Leaders, volunteers used charity money to finance events for themselves

John W. Allman and Michael Fechter of The Tampa Tribune investigated the activities of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Sarasota/Tampa Bay, finding that:
"For much of that time, it used money intended for sick children to pay for questionable expenses such as lavish dinners for chapter leaders and volunteers. It permitted and covered up a rogue fundraising operation in Sarasota through which hundreds of thousands of dollars passed, some of which has never been accounted for. It failed to comply with state and federal laws regulating charities. The charity says everything is as it should be now but refuses to substantiate that." Many of the details came from a former executive directory who was jailed for making personal use of her foundation credit card.