Fraud Of Non Profit Organizations

Multiple non-profit organizations have to rely on what’s called a grant. Foundations, corporations and government agencies help out with the fundraising efforts for the non-profit organization. Grants can be used for multiple purposes from supporting online fundraising that you created to crowd-funding. Grants can be from a few hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars. The amount depends on the source and the purpose of the grant. Receiving a grant is a different process than just receiving a donation from an individual. Non-profit organizations most of the time need to fill out a request and send out to what’s called a grantor. Non-profit organizations can help the organization grow, help the organization reduce risk and can come

I believe this number is not a result from a single cause, and I do think that numerous scandals in the nonprofit sectors caused larger negative influence than a general decline in confidence. When asked people what kind of spending they consider unwise, the biggest portion answered salaries and administration cost, which demonstrated that the public were still lack of knowledge about the nonprofit sectors. Nonprofit organizations, like for-profit organizations, also need to hire professionals to maintain service to the public, so it makes no sense that the leader of a nonprofit sector should not be paid with good money. If people do not have a clear understanding about how nonprofit sectors work, it will be easy for them to have a bad impression

Throughout my career in the social sector I worked with a variety of for-profit companies; over the last few years I’ve noticed interesting trends. Corporations are changing how they structure and evaluate philanthropic partnerships and fewer and fewer organizations are opting to donate through traditional methods. Social entrepreneurs are even integrating philanthropy into their business models. Just consider, big names such as Toms and Seventh Generation and newer start ups like Bombas (a sock company that donates socks one-for-one for every pair they sell). One-time event sponsorship and foundation giving seems to be losing ground to newer, innovative community investment strategies. These shifts have encouraged non-profits, including

In the scenario given, “Bob” served in many positions within a nonprofit over a three year period of time and he stole $93,000 in a variety of ways. In a small nonprofit this might be a large percentage of their operating expenses. It could have an enormous impact on the nonprofit staying in operation as well as those who are served in the community. First we should address what the organization could have done to detect the theft earlier and areas the organization can prevent fraud. Next we will look at implementing safeguards and checks and balances to prevent future occurrences. And Finally, we will address a public relations campaign that will regain the trust of donors and the community.

Fraud is a problem that nonprofits must be prepared to prevent within their financial departments. Embezzlements and financial statement fraud can destroy the financial health of a nonprofit organization and undermine the organization’s mission. Skimming is particularly difficult to identify because the money is often taken off incoming funds before the donations are ever annotated or accounted for (Zack & De Armond, 2015). However, these financial woes can be easily avoided. Nonprofit Quarterly identifies the issue of financial fraud as a “people problem” (Zack et al, 2015). Financial departments within corporations are required to follow strict laws and regulations that are not required to be followed by nonprofit organizations. The Sarbanes-Oxley

Internal fraud consists in “a type of fraud that is committed by an individual against an organization. [Furthermore], a perpetrator of fraud engages in activities that are designed to defraud, misappropriate property, or circumvent the regulations, law, or policies of a company”[8]. Not only has the incidence of internal fraud increased in frequency because of the availability of sensitive information such as client details or confidential business documents; moreover, this type of fraud is found in various types of organizations, ranging from corporations, public service institutions and financial institutions. Our analysis will concentrate on the most common and prolific types of internal fraud, namely identity theft, insider trading, loan fraud and wire fraud. Interestingly, PriceWaterhouseCooper conducted a survey that revealed that the “demographics of a typical fraudster are as follows: males (85% of cases), 31-50 years (72% of cases), reached high-school level (50%), Bachelor’s or post graduate degree (50%) and middle or senior management (52%)”[9].

Occupational fraud is defined as the use of a person’s job for individual enrichment through the purposeful mishandling or misapplication of his or her employer’s capital or assets (Wells, 2005). Occupational fraud can have a serious impact with far-reaching consequences. In 2004 for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) conducted a survey that provided 508 usable studies of fraud for a total of over $761 million

Hired in 1998, Ephonia M. Green was hired to work at Association of American Medical College as an administrative assistant employee. Ms. Green’s yearly salary earned her approximately $56,000 a year however she is charged with stealing more than $5 million from AAMC over a period of 12 years until the fraud was discovered in July 2013. Ms. Green’s access to submitting invoices for payments through AAMC allowed her to create a scheme that would catapult her well over her yearly salary.

In fraud committed against organizations, the victim of fraud is the employee’s organization. In frauds committed on behalf of an organization, executives usually are involved in some type of financial statement fraud; typically, to make the company’s reported financial results appear better than they actually are. In this second case, the victims are investors in the company’s stock. A third way to classify frauds is via the use of the ACFE’s occupational fraud definition, “the use of one’s occupation for personnel enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets” (ACFE, 2010). The ACFE includes three major categories of occupational fraud: asset misappropriations involves the theft or misuse of the organization’s assets, corruption involves the wrongful use of influence in a business transaction in order to procure benefits contrary to their duty to their employer, and fraudulent financial statements involving falsification of an organization’s financial statements for personal gain.

When most think of not-for- profit organizations they know the nature behind the organization is a do-good culture. The missions behind these organizations are often to do good for others mostly the less fortunate society. With many knowing the organization is for the good of others it could make them vulnerable to fraud. A not-for-Profit organization places a greater trust in their employees because of the meaning behind the cause. However in today’s society fraud has increased and in that type of environment would allow a lot of illegal activity to take place. By setting up a detection/prevention fraud policy would hopefully diminish the chance of fraud.

What I learned from this experience with helping non- profits is that there are a lot of things that they do in the background that I feel most people aren’t aware of. Most of the places we volunteered I have never heard of much or less knew they existed, which surprised me the most. It showed me that there is a lot that goes into making the nonprofits run smoothly, and more importantly people need to speak up about them so others can come help for a greater cause. Just because you helped doesn’t mean that you changed things forever, you must be willing to put yourself out there to spread the word about nonprofits and the good they do in the community. Even in our little perfect suburb of Sugar Land there is still much work to be done regarding

Combating fraud in the private sector is a difficult task. Trying to combat fraud in the public sector is daunting. In 1999 15.7% of the American workforce were employed by a government entity (federal, state, and local).[1] Mirroring society, government will have its share of perpetrators. The difference from the private sector is in the scope of the fraud committed, the loss of the public trust, the blaring headlines from news media, and difficulty in making necessary changes to combat the problems.

A not for profit organization is a corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive (Legal, 2013).” There are immense community benefits as a not-for-profit generally accepts everyone regardless of ability to pay. Nonprofit organizations are granted tax-exempt status which helps them to provide services to the public and are expected to be effective managers of their finances as well as being efficient (Financial Management, 2010). In doing so, they can gain exemptions from federal and state incomes taxes and have the ability to solicit tax-deductible contributions (Financial Management, 2010). Organization must follow legal financial

Corporations are often the victims of the most common white-collar crimes that occur in corporate America. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (cfenet.com), “abuse and fraud by employees cost U.S. organizations more than $400 billion annually…[which equals] $9 per employee per day.”

Over the past two years, corporate America has endured a plethora of fraudulent acts committed by those of high status within their respective corporations, most of which involve internal fraud. Internal fraud has two main aspects, misappropriation of assets and fraudulent financial reporting, with the focus of this discussion lying within the former. Misappropriation of assets is defined as fraud for personal gain. It is the most common type of fraud found among employees and frequently includes theft of cash and inventory.