Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

Title:Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 (looking back, looking forward…), Yet I See I’d Outlined Nearly the Same Basics One Year Ago (Nov. 2016) [Published 11/21/2017]. (case-sensitive short-link ends “-7ZH”).  Published initially with tags; about 9,500 words including the “navigation” section with its outline of subtitles near the top, which I felt would help process the many images and references found in the middle. And an extended section on previously-blogged JPA (multi-state, i.e., “regional” government entity) WestEd, which now has a revamped website (which still neglects to post its financials and mis-states its date of origin by 30 years…).

Just in case, Title Terminology:  “In the Pipeline” is a common phrase (school-to-prison pipeline, cradle-to-career-pipeline), but here’s how I use it referring instead just to posts.

About This Post:

This post is shorter than most.  It serves a review and blog administrative function for my use, but  I’m publishing it in the belief it will also help readers see the FamilyCourtMatters blog continuity and understand that while it may seem like widely disparate groups I’m investigating and reporting on, in fact the investigations and reports together circle around some core, basic themes.  [This thought continued below the next “Navigation” section]

Navigation:  Blog sections, by Subtitle.  It seems there are six main sections.  Any section may contain text in a variety of formats, and/or images.  I only posted one table of Forms 990 (for a change!). The longer Sections 2 and 5, especially, set up the Posts in the Pipeline as being along the same concepts but just applied to different organizations.  There is overlap of type, and (future posts will show) also overlap of entities and personnel involved — hardly surprising because I’m looking at some of the more powerful foundations around, and major causes with public policy in transition…There is also some overlap of material below between some of the sections.

I don’t want us to lose sight of what some of these influential groups have themselves lost sight of — the requirement of holding to some real ethics, reason, and at least an attempt to keep their collaborating colleagues honest, instead of just “going for the jugular” on some groups which might be in competition for the same audiences.  Which I say happened in the recent prosecution of a sham (fake) cancer charities.  Not that they weren’t sham (I read — seems like they certainly were) — but they ALSO were in competition with the tobacco mega-fund money coursing triumphantly through government and the philanthropic sectors both, and often in partnership.

That last comment will make more sense in the context of reading up on “NAAG” and “NASCO” (see Outline here):

1. About This Post (you’re in it…)
2. Concentric Circles of Investigation, Common Themes – To Review 
   1. WestEd (MIA financials on both old and new websites; see prior posts on this).
   2. AISR at Brown and Annenberg Foundation-Related
   3. NGA
   4. NAAG, NASCO (current project and research themes)
   5. Multi-million-dollar MIA grants (overlaps with some of the above and below groups)
   6. Multi-million-dollar Grants not MIA, but it sure seems the projects are, and don’t look remotely that classy when parts of them show up, either…
   7. NCALP at Capital University (Columbus, Ohio) (transformed into) Family & Youth Law Center / and its IPV Collaborative personally assisting David Mandel’s career path through curricula marketing.
      1. Basic conclusion to the “Concentric Circles / Review” section:  “The more you look, the more of such situations surface.  How much is acceptable? It is really something which is subject to being controlled and monitored — or not?”
3. “The Same Basics One Year Ago, ” (brief, only one image)
4. More Recent Discoveries (contents include BizFilings, Guidestar, short section — but Guidestar info cont’d in another section)
5. Brief Recap of the recent Nov. 18 post and Nov. 11 page significance, and more images from “Guidestar, Inc.” (formerly “Philanthropic Research, Inc.”) and a bit on (Paul) Newman’s Own Foundation, Inc. (versions 1 & 2, based in Connecticut), also referenced as involved, or to be involved, in the MRFP and Single Portal Initiative… 
   1. Contains narrative and many images, plus a Form 990 table for GuideStar USA, Inc.
   2. Summarizes the most recent post and page, obviously.
6. IN GENERAL (barely a section, but it is a heading)
7. Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 (looking back, looking forward…)
   1. In image format (not interactive)
   2. In texts (bulleted, with titles, links and some surrounding descriptions from the context where they were first referenced).

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As you can see above, the actual list of posts is on the bottom in two formats:  Images (from my WordPress Admin site showing titles of post started in November and still in draft) and, for later convenience, text & titles with active links.  And some surrounding abstracts or reminders of the context.  And it’s at the bottom of the post.  FYI there were nine ten (10) in all, not six (6).  One more showed up which hadn’t been imaged (on the historic basis of “Sovereignty” concept, from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).*

*That is, after all, a big question (despite it having become a “dirty word” and negative- or positive-only values-laden descriptor for certain people with certain beliefs in the USA — the question in any form of government is “Who’s the boss?” (legally, and effectively/administratively which will often show up economically).  So, national “sovereignty” as a concept has origins in contrast to, it seems the Holy Roman Empire.  Worth thinking about in the historic sense. This post just provides some resources (links) for further reading.

An image looks like this (the example only has one title showing, though).

#3 of 3 (My Blog Posts Started Nov. 2017 in Draft, by when last modified (not originated). This one more of a study project from recent headlines on Puerto Rico debt and hurricane recovery 2017, transferable info.

A title with link looks just like what you see at the top, or will see if you scroll to the bottom of this post, below the images, to see those in the pipeline listed in bullet format, with some nearby fine-print summaries for most of them.  Why?  Because with enough memory pegs for the months or even possibly years of writing ahead (further down the FamilyCourtMatters road), I expect my head may be buried either deeper into this theme, or into a related one. I sometimes even dream about material I am currently working; it gets under one’s skin…Once it’s published, a previous multi-post project is buried less deeply in my psyche (so to speak), but is better available for mental recall when there’s enough surrounding context.  As with advertising, to a degree also with teaching (and learning): repetition helps comprehension, but better that the repetition is also tied to context.

…These concentric or overlapping circles are just getting wider and further back in time, and the drill-downs on the available financials (or searches when they are not available) deeper.  I am also considering more parts of a typical Form 990 when I do look, and more internal comparisons and looking more consistently at change over time (i.e., looking for earlier filings). So while some may wonder what “Education” or “Big Tobacco” have to do, really, with “Family Courts” or “Domestic Violence Prevention,” as a whole, they are dealing with and justified on the basis of financial matters, and involve similar vehicles and organizing tactics (networking) over time in pursuit if any national or international cause.

