Maggie Lane-Baker, chief executive officer of Help Is Here, the Arizona fiscal sponsor accused of keeping: $300,000 from six of its current and former projects’ grants and donations, admits she has funds from five projects, but claims the money belongs to HIH because the project directors didn’t follow her procedures and were “not in compliance” with IRS regulations.
The $250,000 grant from Walmart claimed by a sixth disgruntled project director, Marilyn Parker of National Defensive Training, was never received by Help Is Here, Lane-Baker said, July 24 when she finally responded to requests for comment. It was her phone call, however, to Parker on Sept. 25, 2011, announcing that the Walmart check had arrived, that Parker used to back her claim of a $250,000 loss.
“No way do I have $300,000,” Lane-Baker said. “I’ve been on the phone with Walmart all morning long.” She said she spoke with a “supervisor in Investment Relations” who said she would send a letter stating that Walmart had not awarded the grant, and Lane-Baker agreed to forward a copy of that letter to the Study Center.
Of the approximately $50,000 that five project directors say is tied up at HIH, Lane-Baker said that, yes, she does have that.
“It’s sitting in the (bank) account,” she said. “We have the right to absorb the funds and shut down the projects if they’re not in compliance, if we deem they are not in compliance with IRS regulations.
“We can’t reimburse for expenses we didn’t approve. I have no idea who they are” — people requesting reimbursement from various, especially international, projects.
“I’ve let a lot slide with these ladies,” Lane-Baker said of the complaining project directors.
When asked why she set up a bank account for projects to deposit donations directly instead of having them send the money to Help Is Here, as fiscal sponsors typically do, Lane-Baker said:
“I can do it the most convenient way I see fit.”
Asked why Help Is Here instituted the 24- to 48-hour policy for project directors to document deposits fast or lose the funds to HIH, she said:
“You can’t tell me how to run my business. Nobody can tell me how to run my business.
“I’m doing the best I can,” she said. “I didn’t ask for this job. It was handed to me because Mr. Mack (Bill Mack, listed on the Help Is Here Website as founder) was too old and couldn’t handle it.”
While discussing project Director Marilyn Parker and the Walmart grant, for which Lane-Baker said Parker had submitted the application, Lane-Baker said Parker should not have been talking to Study Center staff or anyone else about their relationship.
“She signed a gag release when she left Help Is Here,” she said. In the release Parker, according to the document, agreed that she “will in no way, make or allude to negative or derogatory implications verbally and/or in written format (ie. Facebook, Twitter, etc.).” The document was dated Sept. 20, 2011.
Parker, however, says it was Lane-Baker who made the application to Walmart “because Maggie said Walmart wouldn’t give it to a project, but would give to Help Is Here because it is established,” and Parker didn’t see the application nor sign off on it before it was submitted.
Regarding the gag release: “It’s trash as far as I’m concerned,” Parker said.
Posted Aug. 2, 2012
Other stories in this series about Help Is Here
Arizona fiscal sponsor accused of taking $300,000 — Part 1
Judges Are Listening to Abused Projects — Part 3