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Public Interest Watch (PIW) Calls on Attorney General and Local Law Enforcement Officials to Investigate "Keep it Rural, Calaveras (KIR)" State and Federal Non Profit Reporting Requirement Violations Alleged
Sacramento-- Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today called on California Attorney General Jerry Brown to enforce the law, and compel ALL non-profit scofflaws to file the proper documents required by law to prevent abuse that reflects poorly on legitimate tax-exempt organizations. More

Stop Frivolous Lawsuits in West Virginia that Destroy the Public Interest
When frivolous lawsuits undermine the legal system, the public interest is in danger. Repeated queries to Public Interest Watch have been received concerning a number of highly questionable lawsuits against Dr. John A. King and Putnam General Hospital in West Virginia. The lawsuits are especially troubling because there appears to be evidence of multiple fraudulent claims, and it's time for the State to involve itself in this matter before taxpayers find themselves paying for yet another baseless lawsuit that erodes trust and abuses our judicial branch. As the enclosed video link proves, the facts belie the arguments offered by these litigious plaintiffs. Public Interest Watch urges action on this situation.

Watch this video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ai8T8mhCGuA

Public Interest Watch Urges Action Against "Criminalization of Health Care"
Says West Virginia hospital fiasco is example of lawsuit abuse, not health care crisis. Public Interest Watch (PIW) urged state and federal legislative reform to address rampant lawsuit abuse and its impact on consumers and America's health care system. More

Public watchdog announces complaints against California Reclamation District 348
"Apparent violations of state and federal tax, open records and open meeting laws." Public Interest Watch details "Complex Web of Apparent Wrongdoing" More

IRS Cracks Down on Greenpeace
After an intensive audit, the Internal Revenue Service found nine deficiencies in the management and practices of Greenpeace USA and warned that "Failure to ensure appropriateness of grant and gift funds could jeopardize the exempt status of {Greenpeace} fund." More

Complaint Filed with California Attorney general Against "The Treehouse Inc.", A Non-Profit Charity Established To Support Autistic Children
October 11, 2005, - Public Interest Watch (PIW) has uncovered that a complaint was filed against “The Treehouse Inc” with the California Attorney General's Office. The complaint alleges that the organization, based in Sacramento, failed to register within the prescribed time period as required under California Government Code Section 12585. More

Censorship By Google Threatens To Derail Library Project
September 22, 2005, - Los Angeles-Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today warned Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library against turning over their research collections to Google, Inc. for inclusion its Internet databases. More

Public Interest Watch ("PIW") applauds the passage of SB 5, the landmark telecommunications bill.
August 11, 2005, - For too long, cable companies have enjoyed an unregulated monopoly that has resulted in higher costs, bad customer service, and limited programming choices for consumers. More

Watchdog group applauds House legislation to crack down on unscrupulous lenders like Pioneer Financial Services
June 28, 2005, Los Angeles, CA - Public Interest Watch (PIW) applauds new legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives designed to eliminate the unscrupulous practices of military lenders like Pioneer Financial Services, Inc (Pioneer). More

$ 1.1 Million Dollars in the Public Interest, or in Self-Interest?
Environmental Defense Center takes in over $1 Million Dollars in attorney's fees from filing lawsuits against federal, state, and local government agencies. More

Qwest Behind Coalition Effort to Derail Telecom Mergers
MARCH 22, 2005-- LOS ANGELES, CA-- Public Interest Watch (PIW) today said it has contacted all 80 members of the Coalition for Equitable & Affordable Rural Service (CLEAR Coalition) -- a coalition created to reform the Universal Service fund -- to shed further light on Qwest Communications and its public relations firm Dittus Communications' involvement with the coalition. More

Watchdog Group Calls on U.S. Rep. Sam Graves to Close Loophole For Company That Exploits Military Personnel
February 25, 2005, Los Angeles -- Public Interest Watch (“PIW”) today accused Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) of introducing a bill, HR 97, to specifically eliminate the competition of a Missouri company, Pioneer Financial Services, Inc., (“Pioneer”) which makes controversial, high-cost loans to military personnel. More

Mandela's Son's Death Could Have Been Prevented Los Angeles, CA - January 7, 2005 - Public Interest Watch today acknowledges the tragic loss of Nelson Mandela's son, Makgatho to AIDS but his death could have been prevented.
more

American Heart Association Trades Its Logo For Cash
Los Angeles, CA-- October 27, 2004. Public Interest Watch today called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the American Heart Association ("AHA") allowed its logo to be used in commercial endorsements for Subway sandwiches, in return for millions of dollars in contributions from Subway. More