Developing overwhelming weight and influence (to stack the odds towards success) in pursuit of a privately chosen cause (public policy, message, results or outcomes) also regularly shows ongoing symptoms, often showing up after the fact or after the infrastructure is already entrenched with matters of control, secrecy, of sequestering of total government entity (collective) AND total corporate (collective, when it comes to the networks) size of assets and investments (income producing, whether through dividends and interest as held, or when sold) from public awareness, and on this basis, demanding more and more compliance, conformity, and personal concessions from the population as a whole.

Many aspects of this resemble tactics of batterers and coercive control when at the individual level which we might now simply call “abuse” or “domestic violence.” It’s the behavior of terrorist mentality, not of a personal subjection to law, and deep respect for others of differing economic, social, racial/ethnic, citizenship OR status.  Or of a different gender. Talk to women or, I’ll bet also men, who have been held captive to this kind of intimate or family control, coercion, and long-term intimidation, not to commonly-accepted laws, standards, or with regard to rights — but to simply what the abusers want.   The difference is just of scale and primary venue, and the bystander audiences addressed.  What I’m talking about here is when the bystander audiences are the entire country not “in on it,” and international participants, too.

Concentric Circles of Investigation, Common Themes – To Review

… … …To review, remember the “where’s your tax return?” status of certain major-cause-collaborating, well-financed (and public, private, or public-private in concert) groups I’ve blogged on? such as (just a few examples…):

• WestEd  (I notice the website has been, it seems, completely reformatted since I reported on this.  A horizontal timeline slideshow now exists.  While this probably relates to a 50th Anniversary (since 1966), I note there are STILL no Financials (CAFRs — it being a JPA, a government, not private, entity which crosses state borders, though domiciled in California), despite posting an impressive list by type of “Our Clients and Funders” (no amounts or years, and not distinguishing “clients” from “funders.”  It’s just a single page which links to nothing else).  So are the pages within the timeline, that I saw so far.
  • I posted on it Nov. 18, 2016, as “ConnectED + MPR Associates Inc. + Gary Hoachlander, WestEd, and the US Dept. of Ed, with help from James Irvine Foundation, shortlink ends in “-4LK”) (It is currently 16,000 words long, and a bit complex! Then again, so are the networks I am discussing and exposing…)”
  • I posted again on this situation the following May, under the theme “Disconnected,” which too many of us certainly have been from following our own government agency operations and financials, even those running school systems as massive human behavioral modification and teaching laboratories: “DISCONNECTED!” — More on ConnectEd (2006ff nonprofit) and WestEd (1995ff JPA claiming to be since 1966). Can YOU Follow the Connections, Find and Correlate the Financial Statements, and Name the EndGame(s)? [Publ. May 2017, updated twice since]. {short-link ending “-6k7”.}  This post proves that WestEd is government in part by looking up its designation on some of its various trademarks (which also, helpfully, provides years too).
  • See more below on this one, including images from its updated website, and key points from the above two posts…
• AISR (The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown) + CES (Coalition of Essential Schools) network, the Ted & Nancy Sizer et al.  Plenty posted before, enough said for now!
  • Except I recall some MIA grants involving a Chicago Entity, and later CPS Schools Chief being ousted for fraud in grants administration.  (See posts in below images)
  • Nearby “Broad Institute | Academy | Center | Foundation (versions 1 versions 2) possibly related.  Had to do with training for urban school system supervisors.
  • And, one post title with active link, and all those posts (in image form with dates published dates):

My Annenberg-related posts published so far; The names speak loudly. Click image to enlarge and see. Only one has tabs (and not all shown on this image)

An Annenberg-related FamilyCourtMatters post + publication date (but no tags), title also shown with link nearby (Nov. 21, 2017 new post)

Challenging the Annenbergs’ Public Education Challenge Grants, Still Searching for AISR@Brown as a Form 990 filer, Still Scrutinizing Why We Accept that Privately Controlled, Synched, Billion-Dollar, Tax-Exempt Foundations Care about the Public as Much as About Controlling Their Collective Assets (and the Public, Lest We Start Demanding a Better Look at the Books!) with case-sensitive short-link ending “-6yC”

The first several paragraphs here overlap from the originating post, before I “get into it,” scrutinizing some of the Forms 990PF and relationships between various Annenberg projects and their main foundation. *** [see below next para. and link]

As previously explained (on the last post, above), this is a large family foundation (well, at least one) whose primary wealth came from ownership of publications/media field — the sale of “Triangle Publications,” by a second-generation business success, Walter H. Annenberg.

• The NGA (National Governors’ Association) which controls its foundation (501©3) thereby allowing direct corporate “Fellows” concentration, with privileged access, to its conferences that normal citizens cannot attend (i.e., Pay-Us-To-Play in the “major leagues,” but for which no financials are shown, that I can see (view tax returns of the supporting “NGA Center for Best Practices” for more details).  The ‘NGA” is one of the “Big Seven” associations coordinating efforts before the Congress on their own behalf.  [no reminder text or images provided here; it’s more distant blog history…]
• …and now, more recently, I see the NAAG (National Association of Attorneys General) and NASCO (National Association of State Charity Officials), the NAAG’s “Mission Foundation” (formed in 2002? with funds from MSA Tobacco Settlement), and I haven’t yet explored in depth, but there are plenty of visuals showing a “NAGTRI” (Training and Research Institute) said to have been created in 2007 (logo below, accessible through main NAAG.org website).  Then again, it’s hard to explore what one can’t even access yet.

From what I can tell, now the History/Timeline (new feature) of WestEd doesn’t even show and tell — just “tell.” (No links showing up so afar in any individual page, take it ALL on faith…)

Apparently I’d been posting on WestEd the same year it was having a 50th Year Anniversary, resulting in a re-vamping and reorganization (content, format, visuals) of its own website. A look at the Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine” may show earlier versions, for what it’s worth…

• Remember also repeated instances of “You reported a multi-million-dollar grant in Year XX, but the grantee doesn’t acknowledge receiving it!” for various projects involving education transformation?  Or, grantee might, but the project is — WTF??  $10M for THAT? (Schoolmatters.com, just one example).
• Remember the evasively reporting (this goes back to late 2016 posts) “First Five Years Fund,” which ended up being found domiciled (as I recall) in Illinois, and the related “EduCare” with Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet family) backing?  Remember $10M reported for a resource to be developed called “Schoolmatters.com” being reported in many places — but the website doesn’t look like anything much at all was developed.
• Remember, in the State of Ohio, an “AdoptionLaw.org” website and reported HHS grants for it — but then the originator or carrier of it quickly changed its name to something else. ***

***This was associated with (“National Center for Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University“)..(Remember the IPV Collaborative and David Mandel’s “Safe & Together Training” gone international, or at least over to the UK?).  Click Donate on that website and it quickly becomes “Family and Youth Law Center” — it was re-named.

