Requests to Crime Stoppers for McHenry County for information continue to go unanswered. Recently, I emailed Mary Torscher, who identified herself last October as Secretary of the organization in her sole response. I asked whether Crime Stoppers for McHenry County is a Federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and, if so, its FEIN.
Has she replied? Has she even acknowledged my request? No, on both accounts.
There is a national Crime Stoppers organization called Crime Stoppers USA. On its website they list "McHenry County Crime Stoppers" as a member. A membership requirement is 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS.
The problems?
The business name is not "McHenry County Crime Stoppers". The Illinois Secretary of State has recorded the legal name as "Crime Stoppers for McHenry County". Correct legal names are important.
And IRS has no record of either name.
IRS does list a McHenry Area Crime Stoppers, but this is the old program of the McHenry (Ill.) Police Department, not the County-wide Crime Stoppers group. Even Crime Stoppers USA confused the old McHenry Area Crime Stoppers with Crime Stoppers for McHenry County. Now they know that they are different.
Ths wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the stone-walling by the Crime Stoppers for McHenry County organization. By hiding out behind a P.O. Box and refusing to respond to letters (and emails, since I found Torscher's email address), it is beginning to feel like they have something to hide.
Do the board members know that the Secretary is ignoring legitimate inquiries?
If the organization is not a 501(c)(3) organization, it is not eligible to be a member of Crime Stoppers USA. Will it be eliminated from membership until it can meet that requirement?
Where are the financial records of Crime Stoppers for McHenry County? How much does it take in in a year and from what sources? Is it soliciting "donations" and leading contributors to believe that their contributions are tax-deductible? What are its expenditures?
Are an annual meeting and banquet planned for this month? Will it again be at the Woodstock Country Club? What does a fete like that cost? How much money did Crime Stoppers for McHenry County turn over to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department last year for equipment and training that the taxpayers ought to be paying for?
Why does it not care about concerns about the operation of the anonymous tip line? Three callers last year were less than satisfied, yet the organization expressed no interest in knowing what the problems were.
The only legitimate confidential part of Crime Stoppers is the identity of a caller to the tip line and the tip provided to law enforcement. Crime Stoppers is not a "black" operation. Its funding, operations and membership should be transparent.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
4 comments:
Correct legal names are important. Funny.
The Expo, let me say this about THAT....the last one we did was a few years ago. I was aggravated that our own Chamber of Commerce wanted to charge us for a booth when our sole intent was to protect our community much like the police dept (on a MUCH lower scale of course). We were charged FULL price, they wouldn't even cut us a break for being non-profit. I was appalled. Needless to say, that was our last time at the Expo. That hurt both the organization and the community but Crimestoppers simply could not afford it.
I cannot speak for the McHenry County organization as I was not a part of it but I can say that the secretary's job isn't really to answer letters, it is to keep track of the minutes of the meetings and distribute information provided by the president. I'm not sticking up for your letters not being answered, I'm just saying it's not like a company where the secretary would be the most obvious person to contact. If you are that curious, perhaps you should contact the president, not the secretary. Just my opinion.
I personally was a member of Crime Stoppers in Marengo for over 5 years. I can tell you, it is a not for profit organization here ONLY to help protect the community.
They are in NO way affiliated with the police department. We could only call in the tips to them. That is all. The way we raised the money to payout on tips was two-fold, one being donations (which were always appreciated) and two being fund raisers we held ourselves. I was not the president but I was the treasurer and don't quote me but I do believe we were a tax exempt. I don't know how we could not have been because we were a not for profit organization.
No, the business (if that's what you want to call it)was not the McHenry County Crime Stoppers, it was local. When we were having financial difficulties, we considered combining with the McHenry County organization because it was difficult for us to get funding.
There should be no record for the IRS because once again, there was never any profit. We had to dig into our OWN funds from fundraisers to make the public aware or our presence here in Marengo with things like signs, adds in the paper, and any Expo materials to get our phone number out to the public to help protect them. We purchased things like magnets for the refrigerator and little badges for the kids that walked through the Marengo Expo.
The 11:39PM comment should be read before the 11:36PM comment, for the clearest understanding.
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