Public Interest Watch Calls For IRS Investigation of Top Environmental Charities
Los Angeles, CA - August 19, 2004. Public Interest Watch (PIW) today called for an Internal Revenue Service investigation of some of the top environmental charities in the country.
The request was made after a PIW report on executive compensation found that at least two major environmental non-profits-Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Environmental Defense- paid enormous six figure executive salaries, while publicly seeking urgent contributions ostensibly to fund program activities. More

PIW Challenges UK-funded Congressional Junket
The British government is sponsoring an all-expenses paid junket to London next week, to lobby congressional staffers on global warming. According to an itinerary drafted by a British Embassy official in Washington, staffers from your respective offices are planning to attend.

The idea of a foreign government wining and dining Hill staffers overseas in an attempt to subvert U.S. policy is extremely troubling to my organization. Both the House and Senate have enacted "gift bans" that govern the conduct of registered lobbyists and staffers. While the gift ban does not apply to a foreign government, this junket certainly flies in the face of its intent. More

Public Interest Watch Opens Investigation Into “Focus on The family”
Colorado-Based Organization Using Tax Exempt Funds to Lobby Against Gay Marriages
Los Angeles -Public Interest Watch has opened an investigation into possible violations of tax law by Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family based on media accounts of the charitable organization’s high profile lobbying activities. Link to: More

Greenpeace's Secret Warehouse Exposed,
Says Public Interest Watch Facility Serves as Command and Control Center for Greenpeace's Controversial Activities
Public Interest Watch (PIW) has uncovered the exact location of the secret "action warehouse" Greenpeace uses to coordinate its controversial actions. Hidden behind its doors is a treasure trove of information about Greenpeace's operations and its future plans.

According to Public Interest Watch, Greenpeace uses the warehouse, located in suburban Washington, D.C., to store props and train activists.

Greenpeace has attempted to raise money by offering tours of the warehouse to its biggest donors, but has gone to great lengths to keep its location secret. Link to: More

Greenpeace Accused of Money Laundering Donations
September 22, 2003 - A non-profit watchdog group today filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Greenpeace, accusing the organization of illegally soliciting and transferring millions of dollars in tax-deductible contributions. In a report titled "Green Peace, Dirty Money: Tax Violations in the World of Non-Profits," Public Interest Watch (PIW) accused Greenpeace - one of the world's most recognizable and visible non-profits - of knowingly and systematically violating United States tax laws. Link to: More

See the letter to the IRS

Greenpeace tax-exempt status revoked in Canada

July 21, 2003 New York Times editorial says that non-profits need greater oversight. Click here for full text.

Oracle's Ellison Scratches Politician's Backs, Taxpayer's Wallets
California taxpayers take note: Larry Ellison's back-scratching could take more money out of your pockets.

With federal regulators examining the anti-trust aspects of Oracle's hostile bid for rival PeopleSoft, California officials would do well to consider the possible negative effects on its state's already beleaguered financial situation. More

Dirty Half-Dozen? Some groups who describe themselves as charities to the IRS but whose own mission statements say they don't do charitable work:

1. The American Cause (Pat Buchanan's Group)
 2. Rainforest Action Network
3. Federation for American Immigration Reform
4. International Action Center
5. American Values (Gary Bauer's Group)
6. MoveOn.org

Read what the groups say about themselves to the IRS, what they say to potential donors, and what the law says qualifies as tax-deductible nonprofit activity. Here

Public Interest Watch Calls on Attorney General to Crack Down on Non-profit Group, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional
 Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today called on Attorney General Bill Lockyer to follow through on warnings issued to Hermandad Mexicana Nacional... More

Doctors Without Borders Creating New HIV Strains
 Los Angeles, CA - November 10, 2004 - Public Interest Watch today condemned French charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for its gross negligence in putting substandard AIDS drugs on the market in 27 countries, with the very real possibility of having caused new strains of drug-resistant HIV to emerge. More

Public Interest Watch Calls For Government Investigation of Ketchum Communications and American Society of Clinical Oncologists.
Los Angeles-September 8, 2004-Public Interest Watch ("PIW") today called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") to open a formal investigation of its contract with Ketchum Communications ("Ketchum") to promote reforms to Medicare. More

Letter to Dara Corrigan

Staffers in London on Brits’ dime
The Hill 6/30/04
The British government is hosting Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) and eight House a nd Senate staffers in London this week, in hopes of persuading them to push for adoption of more stringent environmental policies in Congress.
more

Certificate of Good Standing
It was brought to our attention that, due to an error at the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Public Interest Watch was erroneously listed as having been "dissolved.