***How does a single individual’s named, and proprietary curriculum, attain privileged status for promotion at the state level involving not one, but at least TWO branches of government (Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Dept. of Job & Family Services) while the Ohio DVNetwork stands by in assent? (See prior posts on this for more information).

The “Search” function on top right corner of this blog will pull up some of the posts once some of the above phrases or names are entered:

“Law.Capital.EDU” titled “National Center for Adoption Law & Policy”. “DONATE to NCALP” page leads here. (Click here for that page or the image to enlarge just that portion of it.

Table of Contents (Access through the top-level “sticky post” by that name, so-called because it’s “stuck” constantly near the top of the main display section) will also show some posts on these topics or organizations/non-organizations / non-FS-revealing Joint Powers Agencies, etc.)…

“Law.Capital.EDU” titled “National Center for Adoption Law & Policy”. Check out how many logos shown (hint: one of the smallest logos, Casey Family Programs, is among the largest in resources). Notice how one of the largest, in terms of print, shows an individual’s name “David Mandel & Associates, LLC.” Click that link, then “Donate” to discover the new name and logo.. At what point do university centers exist to help solicit business for individuals neither on faculty nor a student, nor (??) major donors? This university is also in the state capital.

The more you look, the more of such situations surface.  How much is acceptable? It is really something which is subject to being controlled and monitored — or not?

I think we may have (we ALL have it, I just happened to find it recently) another such situation involving the “Single Portal Initiative” for which a 2003 initiative finally coughed up an RFI (Request For Information) from those granted funds for it only in 2016, and at the close of 2017 — anyone see an actual “single portal for charity registration and filing” yet?  I don’t.…  I see some websites which list all the state registration sites — but that’s something different, and not a “Single Portal,” either, even if this was a good idea in the first place….

MORE ON WestEd: I looked for the WestEd posting, including one “sticky” post published May 5, 2017, and updated the following July, i.e., not that long ago.  Here’s the post title, list of tags, and link to the related post (in this presentation, teal background, white font, below, with an inset-section showing those tags).

WestEd in fact, I’m reminded, in saying it dated back to 1966, simply lied. Its predecessor Regional Education Labs (two of them) may have, however, there is now no link (as there was pre-website restructuring) shown to the underlying 1996 (not “1966″) document that created WestEd and which made it absolutely clear that it was NOT a continuing, but a separate entity from those that combined in 1966.  The separation extended to financial responsibility too. As I recall….

I’ve copied the list of “tags,” separated by commas, from my earlier “”ConnectEd, …. WestEd, the US Dept. of Ed …. ” post, a significant one published in late 2016. Some of the tags are mini-statements, showing discovering this material got to my impassioned side… Here, I’ve bolded, italicized and even highlit a few.  When a “tag” turns into a complete sentence — well, that’s to make the point!

“Keep Your Eyes on the Assets” – Remember to do the Drilldowns, Alliance for Excellent Education (DC status revoked but still advertising), Are some 501©3s and (4s) actually formed for the purpose of their directors’ mutual investment strategies – with the company name simply a distracting cover?,Bernard L Madoff funds investment by Alliance for Excellent Education, Bridgespan (see Bain & Company) as subcontractor – and its agenda, Bridgespan wants philanthropic collaboration (collusion) on public schools. SEE TAX RETURN REFERENCES,Common Catalyst LLC (subcontractor), Communities in Schools, ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career, Corporate takeover of public educ happening through shape-shifting nonprofits backed by (sometimes) shady fiscal practices. Is this good for the low-income populations they are claiming to help?, Democracy Engine fundraising for a status-revoked “Alliance for Excellence in Educ” (at this writing per DCRA.gov bus entities search), Gary Hoachlander, MPR Associates, The Chronicle of Philanthropy requires subscription though reporting at times on its subscribers’ activities in public institutions (such as schools), The James Irvine Foundation, The Leeds Families (behind Alliance for Exct Education) — who are they?, WestEd

~| ~|~ |~

And, from that same “Disconnected” post, same link as introduces these tags, I also commented at the time:

Pardon the pun on an entity with the word “ConnectEd” in its name and another one who has, apparently, disconnected its governmental conscience from providing AND POSTING proper CAFR statements, year after year, starting with its first year of existence, yet while hiding this information, also is running RELS (regional education laboratories), which would seem to belie the basic meaning behind the word “educate” (“Contradict” might be a more appropriate word.  It’s hypocritical!) From this (“Disconnected!”) post, which was basically completed in draft form (except this introduction) March 27, 2017, I had to say:

“…I challenge anyone (I just did) to scour the entire WestEd website, including links at bottom, links at top, lists of Clients, list of Funders (check it out!), and see if there is ONE reference to the existence of any financial statement for the entity, anywhere on it.  It’s as though the inspired leadership has forgotten the “accounta-bility to taxpayers” part, although they’re quite active in evaluating, reporting and judging other entities providing education services.  FYI, State Boards of Education (several) were signers to the JPA** under both FWL and under SWRL, as well as The University of California Board of Regents.  But WestEd is still a separate agency — so where are its “books?”…..”

**(Joint Powers Agreemt. to form this Joint Powers Agency. FWL and SWRL will be shown below).   {The post title again: “DISCONNECTED!” — More on ConnectEd (2006ff nonprofit) and WestEd (1995ff JPA claiming to be since 1966). Can YOU Follow the Connections, Find and Correlate the Financial Statements, and Name the EndGame(s)? [Publ. May 2017, updated twice since]. with case-sensitive short-link ending “-6k7”.}

~. ~.~ .~

[End of extended “CONCENTRIC CIRCLES ~ REVIEW/REMINDER’ section]

Overall, I certainly enjoy the research and increased understanding, although the material raises many concerns about the ongoing viability of this country (not just this generation, but future ones, and I’m saying that as a mother of young adult daughters who have been — it still seems surreal — almost completely estranged to me as family members as a result of the “problem-solving courts” and “welfare reform” concepts, in application, over time).

