CRANSTON and PHOENIX – The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Rhode Island is hoping to enter arbitration in its ongoing dispute with the national organization, which is seeking to revoke the local group’s charter.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America accuses the chapter of “intentionally misleading” the public and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service by failing to properly report executive pay on filings submitted to the IRS in 2005 and 2006.
The Rhode Island group, which says it amended the Forms 990 after receiving the parent group’s initial complaint this spring, contends that its filings complied with the advice of its local accountants and the national organization.
“From the local’s point of view, this is a technical reporting issue, and we’re a little taken aback by the national’s death-penalty approach,” Phillip G. Loscoe Jr., a spokesman for the Rhode Island organization and a senior vice president and partner in RDW Group Inc. of Providence, told Providence Business News in an interview this morning.
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Loscoe confirmed that, yes, “their chapter status is being challenged by the national organization, and it is over the issue of reporting of executive pay.”
Specifically cited in the national organization’s complaints is the manner in which the Rhode Island chapter reported the salary of President and CEO Diana Hackney, who was paid $118,000 in 2006. The CEO’s salary was not specified in the initial 990s filed by the chapter. But, the chapter notes, those filings did include the correct total for local employee pay.
“The Rhode Island chapter has since 1992 been aggregating its salary line-item on the advice of local accountants … and the national organization had been receiving the salary reporting in that form, on the Form 990,” Loscoe said today. Going forward, he added, “we’ve expressed a desire to report in any form the national requires and will be happy to do so.”
He described as “a red herring” the national group’s other accusation, that the Rhode Island chapter improperly released confidential information about children whose wishes it fulfilled.
The “medical records [issue] is really a dispute about the use of children’s names,” Loscoe said. “In each case where a child’s name was used, it has been with the consent of the parents, and a waiver has been signed.” But, he added, “in no case was medical information disclosed – only the children’s names. So that’s really a gross misrepresentation of the usage.”
The chapter is being represented in the dispute by lawyers Todd D. White and Victoria M. Almeida of Adler, Pollock & Sheehan.
Arbitration – although not ordered by the courts – was recommended in July by U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond, and strongly urged by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith at a hearing last Tuesday. The following day, Brent Goodrich, media relations manager for the national organization, issued a statement saying “it is our intention to allow the matter to proceed to arbitration, assuming various details can be worked out to the satisfaction of all concerned.”
As of this morning, Loscoe noted, that process has not yet begun. The dispute “is not currently in arbitration,” he said. “That is a possible outcome of the current dispute but that has not yet been adjudicated. … We’re open to any solution that permits us to … continue to serve sick children in Rhode Island.”
He blamed an ongoing “consolidation plan” for the national group’s previous unwillingness to negotiate.
“We believe that’s the underground motivation,” Loscoe said. “Our feeling is, they are looking for reasons to close down chapters and consolidate them,” he added. “And while that from a business perspective may sound like a solid plan – why would you target an organization that is by every measure outperforming” other chapters, both regionally and nationally.
“The Rhode Island Make-A-Wish chapter assists a large number of Rhode Island children with life-threatening medical conditions annually, and proudly is able to grant 100 percent of the wishes we receive,” Loscoe said. “They’re doing a marvelous job.”
Since the local group’s founding in 1990, “Thousands of generous Rhode Island donors have pledged well in excess of $1 million for the exclusive benefit of Rhode Island children,” he said. The group is now “closing in on granting our 1,000th wish, with more than 580 of those wishes having been granted over the past six years.”
“Rhode Islanders have been historically generous, and it would be a real shame to have the needs of Rhode Island donors not be served, [as well as] the needs of Rhode Island children who are very ill and who would benefit from that generosity.”
But national Make-A-Wish spokesman Goodrich reiterated in an e-mailed statement today that, at least until the dispute is resolved, “the current chapter office in Cranston will continue to operate under the guidance of the national organization to ensure that all eligible children in Rhode Island have their wishes granted as in the past. All funds raised in Rhode Island will continue to be used to grant the wishes of children residing in the state.”
And Goodrich also reiterated that, in calling for arbitration, “the court in Rhode Island did not address the merits of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America’s decision to revoke the charter of the Rhode Island chapter. The only matter that has been before the court is whether the revocation decision is subject to arbitration.”
To learn more about the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Rhode Island, visit www.MakeAWishRI.org. For more information about the Phoenix-based Make-A-Wish Foundation of America Inc., visit www.Wish.org.
This woman lied on her tax return and her lawyers are making it out to be just an over site? She is blaming her accountant and the national office for her decision to not let the public know how much she makes? She should be headed to jail.