MIA Facts Site

"POW FOIA Litigation"
Tax Return for 2001

Cash position improves

The front page of Roger Hall's IRS Form 990 for tax year 2001   (October 2000 - September 2001) is displayed below.  Note the entries on Line 22 - - Cash, savings, and investments:

• Beginning of year: $30,226
• End of year:  $45,710

Thus, the cash, savings, and investments of the "POW FOIA Litigation" project increased by $15,484 in one year.  Not bad for an organization that is constantly complaining on the "MIA activist" websites that they are about to run out of money.

Donors

Unlike on the Supplemental Schedules for the 2000 return (not shown here), Hall does not list his donors.

Other Expenses

On Page 1 of the Supplemental Schedules (not shown here), Hall lists the following expenses:

Research	$60.00
Supplies	$1,342.00
Fundraising expenses	$7,705.00
Licenses and permits	$50.00
Amortization	$100.00
Telephone	$1,155.00
Travel	$173.00
Misc expense	$135.00

Fundraising expenses of $7,705 and only $60 spent on research?  I thought the POW FOIA Litigation was a research organization.

Let's examine some figures on this form

As pointed out above, the cash position of the organization increased from $30,226 at the beginning of the year to $45,710 at the end of the year -- and increase of $15,484 -- a 51 percent increase.  I wish I could increase my cash position by 51 percent a year.

Note that donations were $26,816.  The $15,484 increase in the cash position represents 58 percent of the donations.  I thought donations were supposed to fund operations, not increase the organization's bank account.

Note that fundraising expenses were $7,705 -- and they raised $26,816.  Thus, 28 percent of the funds they raised were spent to raise the funds.  While there is nothing illegal about this percentage, it far exceeds the guidelines used by professional fundraisers -- if their fees approach 20 percent, then the fundraiser is not providing the client a good return.  Or perhaps there is a cozy arrangement between the client (POW FOIA Litigation) and the fundraiser (unnamed).

But wait -- it gets better -- check out the figures for  2001.