With media more and more centralized, and the mouthpieces of tax-exempt foundations so often well-coordinated with each other (with certain political divides, as I continue to bring up, there is rarely a serious divide on whether or not their existence as a  sector should EVER be eliminated, or drastically restricted.  When it comes to “drastically restricted,” I wouldn’t be in favor of that, knowing in advance that those with most power (whether connections, or straightforward wealth, or access to it) would be on the surviving side, and those smaller ones they espoused as evidence of caring for the “vulnerable” and at the local level.

Basically, the competition would be reduced, leaving the field open for the most dominant, controlling, and not necessarily the most ethical ones to drown out, out-publicize, out-press-release, and out-replicate (cloning themselves) any “to the contrary” voices. I do believe, although I don’t really question whether the sham charities attacked were indeed sham, that the recent stated victories being declared over “Cancer Fund of America” and others by the attorneys general in concert and the FTC, represent this type of “eliminating the competition..” The victory was heavily leveraged and reported as indicating it may be time for the state regulators to take over, somehow, from the IRS, which clearly has failed.   I first noticed this on a California OAG page, then started seeing it in many other places.

MORE RECENT DISCOVERIES:

[SCR.com] See Partners list near bottom of image: Guidestar, BizFilings? Nat’l Council of Nonprofits Council and Perlman & Perlman. Guidestar provides a nonprofit database I used before discovering Foundation Center’s results provided in easier to print tables..

Guidestar (see “SimpleCharityRegistration.com” image, above) was only incorporated in 1995 (originally or at least before called Guidestar as “Philanthropic Research, Inc.,” a Delaware Corporation with a Williamsburg, Virginia address, in fact in the SunTrust Building, right across from the Courthouse, and as it turns out, for years is been right next to the Williamsburg (Community, per its Forms 990) Health Foundation formed in 1996. Guidestar is Suite 200, the health foundation, Suite 220, and refers viewers to Guidestar for more of its Form 990s PF) (click any image to enlarge).  I only looked up the street address because “4801 Courthouse Street” is an interesting address:

Referring to the Building only (see inset photo)

(Find is incidental to a street address only).

Click to enlarge, self-explanatory.

This FY2004 Return shows “address change” to probable move here over a dozen years ago, in 2004 (see “x” in top left corner of header info):

Philanthropic Research, Inc. only changed its name to better match its website, to “GUIDESTAR USA, Inc.” in 2008.  The “USA” definitely implies something “global” going on or the possibility of other countries’ “Guidestar” setups.  FY2016 tax return, in fact, includes a subcontractor from Bulgaria, which with Romania only joined the EU in 2007 as a post-Communist country. (Shown below on this post).

Entity rec’d $10M in contributions two years before it reported a USDOT grant in association with “NASCO,” an organization I can’t even locate an EIN# for…

From what I’ve seen of the filings, and as far as utility for non-paid subscribers, I wouldn’t want “Guidestar” as my personal “Guiding Star,” but it clearly wants to be that for the nonprofit (seeking grants and grantees) sector, and even got help from the USDOT in the form of a grant for helping streamline charitable registrations across the USA.  In FY2001 the entity reported (on Sched A of Support, years later showing the past five years) an unusually large (compared to other years) contribution of $10M as shown in next image.  So who can access that year’s tax returns, then?  Guidestar doesn’t post its own most recent on their website…

“The Same Basics One Year Ago, ” briefly:

“The Same Basics One Year Ago” is a reference to a sequence of posts near Thanksgiving 2016 covering substantial information on major foundations’ involvement in, say, the Wingspread Conferences and the Greenbook Initiative, all fundamental to the condition of family  courts vis-a-vis handling of criminal, particularly criminal domestic violence, issues, in the USA.

Here’s an image to some of those posts which I referred to in a nearby page (Nov. 13, 2016), called

This image shows the top of a related post (Fall, 2016) referenced on a 11/13/2016 page “The History of Money…” Click Image to enlarge.

A Brief Reminder of the History of Money, Banking and Other Significant Events When the USA’s (Other) Major Tax-Exempt Foundations Were Being Established [Page added 11-13-2016] (case-sensitive short-link ends “-4Za” |  updated for format almost exactly one year later …one image near the top and a few near the bottom also added.) ….Link to the post on the image is found in bold within next paragraph from the “Brief Reminder” page:
“…I removed content from a post published shortly after another US Presidential Election,* reminding us about the “Foundation Factor” influencing significant changes in all public institutions, and internationally coordinated, as well as when it comes to the material I was writing on, involving domestic violence and child treatment issues in the “civil and criminal justice systems” in the US (with family courts, though not specifically mentioned, coming as a specialized brand of civil, apparently). The foundation in question was Henry Luce Foundation, which corporate wealth came from the founder of Time, Life and Fortune.” (FYI, those other posts, in the image, seem to need revision of some image displays; when I upgraded the blog (mostly for storage capacity) the “WYSIWYG” (what you see is what you get) factor regarding image layout seems to have been altered. Some text may overlap the images.  Due to large quantity of posts (current count:  732 published, and about 45 pages too), I didn’t go back and reformat all of them, but am doing so sporadically as references to them come up. The content is still there, and decent though.).

The Wingspread Conferences were in Racine, Wisconsin, while at least one of the Greenbook authors, Jeffrey Edleson, was at the time (and long-time) in the University of Minnesota; since then he’s come back to UC Berkeley as Dean of the School of Social Welfare.  The inordinate influence this conference and the “Greenbook” has had upon the court system relates directly to the privacy, privatization with public backing, of the court transformation itself.  I’m posting the links again because the information particularly on the Wingspread Conference Center architecturally as an invitation-only site for limited-size private conferences on public matters, the S.C. Johnson Family it’s involved with, and related foundations, is still a big deal. I also found a connection (by personnel name) with a foundation I’m currently investigating.

