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That's the motto of Bright Futures USA, the not-for-profit offshoot of Joplin Bright Futures which uses taxpayer facilities and, at the least, shares some employees of the Joplin R-8 School District.
Documents filed by Bright Futures USA with the Internal Revenue Service bring into question just how well managed the not-for-profit is and how deeply entwined it is with Bright Futures and thus, the Joplin R-8 School District.
Bright Futures USA 990 forms, filed with the IRS, show the not-for-profit has spent $140,577 more than it has taken in since the beginning of 2012.
During the first six months of 2013, Bright Futures USA received $47,867, including $40,367 in contributions and grants and $7,500 from affiliate fees.
It spent more money for salaries, $63,916, during that period than it received in contributions.
On June 28, 2013, two days before the end of the time covered by the short period tax return, Bright Futures USA made the first sizable contributions in its three-year existence, giving $39,812 to the Joplin R-8 School District, the amount in the Hope High School brick project, and $20,803 to Rebuild Joplin. The tax forms also indicate that Bright Futures will no longer be involved in either of those projects since it wants to concentrate on its primary mission of helping children.
Bright Futures Connection for Success (BFUSA) ceased its Rebuild Joplin program service as well as its brick project program service during the current period. These services were becoming too involved and had grown to a point that they were hindering BFUSA from carrying its primary exempt purpose of connecting student needs with resources that exist within their community but may be out of their reach.
As a result, BFUSA relinquished the Rebuild Joplin activity to the St. Bernard Project and the brick project to the Joplin School District. All activities will continue to provide resources to the community of southwest Missouri and the surrounding areas.
The 2013 tax return is the only one that covered a six-month period.
In the 2012 return, Bright Futures USA reported $108,380 in revenue, but spent $158,513, including $122,557 for salaries, with $35,506 listed as "other expenses."
The salaries for 2012 show that Bright Futures USA Executive Director Kim Vann, who also serves as director of community development for the Joplin R-8 School District, received $20,000 for working 20 hours a week for the not-for-profit.
The 2013 tax return shows that Mrs. Vann is working the same 20 hours per week, but since a change in accounting took place, resulting in the short form, her salary is not listed, nor are the salaries of any other directors.
Most of Bright Futures USA's money came during the months following the May 22, 2011, Joplin Tornado, at a time when contributions to Bright Futures were being promoted as a way to help deal with the disaster. According to the IRS documents, Bright Futures USA received $270,589 during 2011.
That money was nearly all gone by June 30, 2013, with the IRS documents showing only a $25,574 balance.
The 2012 and 2013 990 Forms show R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff as the assistant secretary for Bright Futures USA and show that he only devotes three hours a week to the not-for-profit and did not receive any salary in 2012.
Members of the board of directors, as listed in the 2013 990 Form, are listed below
Jerrod Hogan, past chairman/director
Nancy Good, treasurer
Troy Hill, chairman-elect
Bo Lee, director
Gary Burton, director
Michael Landis, director, resigned in April 2013
Dr. C. J. Huff, assistant secretary
Dr. Bruce Speck, director
Bryan Vowels, chairman
Bennie Crossland, director
Steve Patterson, assistant director
Randy Gariss, secretary
Rob O'Brian, director
Kim Vann, executive director
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8 comments:
Huff seems to be the opposite of Midas. Everything he touches seems to turn to dust instead of gold. Amazing. Even Bright Futures is mismanaged and broke. Is anything going right around here?
Let's see. Hmm. A few months back Turner ran posts about how the directors of Bright Futures both had a history of bankruptcies, and he took a lot of heat for that. Now we find out that Bright Futures, like R8, has over hired and overspent.
Gee, who saw this coming?
So, who has picked up the difference? Let me guess...R8!!!
Why is this organization, as well as Joplin Bright Futures, housed in the R8 administration building? And, why does its director, Kim Vann, help write and schedule Huff's speeches? This is just way too cozy. Too easy to push money from one group to another. Not that anyone would ever do that...
Perhaps the IRS needs to come in with Schweich. There's a lot of investigating to do in Joplin.
Let me guess, the Joplin Globe will run a huge story on this as well. What is Bright Futures doing that can't be done through all of the faith-based organizations which would not require extra staffing and salaries? Do you really believe that if you found out a student did not have a bed at home to sleep on, that none of the area churches would be willing to provide for that child's needs? Bright Futures should be nothing more than a Facebook page that people could post concerns on. Anyone wanting to help could simply visit the Facebook site a couple of times a day. This is just one more item on a long list of things that are completely mismanaged by Huff and company. How do you get on Huff's good side? Maybe I should buddy up to him and have him create me some imaginary high-paying position.
IRS audit to Joplin Bright Future/R8?
Bright Futures Joplin and Bright Futures USA are separate entirely. Joplin operates under the authority of the Joplin School district, but is funded by donors. USA is it's own 501C3. Neither of the Bright Futures are funded by Joplin Schools in any way. Even the BF Joplin staff (which is only 2 people) is paid by donors (not school funds).
It is not uncommon for a new non-profit that is building capacity to operate on a deficit budget as they are building a support base. It's much like a new business that takes out a loan to get started. Many times, a new non-profit has an initial investor(s) and then spends 2-3 years even getting to a place of self-sustainability.
If BF isn't funded by Joplin R-8 why do they have a $600,000 budget, and why are they housed in a the Administration building? Frankly, I don't see that Bright Futures provides anything that wasn't already being provided by faith-based and other charities.
The $600,000 listed on the board report is money that Bright Futures Joplin has already raised - it's money in the bank. The district allocates no funds for this program. BF Joplin is housed in the district office because they serve the district and work together with people on all levels to meet needs. A centralized location to do that makes sense. BF Joplin staff ARE district employees who live by all the same rules as other district employees - they are just funded by donations (much like if a position is grant funded or something like that). These two people share one office.
BF Joplin was designed by the community - faith based, business, and human services partners worked together to identify the school district's needs and ways that the community can work together to meet them (realizing that the school district cannot do everything). BF is like the bridge between the district and the community. BF works with the community agencies, but also with the school district. The goal is to connect the dots to meet student needs (which 505 were served this school year alone). But BF also supports a number of other initiatives throughout the district besides meet student needs (although that is the first priority). BF works with counselors, therapists, principals, and case managers within the district to help connect students and families to resources throughout the community. BF is not about duplicating services, but raising the level of accessibility to these services by bringing the agencies to the kids (as much as possible) and filling in any gaps that might exist (for instance if a family can't get help fast enough, BF would either find a partner church/agency or fill that need immediately until a proper referral could be made) so that the kids don't feel the impact of the difficulty QUITE as much. You can't save all kids from the hard things of life, but it is possible to build an intentional community network where all work together to help as much as possible. The goal here is not only to meet the immediate needs, but also to help connect families to agencies that can help them avoid being in these situations over and over. It's not
Kim Vann is the Director of Community Development & Communications department for the District. BF Joplin is a program in the department. Kim and others in the department have support roles in all of the district's communication - not just Dr. Huff's. In addition to that 40/hour/wk responsibility, Kim has taken on an additional amount of responsibility to help as the Executive Director of BFUSA because she believes in the mission of BF and wants to see it spread to help schools throughout the country.
Some things are not a scam, people. Sometimes people do things for the right reasons.
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