative and questioned about $500,000 of the $5.36 million in costs claimed by the group from Sept. 1, 2003, through Aug. 31, 2006.

It's the economy, brethren. That's the basic idea behind a new campaign launched Wednesday by a progressive faith-based organization to influence the 2012 election. The PICO National Network said it is enlisting clergy nationwide to register voters, get out the vote and spread a message of economic equality. Calling the campaign "Land of Opportunity," PICO said its goal is to sign up 75,000 new voters and reach a total of 1 million people who will support its message and vote for … well, there's the rub. Presumably restricted by IRS rules that prohibit churches and nonprofit organizations from supporting political candidates, PICO isn't supporting anyone in particular, its director of policy, Gordon Whitman, said in a conference call.

Three nonprofit organizations being forced to move from one city building to another were temporarily spared a rent increase by the City Council this week. While the City Council indicated it will keep lease rates permanently low for Irvine Temporary Housing, the council also agreed a policy is needed to determine when exceptions on fees and rents charged to community organizations are warranted.

WASHINGTON -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says he expects a “vast left-wing conspiracy” in the media to attack him in an effort to boost President Obama's chances of being re-elected. “There will be an effort by the, quote, vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out a message and to attack me," Romney said in an interview with Breitbart.com's Larry O'Connor. "And they're going to do everything they can to divert from the issue people care about, which is a growing economy that creates more jobs and rising incomes.

Rose Espinosa's nationally acclaimed after-school tutoring program, which she runs from her garage, has been awarded another honor for encouraging disadvantaged youths to succeed. Because of her efforts, La Habra Neighborhood Housing Services received a $40,000 award from Disneyland. The grant was among 26, totaling $400,000, awarded to nonprofit organizations throughout the county for community service projects.

Of the many awkward "what-if" scenarios that might befall a museum--or an orchestra or a theater company or a performing arts hall--the prospect of unwittingly accepting a donation of illegally acquired money must rank high on the list. At least you'd think so. After all, we live in a complex, mobile culture that fosters instant friendships, quick-change identities, rampant social climbing, myriad get-rich-quick schemes and entire industries whose functions are mysterious to the uninitiated.

As millions of Americans prepare to tune into television's sweeps programming tonight, one tiny nonprofit group here plans to create some static for the television industry. TV-Free America, financed by private donations, is holding its third National TV-Turnoff Week today through Wednesday, just as the industry May ratings sweeps are getting underway.

A controversial nonprofit organization headed by former city Fire Chief Donald O. Manning had no authority to rent out a historic firehouse to Hollywood producers or to bank the tens of thousands of dollars that it was paid, an audit by the city controller concluded Thursday.

A controversial bid by the management of Health Net to convert the health maintenance organization to for-profit status won state approval Friday after Health Net agreed to cede majority ownership of the company to an independent health foundation. State Corporations Commissioner Thomas S.

Two organizations here, North Lawndale Employment Network and Chicago Rehab Network, are among nine winners in this country and abroad of a new award for small nonprofits from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Creative and Effective Institutions Awards range from $250,000 to $500,000. The winners have annual budgets of $2.5 million or less, and, though small, they are considered comers in their fields.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation took another step toward rehabilitating its standing in the breast cancer community with the resignation of the executive at the center of the Planned Parenthood funding controversy. In a largely conciliatory letter, Karen Handel, senior vice president for public policy, said Tuesday that she would step down immediately so the organization could "refocus its attention and energies on its mission. " "I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it," Handel wrote, adding that she declined Komen's offer of a severance package.

California legislators voted to open an official inquiry into two state agencies that channel money earned from issuing municipal bonds to private companies. Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) in May requested the audit of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) and the California Municipal Financial Authority (CMFA). The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the request on an 8-3 vote Wednesday and will now conduct a full review of both agencies.

The gig: Keren Taylor is the founder and executive director of WriteGirl, a nonprofit organization that pairs professional women writers in Los Angeles with at-risk teenage girls. Now in its 10th year, WriteGirl serves about 300 girls from 60 high schools throughout Los Angeles. WriteGirl was named California Nonprofit of the Year last year by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Forging independent women: WriteGirl participants are 13 to 18 years old and come primarily from low-income neighborhoods.

Before you get out the checkbook or credit card and make a donation to your favorite charity, you might want to read this. Last Sunday I wrote about a Los Angeles nonprofit that's been working for years to help troubled veterans. The National Veterans Foundation, founded by Vietnam War medic Shad Meshad, has been doing good work since the 1980s. Meshad and a staff of a dozen have made it their mission to help vets and their families. They coax homeless vets off the streets and help them jump Veterans Administration hurdles to get their benefits and healthcare.

Toddlers Salomon and Arturo Singer sat playfully in a stroller, one on the other's lap, as they watched a parade of revelers, including marching bands, fire trucks and mounted police, stream down Santa Monica's Main Street. Their father Ben sat on the curb nearby. "It's a wonderful parade," said Ben Singer. "It's small, it's manageable, and you get to see everything. There's no crowd control. It's family-oriented. The boys enjoy the fire engines the most." The Singers were among throngs of spectators who turned out Sunday to celebrate the Santa Monica Main Street Fourth of July Parade.

The recession and a lack of adequate donor support have led to this year's cancellation of the popular Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service, organizers said Thursday. "It's terribly heartbreaking," said Trina Herrmann-Boychenko, president of the group that organizes the annual service. "It's the economy, and our donors are unable to . . . contribute as before." The Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service, which presents the nondenominational Easter celebration, is a nonprofit group that relies on financial assistance from corporations and the public.

A group of civic activists, united by faith and a belief that the poor economy in the interior of Los Angeles is a social injustice, is preparing to offer bus tours of some of the grittiest pockets of the city, including decayed public housing, sites of deadly shootouts and streets ravaged by racial unrest. After a VIP preview last weekend, L.A. Gang Tours expects to open to the public in January, giving tourists a look at the cradle of the nation's gang culture -- the birthplace of many of the city's gangs, including Crips and Bloods, Florencia 13 and 18th Street.

Edward Dawson started his business from scratch in 1978. He and his wife, Marcia, built it into a $63-million-a-year enterprise with offices throughout California. The couple, who earned more than $7 million in salary and deferred compensation in the last five years, now own a villa overlooking the beach in Palos Verdes and other real estate worth millions of dollars. Theirs is a classic tale of entrepreneurial success -- except their wealth comes from running a nonprofit that is sustained by taxpayer dollars.

Doctors and other medical personnel who volunteered last August at the largest free health clinic ever held in Los Angeles could practically watch as their patients slipped through the holes in the county's safety net. Among the 6,300 uninsured and underinsured seeking care at the Forum in Inglewood last year, Dr. Natalie Nevins diagnosed a 58-year-old woman as having diabetes and dangerously high blood sugar. The woman, who had recently lost her job and health insurance, refused to be hospitalized, afraid of the expense.

Most charitable giving goes to programs that provide a service rather than try to fix the system. But a study of Los Angeles County nonprofits found that spending on advocacy and organizing can yield major benefits for the communities that donors want to help. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy estimated that for every dollar invested in the work of a selection of advocacy groups, there was $91 in benefits to local residents. "It is far . . . above the kind of bang for the buck that you get when you invest in funding direct services," said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the Washington-based philanthropy watchdog.