So, no wonder they were exhibiting similar behaviors…

I try to keep my promises or “threats” if you will (:  to go back and publish information I’d felt it necessary to “off-ramp” or “back-burner” onto separate posts, held in draft status.  Sometimes after doing this but while continuing the current post, or otherwise in the research process, I run across (more) truly disturbing information I believe should take priority, which then will generate more information to be “back-burnered” or “off-ramped” if you will.

This happened recently, resulting in the Nov. 11 page [Shown on “Vital Links/Sidebar” about 5th from the top] and Nov. 18 post  [see “Recent Posts” on sidebar, or “Archives” calendar section if you’re reading this much later] dealing with the Single Portal Initiative, the “MIA” NAAG and NASCO entities and conflicting filing information on the joint creation of MRFP, Inc. (In 2013 it’s a Delaware Domestic LLC, in 2015 it files a Form 990-N (electronic post-card) with the IRS which revealed a New Haven, Connecticut (home to Yale, among other things) address. Knowing that the IRS-displayed addresses aren’t always legal domiciles, I then went to Connecticut and found an “exempt business entity” called “domestic” but only registered in 2016. So, “go figure…”

Brief Recap of the recent Nov. 18 post and Nov. 11 page significance, and more images from “Guidestar, Inc.” formerly “Philanthropic Research, Inc.” and a bit on (Paul) Newman’s Own Foundation, Inc. (versions 1 & 2, based in Connecticut), also referenced as involved, or to be involved, in the MRFP and Single Portal Initiative…

This material was also interesting to me as a person who has spent so much time looking up Forms 990 on databases that provide them — while some of the organizations behind those databases are involved, apparently, in the “Single Portal Initiative” (for the purpose of developing software to handle “MultiState Registration and Filing by Charities” (which MFRP, Inc. obviously stands for).  The Urban Institute came up (it has a charitable database, but not referenced much, that I could see, on the discussions).  Guidestar, Inc. also came up.  Take a look at 2008 vs. 2016 tax returns (pg.1 top only) for Guidestar.  Notice it had a name change in 2008 (header info, top left checkmark), and $9.7M gross receipts of which twice as much was “program service revenues” as “contributions.”  It’s basically charging fees for services, but tax-exempt as a corporation.

Prior website name on tax returns already read “Guidestar.org” (i.e.,didn’t reflect entity name) but in 2008, under Pres. Robt. G. Oppenhoff, the legal name was updated. Notice also main source of income is NOT contributions but program service revenues, which expenses have included royalties paid by nonprofits

GUIDESTAR 990, FY2016 Pt.I top (#1 of 4 images)

Total results: 3. Search Again.

Notice that a single typo in entering (human error?? OCR (optical character reading) error? by the operators of the “990finder” searcher and related database of Forms 990?  A single space entered in the middle of a word, between “Guide” and “Star” affects name search results, eliminating the YE2016 result.  This was corrected by using the EIN# instead  (next two images from 990 finder.

(Miscellaneous FYI: The different color schemes of my presentation (full-sized table with active links. teal-and-tan) vs. images (Navy blue header, gray-and-white striped rows screen-shots (captured images, not captured text) from 990Finder Search results) comes from my having blogged these tables (with interactive links, not as images) long enough before they restructured their user-interface website to different colors (and: larger fonts, more white space and less information per search result on that page), I kept mine the same to be recognizable as representing that source.  For capture of the text-format table (with active links) any background color has to be individually added by editing the html EVERY time you see a table as above, which I do through copy-and-pasting a boilerplate of that html.  This teal-and tan color also on FamilyCourtMatters.org helps distinguishes it from a similarly colored California Charitable Registry Search Results page (of similar, though not identical, color scheme) which I used often enough to believe it better not to have them both showing similar colors…).

MORE IMAGES from GUIDESTAR, Inc.’s FY2016 Form 990 (IRS tax return):

GUIDESTAR 990, FY2016 Pg 2 “Program Service Accomplishmts” (Annotations notice exps vs. revs and form completion) (#2 of 4 images)

GUIDESTAR 990, FY2016, Pg.8 bottom = Pt. VIIA total (only) & VIIB (Indep. Subcontractors), incl one in Bulgaria, with two superimposed images. (#3 of 4 images)

GUIDESTAR 990, FY2016, Pg.9 Top (Lns 1+2 only) = Pt. VIII showing primary source of revenues (compare also to Pt I Page 1, Summary) (#4 of 4 images)

On looking for a still earlier Guidestar (the above source seems to only go back to FY2002:  too bad, because its Schedule A (showing support going back 5 years more) shows a $10M grant (outsized compared to the others) for 2001), I found over $500K in two notes loaned to the organization by its President, Arthur W. Schmidt, Jr.  (images, below next quote).

Looking him up, a New York Times article from 2000 quotes him in the future of digitized information and web-posted Forms 990:

Accountability:  For Checking out a Charity, Remember the Number 990 (Nov. 20, 2000 in the NYT by David Cay Johnston)

[The article starts out:] WITH more than one million charities registered with the Internal Revenue Service, how is a donor to tell which charity for terminally ill children does good works and which allows its managers to live luxuriously? ….The principal source for comparing charities is an arcane document called the Form 990, which all but the smallest charities have filed annually with the Internal Revenue Service since 1942. The costs of collecting and examining this record have created what Dan Moore, a leading authority on charity regulation, calls ”enormous barriers” to analyzing how charities handled their money.

”We are riding a wave of change in the charitable sector in which it is easier to get answers, and it will be much easier, with many more sources providing information, in the years ahead,” said Mr. Moore, who is the registrar of charities for the State of New Mexico, an office in which fund-raising organizations must file their reports. || The wave is actually the new world of digital data. …

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…As the years pass and such data continue to be stored in computer banks, the forms can be mined to detect long-term spending patterns, which may provide a picture of how efficient and effective a charity is. Grant seekers and grant makers can also benefit from such information. Mr. Moore, like others in his field, said that he saw a future in which a host of watchdog charities will be set up just to give donors insights into which groups are worthy of support and which should be avoided.

Administrators of philanthropies and charities, fund-raisers and other experts in the field have long assumed that few donors would ever want to see a 990, much less parse it. But now that almost every charity’s 990 is posted on the Web at www .guidestar.org, and a rapidly growing number of charities are posting their 990’s on Web sites, it turns out that interest is much more widespread than many had imagined.

