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Members share how IRE opens doors for investigative journalism

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Contribute to the future of investigative journalism Investigative Reporters and Editors opens doors for investigative journalism. While we serve more than 5,300 members of IRE, the nonprofit also works to advance investigative reporting standards in newsrooms around the world through numerous educational initiatives. Together, these efforts ultimately benefit society at large through a more informed…

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Experts: County supervisor’s charity use violated state, federal laws

San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn said he bought a charity decades ago for $25, called it the Basic Faith Foundation and used it to hold money from real estate deals. Horn said he gave the interest to Christian missionaries in Mexico and South America. inewsource dug into the Basic Faith Foundation and into Horn’s…

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Audit shows Miss. rural water association plagued by financial problems

An audit of the North Lee County Water Association in Mississippi turned up widespread financial management problems, including violations of several state and federal laws, the Daily Journal (Tupelo, MS) reports. The audit, which is likely “the most rigorous examination ever” of the nonprofit cooperative’s financial records, comes on the heels of a $1.2 million loan from…

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Charity Checker

The Tampa Bay Times, in partnership with The Center for Investigative Reporting, has built an online tool to make charity research a little easier. Our “Charity Checker” website, for the first time, aggregates the ratings and reviews already offered by several of the nation’s most prominent watchdog organizations. With a simple search, you can see their…

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Some non-profits found to keep significant losses quiet

Charities and other non-profits often try to keep their losses quiet to avoid spooking donors, but a Washington Post investigation by Joe Stephens and Mary Pat Flaherty used a new IRS tax return checkbox to find more than 1,000 organizations that reported significant diversions of assets. The Post’s online database is being used by news…

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Extra Extra Monday: Poverty and profits, innocent drivers arrested, asbestos lawsuits and neglected abuse fatalities

Facing Foreclosure: Oklahoma’s mortgage settlement program benefits attorneys | Tulsa World“So far, the largest financial beneficiary of Oklahoma’s mortgage settlement program is a young attorney who used a system of vouchers and possibly a family connection to acquire dozens of clients.” Shocking cost investigation: Utility middle men charge renters inflated prices | Columbus Dispatch“A 10-month…

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Meet the lawyer who keeps some of America’s worst charities in business

“The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting spent a year identifying the 50 worst charities in America based on the money they paid to professional solicitation companies over the past decade. Copilevitz & Canter has represented nearly three-quarters of them, as well as most of their for-profit telemarketers and direct mail companies.”

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Dismissal of caregiver abuse puts California patients at risk

Ryan Gabrielson of The Center for Investigative Reporting reports that “California regulators routinely have conducted cursory and indifferent investigations into suspected violence and misconduct committed by hundreds of nursing assistants and in-home health aides – putting the elderly, sick and disabled at risk over the past decade.” In two stories published yesterday, Gabrielson’s examines how…

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San Diego law enforcement relied on troubled nonprofit to teach corrective behavior

For community service and corrective classes, San Diego law enforcement has sent defendants to organizations like the Corrective Behavior Institute for community service. In doing so, it has “sent people who haven’t followed the rules to a nonprofit that hasn’t followed them either,” according to an investigation by the Voice of San Diego, which found shoddy…

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Spoils of the sea elude many in an Alaska antipoverty plan

“Six nonprofit groups arose on the Bering Sea shore, and they have invested mightily in ships, real estate and processing plants. Over two decades, the groups amassed a combined net worth of $785 million. But the results on the ground, in rural community and economic development, have been deeply uneven, and nonexistent for many people…

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