Dear Chad
Williams & Colin Meyn
In the event
that you decide, as editors of the Phnom Penh Post and Cambodia Daily
respectively, to look a little more closely at the Cambodian Children’s Fund
eligibility to solicit contributions in New York state, the following may be of
interest.
From the
Charities New York website:
“Make sure your organization is properly registered with
the Attorney General's Charities Bureau and current in its annual financial
filings.”
The
Cambodian Children’s Fund is not registered with the Attorney General's
Charities Bureau
“All solicitations must advise potential contributors that they may
obtain a copy of the soliciting charitable organization's financial report from
the Attorney General or from the organization itself.”
As journalists, Chad and Colin, you could ask both CCF and the New York
Attorney General for copies of CCF’s financial reports for the past five years –
if only to confirm what is clear from a five minute internet search: CCF is not
registered.
§ 172. Registration of charitable organizations. 1. Every charitable organization,
and any charitable organization registered or required to be registered pursuant to article eight of the
estates, powers and trusts law, except as otherwise provided in section one
hundred seventy-two-a of this article, which
intends to solicit contributions from persons in this state or from any
governmental agency shall, prior to
any solicitation, file with the attorney general a prescribed registration form
that includes, but is not limited to, the following information:
Does it matter to either of
you that CCF is not registered in New York state as a charity?
Do sponsors of and donors to a
charity that raises $10 million a year have a right to know that CCF is guilty
of charity fraud in New York state?
Fast-forwarding down the page
a little it is asked:
(g) Whether the organization
is authorized by any other governmental authority to solicit contributions and whether it or any of its present officers, directors,
executive personnel or trustees are or have ever been fined or
otherwise penalized or enjoined from soliciting contributions or have been found to have engaged in
unlawful practices regarding solicitation of contributions or
administration of charitable assets and whether its registration or license has
been suspended or cancelled by any court or other governmental agency together
with the identity of such courts or governmental agencies and the reasons for
such fine, penalty, injunction, suspension or cancellation.
James Mc Cabe’s conviction was
not for charity fraud, of course, and it may be that James Sheehan is unconcerned
about the “unlawful practices” ( drug ‘stings’) that resulted in a jail
sentence!
Fast-forward a little further
and you will find the following regarding the registration of a charity in New
York state:
2. The registration form shall be signed under penalties for perjury by
the president or other authorized officer and the chief fiscal officer of the
organization.
You
might ask, as journalists, whether the penalties for fraudulently soliciting
money in New York are as serious as (or more serious than) the ‘perjury’
referred to here.
Another stipulation for
registration of a charity in New York requires that the charity provide:
(i) A copy of its annual report, if any, for the immediately preceding
fiscal year in accordance with the requirements of section one hundred seventy-two-b
of this article.
Is it of any interest to you,
as editors of the two most widely read English language newspapers in Cambodia,
that Scott Neeson and CCF have breached 100% of their legal obligations, clearly
expressed in Article
7-A, Executive Law, “Solicitation and Collection of Funds for Charitable
Purposes”?
Is there any breach of the law, of
professional ethics or of Neeson’s obligation to be transparent and accountable
to donors, sponsors and the media that will induce either of you, as editors,
to publish anything about CCF other than cut-and-paste stories gleaned from CCF
press releases?
The full list of
CCF’s legal responsibilities in the state of New York can be found at:
cheers
James