Guidestar says* that every week about 6,000 visitors read a 990, a small fraction of the 2.5 million Web page hits that Guidestar records weekly. The disparity in numbers, however, masks the utility of the 990.

[“||” above = a para. break.] *The nonprofit business formed in 1995 was “Philanthropic Research, Inc.” until 2008 but somehow even in 2000, it was “Guidestar” speaking, apparently (“Guidestar says…”). Classic switch of creation for the creator (product for the company or website name)…

Most of those who look at 990’s are grants officers at foundations, charity regulators, watchdogs and journalists, said Arthur W. Schmidt Jr., the president of Philanthropic Research, the charity in Williamsburg, Va., that operates Guidestar. The people scrutinizing the 990’s extract certain information and pass it on for wider use to consumers, he said.

”There is certainly an expectation that the genie is out of the bottle” now that the 990 is readily available, Mr. Schmidt said. That, in turn, has caused ”accountants and other professional advisers to radically change their advice on how to complete 990’s and other registration documents.”

Showing $423K and $137.221K startup loans in 1995 (ten yrs 5%, extend if operating revenues by then didn’t allow repayment) from then-President Arthur W. Schmidt Jr.

Interesting that in 2000 he was talking about people scrutinizing Form 990 data — not it being scanned into OCR-readable formats and translated into database info.

(See Image:) FY2002 Philanthropic Research, Inc. showing the note from Arthur W. Schmidt, Jr. included two notes payable at 2005, but only if the organizations was producing enough program service revenue by then (not to be repaid from donations)…  This tells me it has some startup operating loans from an interested person….

Overall, so much collateral information comes up that I highly recommend reading last post and page, each over 10,000 words and well-documented.  The post also brings up (though discussed in less detail than I found on the tax returns) “Newman’s Own Foundation” (funded by the late actor Paul Newman) which was named as a committed future contributor to the MFRP project alongside the much larger and older ($2B+) Charles Mott Foundation.

In followup, the usual kind, Newman’s Own Foundation immediately caught my attention by having two successive entities with two different ein#s under the exact same name — and that some of the children of the late actor have been protesting the handling of the latter, larger foundation. Two pdfs showing last return of the old (EIN#061247230), and first of the new  (061606588): (may need a second click on the page icon to open the pdfs):

•  Newmans Own Fndtn (NEW, EIN#061606588) INITIAL RETURN Sept1,2004-Aug31,2005 PaulNewman contribs 78’6M Partnership Interests (Brian Murphy in SantaMonica, Robt Forrester in WestptCT) 23pp
• NewmansOwnFndtn (Former~EIN#061247230, dissolved 2006) FY2004

–(9 more images from both sets of Newman’s Own Fnd’tn. tax returns: in blue for old, in red for new)–

FY2004? Old Foundation, showing much smaller contribution, not directly from P.L. Newman, but from Goodman Fielder/Burns Phillips in NSW, Australia (although the foundation still domiciled in the USA, Westport CT).

Sample, Old Foundation, showing hand-scrawled and cursory designations of all grantees (I looked through most available returns; the pattern holds for the most part. The grants also going to Aussie-NZ places. (Although the foundation still domiciled in the USA, Westport CT).

First contributions to the NEW “Newman’s Own” (Sched B) are $78.6M (even) from P.L. Newman, and next image shows in the noncash form of partnership interests. Like the earlier one, In Westport, Connecticut

First contrib’tn to the NEW “Newman’s Own Fndtn” (Sched B Pt. II for any noncash contribs) is $78.6M (even) from P.L. Newman, and in the noncash form of partnership interests. Like the earlier one, In Westport, Connecticut

The first one, however, struck me as highly unusual for being based in Connecticut, but taking money from and distributing money to locations in Australia and New Zealand.  In other words, it seem to be an extra-territorial (i.e., outside those countries) conduit for activities within those countries.  It was in a word, odd, as was the current foundation website (synonymous with Newman’s Own the for-profit company website — and with the top (CEO-level/Chairman — I DNR which exactly) leadership in common.  That website was not exactly truthful about when “Newman’s Own Foundation” actually formed (it was said, 2005) unless one already knew that that name meant only ONE of the two entities by that name.

What’s more, the statement “gave it all to charity” has to be evaluated, regardless of the foundation involved, in light of what assets it is currently holding, and in light of “in exchange for what” — i.e., major corporate tax reduction all round.  It’s nice to give away all the earnings, but like the parable of Jesus describing the widow’s mite — she gave all she had, while others who gave more, gave less regarding to their total possessions.  The same could be said of any donation situation, or any grant-making foundation.  There IS a “quid pro quo.”

Regarding the earlier Newman’s Own Foundation, while I didn’t get into it on that post (because of so much other material covered), my review (i.e., just looking at) historic tax returns as far back as I could go (not too far, considering it closed out around 2004/2005), and how the contributions were written, sometimes scrawled in, I had some questions as to the legitimacy overall.  Maybe there were — but it taking place in another country, and not having any corresponding identifies (such as an EIN#, if it were in the USA, for example), like a charity # or registration — those Form 990s were “take it on faith” as far as they go.

At this point, although it dissolved in 2006, I would still call it a question mark to be fit in with the other information, as well as more recent news as I mentioned, from the adult children of Paul Newman (Note:  Joanne Woodward also on tax returns…).

The other discovery, recently, though not news to people in the field or many lawyers I’m sure, was more about the “father of corporate law” (revision) (also a Yale grad, but his law degree from elsewhere) James Brooks Dill, and the CT Corporation as a way of bypassing the anti-trust laws of that era — meaning, post-Civil War and up to 1910.  And in New Jersey, for starters.

For what prompted it, see image of the two hands shaking, and the logos at the bottom of it near the top of this post (this image repeated on the related Nov. 11, 2017, published page, and probably the Nov. 18 post too):

IN GENERAL:

The amount of mental storage capacity or focus involved in producing any post has to substitute where I simply do not have the processing software to manage the information in, say, a database format with automated massaging of the data, or scanning it (etc.) into usable format, is going to occupy the forefront of my thinking while working on any post.  Then going back to previous ones and focuses is like re-starting the engines and getting them up to optimal speed with synchronized memory (referring to my own brain there) working smoothly to travel down the road some more, or move “product” down that pipeline.