This error was traced back to the Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs' failure to record an annual report filed by Public Interest Watch in 2003.

The Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs has acknowledged the mistake and issued a certificate of good standing for Public Interest Watch. That certificate is available to the public for inspection.

Attorney General Issues Impending Tax Assessment Warning to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
SACRAMENTO, June 7, 2004 - California Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued a "Warning of Impending Tax Assessment" to the directors, trustees and officers of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform on Tuesday, noting the group's failure to timely file IRS Form 990 for the previous four years. More

Assemblyman Haynes asks for probe of Greenpeace
SACRAMENTO, November 12, 2003 - Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, has asked Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate Greenpeace's use of charitable contributions, contending that the worldwide environmental organization is violating tax law.

Haynes' Nov. 6 letter to Lockyer, made public Wednesday, stems from accusations by a Washington-based group, Public Interest Watch, which monitors the compliance of non-profit agencies with charity rules. Link to: More

PIW files comments on IRS proposals to improve transparency for 501c3 tax-exempt organizations. Read the letter Activist Group Dogwood Alliance Tax Status Challenged
WASHINGTON, DC - Public Interest Watch (PIW) today petitioned the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Dogwood Alliance's activities, including collusion with Earth First extremists, and revoke the group's tax-exempt status. More

Charitable contributions for E.R. or P.R.?
Among the biggest recipients of tax-deductible, charitable contributions are nonprofit hospitals. Every year, they take in contributions that cost the public over $1 billion a year in lost tax revenues, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But are these contributions really being put to use for the benefit of the public? This classic corporate P.R. spin campaign waged by one nonprofit hospital raises some doubts. More

Charity or Business Development for Lawyers? California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) is a charitable organization that claims to work on behalf of nursing home residents. But the biggest beneficiaries of the group appear to be lawyers, who reaped over $2.5 million in fees in just one year from cases referred to them by CANHR's lawyer referral service. In February, PIW asked the IRS and state tax authorities to investigate the group. See the press release and IRS and FTB complaints.

Their cause, your tax dollars. A look at how ideologues, in a massive nonprofit corporate crime spree, are grabbing huge amounts of public money that doesn't belong to them. more

Is the IRS watching? In April of 2002 the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) completed a study of IRS oversight of nonprofit charitable organizations. The GAO concluded, in essence, that the IRS's approach to its oversight role is so lackadaisical that it is impossible to assess whether the agency is meeting its goals in this area—or even has any. "IRS has neither data on the type and extent of possible compliance issues in the charity community nor results-oriented goals and strategies for its oversight of charities. As a result, it is difficult to make judgments about the adequacy of its oversight of charities." Read the report.

Environmental Liberation Front leaders are forced to operate underground to avoid arrest for their illegal activities. But that doesn't stop them from operating with taxpayer-subsidized funding, thanks to charitable grants made to ELF by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).


PETA has every right to crusade for animal protection. But when they use tax-deductible contributions to support the activities of a criminal group, they work double time violating the rights of the public.
more

Nader and anti-immigration group targeted in IRS complaints. PIW asked the IRS last November to investigate apparent tax law violations by Ralph Nader's Center for Study of Responsive Law and the anti-immigration group Federation for American Immigration Reform. See the press release and complaints against FAIR and CSRL.

PIW asks for congressional hearings.
 In September we asked the House Ways and Means Committee to investigate abuses of laws regulating charities by ideological and advocacy groups.
Read our letter!

Last year, 285,733 self-described charitable organizations collected over one hundred billion dollars in tax-deductible contributions (meaning taxpayers footed between 35% and 45% of this amount). The IRS examined just 835 (or 0.29%) of them. For more on the lax oversight of nonprofits see the GAO's report, Tax-Exempt Organizations.

Research Resources

  • IRS Tax-Exempt Organization Information
  • Guide Star. Online IRS annual returns filed by nonprofits.
  • National Center for Charitable Statistics. Statistical research on nonprofits from the Urban Institute.
  • Give.org. Information from the Better Business Bureau and National Charities Information Bureau about individual charities for prospective donors. Incomplete, but about the best source available.
  • California Attorney General's Charities Division. Annual returns of both charities and 501(c)4 advocacy organizations operating in California.

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