I published only one page between November 5 and November 18.  Before then there were three in the pipeline.  After then there were three more in the pipeline.  I’m listing them here, first in “screen shot” (image) form (which will are in order by when last modified, not by when started) from the blog admin page — showing more than six started in November alone — and then by actual links.

Six Posts (at least) in the Pipeline, Pre-Thanksgiving 2017 (looking back, looking forward…)

Some of the off-ramped posts are more developed than others, and longer.

#1 of 3 (My Blog Posts Started Nov. 2017 in Draft, by when last modified (not originated)

#2 of 3 (My Blog Posts Started Nov. 2017 in Draft, by when last modified (not originated)

#3 of 3 (My Blog Posts Started Nov. 2017 in Draft, by when last modified (not originated). This one more of a study project from recent headlines on Puerto Rico debt and hurricane recovery 2017, transferable info.

Here is basically the same information, but with links and in some respects as displayed in certain posts already published.

POSTS IN THE PIPELINE (IN DRAFT) (as of this writing, but updated as I complete them), LOOKING BACKWARD:

ONES PROMISED and REFERENCED IN PREVIOUS POSTS:

During the “Before WHO’s HiAP” post, I started to experiment with a Post-as-Footnote format, to substitute for the technical capacity I don’t yet have — links to navigate within a page (to and from footnotes shown at the end as for academic papers, or say, within a “Wiki” article back and forth between its footnotes).  My version used a second bullet to indicate footnotes within the footnote post.  Easier shown than described… The post title is itself a footnote, the indents, labeled sections within it.

• (1) Post Footnotes for “Before WHO’s HiAP… A Closer Look at ICLEI-Local Gov’ts for Sustainability…” post, starting with “NYT Activists Fight Green Projects” (case-sensitive short-link ending “-7T1” started Nov. 2, 2017)
  • Footnote “NYT Journalism (sic)…”
  • Footnote NYT Company Ownership  — Then & Now
  • Footnote NRA On the Record — But Not Us (Yours Truly, the Center to End Gun Violence)
• UPDATE:  “Footnotes” Post Now Published @ Nov. 21, 2017

With this introduction, then link to another post in the pipeline:

“WHY IN THE UNITED STATES, WE SHOULDN’T JUST MENTALLY SLEEP THROUGH AND CONTINUE ASSENTING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, AND INCREASINGLY INTERNATIONAL AND PRIVATE, SELF_INTERESTED, SELF-PROMOTING CHARACTER OF NONPROFITS ESTABLISHED IN THE USA AND NAMED AFTER OR AFFECTING “GOVERNMENTS” OR FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT”  (see):

• (2) Happening NOW: Locally and within the USA, Matching Nonprofits to Legal Entities and Tracking Them* Remains (for Most) a Messy and Expensive and Unreliable Process at Best, but Internationally — More Streamlined, Monitored, and Standardized for Faster, Easier, and More Profitable Trade. See FSF, FSB (G20-formed, 2009), LEI Legal Entity Identifier [global database + system], GLEIF (Swiss Foundation), LOUs (who issue LEIs) and ‘KYC’ (Know Your Customer) (case-sensitive short-link ending “-7To” moved [from here] Nov. 3, 2017).
  • UPDATE:  Now Published, @ Nov. 23 (Thanksgiving Day), 2017.

Then, following up (as became evidently needed) on the “NRA On the Record” Footnote), with this surrounding information:

I posted some on the Footnote above, but this is looking like a separate post, based on what I’m finding and too many unidentified, possibly unregistered and/or misleadingly labeled groups promoting the policies, while complaining loudly about unregistered firearms and seeking increasing excuses to remove them from those whose mental stability is deemed (by family members or others) “unstable.” 

• (3) That spin-off post, once published, will be at: NRA (not) On the Record | Modeling Gun Control Prevention Laws after Domestic Violence Prevention Laws [i.e., Moving It Under the Mental Health Umbrella], Strategized through Unregistered “Consortia” or Misleadingly-labeled Nonprofits East (D.C.) and West (S.F.)? No Thanks!!; [Short-link ending “-7Um” started +/- Nov. 4, 2017] (Post title may change; the link will remain)….

I learned that The Joyce Foundation of Illinois (based in Chicago, assets nearing $1 billion, typical grants for a year, $35M, by specific categories, most years do not exceed revenues or investment gains whether from dividends or sales of assets) was identified as a major funder of both the LCAGV (Legal Community Against Gun Violence) in San Francisco, California (since the 1990s), and the “Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence” in D.C. (“EFSGV”)  Joyce Foundation wealth comes from a sole heiress who died in 1972, basis of wealth lumber and “material distribution centers” for the same.  The foundation, which files Forms 990PF, was formed in 1948.   From what I saw of the various tax returns, for both organizations, this is a significant “chunk” of their grants which seem to be primarily private…. The “EFSGV” is counterpart (501©3) to the 501©4 “CSGV,” both dating to the mid-1970s. Joyce Foundation is also obviously (from its grant-making) progressive.  For more, see spinoff post, or their website (financials, however, do not lead to or include the Forms 990PF).

Update: NRA post NOW PUBLISHED @Dec. 3, 2017 

And another one referenced in the same “Before WHO’s HiAP”post, which (as this next points out) was itself once a spin-off post.  I’m quoting the lead-in which mentions two prior “in-the-pipline” posts from October.  One of them has been published since (marked now with “strikeout…“). I’ll give the post first (as a numbered bullet), then the excerpt showing larger context:

• (4) Changing (the) World, Changing (the) Words: Sovereignty, Circumscribing Sovereignty versus Global ‘Citizenship’ (the Unmentionable: then who is the Global ‘Sovereign’?). References: (case-sensitive short-link ending “-7MB” draft post started Oct. 14, 2017). Regarding “sovereignty” and “citizens” — The quotations from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philsophy (and a few other places) and my related discussion (sic).

One of two spin-off posts I mentioned on the HiAP (HEALTH, not LAW*, in All Policies) … (“HiAP”) as coming up soon dealt briefly with definitions”Sovereignty” and how the concept of “Global Citizenship” I’d referenced in there seems to be in conflict with the core principle of “global” citizenship as undermining the historic concept of anything sovereign at all, while in practice, it certainly indicated something acting like one by demanding that “global” be proclaimed superior to and rule over national (sovereign) states.

Speaking of which, and strategies along the road to achieving a planetary “one world” government with, at least at this point, a not-named, invisible (earthly) global sovereign anyhow — the second post showed another nonprofit which had come to my attention, along the lines of other nonprofits I’ve mentioned as involving civil servants, such as “the Big Seven” — but this one not trying too hard to conceal its international origins and elements, a Massachusetts corp with a Colorado street address, and now going by “ICLEI-USA” or in full, “International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives-USA“

I said it like this, in a post-publication update (adding tags to this post and two others):

• (5) (Also it says, from Before WHO’s HiAP Post)”Why are Famous PRIVATE Foundations (Ford, Mott, Public Welfare and others) and On-line Mass Solicitation, DAF-collecting Companies (like JustGive.org) so Fond of Funky, “Failed-to-File” 501©3s — like Wisconsin’s barely-still-there CFFPP (Center for Families and Public Policy) and Its Board of 1hr/week Unpaid Father-Focused Networks (some entities, some not) Speakers, Conference-circuit Experts?” (Case-sensitive short-link ends “-7So,” started Oct. 29, 2017).   [[HAS NOW BEEN PUBLISHED @ Nov. 28, 2017, 10,000 words (!!) .
  • This now represents a 3-post series; I referenced two earlier ones and split one of them (“The Dark Side of Donor-Advised Funds…”).
  • I added a significant (large) section up front, after looking for direct HHS grants, if any, to CFFPP, and discovering again the “South Carolina Center for Fathers, Inc.”(SCCF”) which has a fascinating and good-to-be-aware of background sponsor (Catholic women’s order organization and health system), and is apparently run not from SC but from OH.
  • The SC Center for Fathers was only incorporated (spun off) in 2002 and is taking both HHS grants (direct) and grants from its (much larger / parent organization, the Sisters of St. Augustine Charitable Foundation of South Carolina) which is living off sales of existing securities, not its own program services or contributions, i.e., related entity contributions to the SCCF.
  • These in turn are re-granted to six or seven SC statewide fatherhood organizations.  Meanwhile, the religious charitable foundation behind it also grants out (what minor % of its non-charitable assets, perhaps 5%) to many organizations — but year after year (the years I checked in this century only, were available) the two largest grants each year to (A) The SC Dept. of Social Services and (B) the SCCF.
  • Grants at $2,000/year in the “90FK####” series named “Destination Fatherhood” started in 2015 for the SCFF, showing the “healthy marriage/responsible fatherhood” programming resources are at least still “healthy.” (Child Support Enforcement and Demonstration Projects, CFDA 93601, also shown on TAGGS.HHS.gov).
    

    Clues and signs of who not to take at face value, but who to be VERY concerned about — are easy to find through simple fact-checking — and by “who,” I don’t mean just the individuals running the featured organization on this post, but also and even more those who set up this system and are obviously “working it” for larger long-term goals than those advertised on the various websites individually or even collectively 

    But, the organization featured on this post has funders, and people running it, and could be considered “work product” of those who chose to set it up originally (starting with “Ford Foundation” as it acknowledges).

    This was a good post, and I hope it’s read all the way through.  It makes and supports basic points enough, I believe to reflect on the much larger system it’s a part of, including the system were major privately controlled tax-exempt organizations participate in influencing — and paying — government for their own purposes, while basic standards of compliance, ethics, and accountability are ignored, year after year, and organization website typically present lots of information — just not the most important information — about themselves and their backers. //LGH commentary Dec. 1, 2017.

  • In writing this one and checking some of the CFFPP bio blurb references (some of them, “again,”) I learned more (not yet posted) on the board relationships among and between the Baltimore-based CFUF.  A small reference to this was added to the intro of my post above, however.

This next one (shown in the images above) came both because it was a current headline, and because in the prior post, I contrasted following the headlines with following certain other trends. Sometimes what I hope to juxtapose within one post doesn’t fit; that’s how this one became separate. Also, it has continued as headline information, and I intend to continue looking into it.

What I saw so far, including of the set-up of “PROMESA,” is also good information to understand about how the US does business with its territories, and though independent, they can still be brought into financial servitude. Here, the devastating hurricane following on the heels of an going crisis of already existing devastating debt, needs to be investigated further, independently. While I know I can’t expect to complete such investigation, I can at least flag it from the “CAFR” perspective in the larger context of similar happenings across the nation.

• (6)Hurricanes, Puerto Rico, PREPA, Whitefish Energy Holdings: How REGULARLY Reading CAFRs can translate Crisis Journalism into More Meaningful Language, Building Depth Perception and Transferable Skills to Better Decipher Future Crisis Reporting. (short-link here ends “-7V9” post written & moved here Nov. 6, 2017)
  

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  PREPA = “Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority”; relevant in context of the recent hurricane destruction of the power grid in Puerto Rico.  “Whitefish Energy Holdings” is a Montana LLC with only two employees that got a $300M contract to restore power.  Search results from Google show FBI investigating the contract (etc.)

FORWARD-LOOKING || ONES GENERATED IN THE “ABOUT MRFP” POST: (with some explanatory info as shown in that About MRFP post….)

That post also generated its own follow-up list of three.  In order of writing:

•  (1) Upcoming, based on my recent check-in with The Urban Institute Form 990:

• (2) Then, on another mega (well, large and prominent) foundation in New York, I wrote:  Verrry interesting. It’s a whole other category of “out-there” “You’ve GOT to be kidding!” information and presentations, again, demonstrating how those already IN nonprofit board (or even major program — as in involving decisions on grant-making) power circles manage to spread their roots, quickly transplant operations if deemed a good idea, and seeking to standardize nonprofit measurement globally — while at home, leaving BIG gaps in accountability and transparency on their various organizations… And, I off-ramped it, except just two images to support a reference in the title.  See next five-line post title:

• (3) and, from RHF, above, tracking just two nonprofits associated with just one of its prominent (“star-studded” might be a better word) board of directors, and one of the nonprofits’ recent contractor, “Blessing White,” where “Blessing White Courses” generated $766K revenue in a single year (FY2015) for the entity, and obviously some certification/ replication / global consultancy with on-line deliverables was involved.

That’s it for now!