Pols back immigrants vs. ICE raids
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Local politicians and immigration
advocates last Friday called on
New Yorkers to prepare themselves
for ICE raids.
“This administration has really set
its sights on immigrant communities
and I want to make sure that New
Yorkers stay vigilant,” said Congressmember
Yvette Clarke, during a press
conference at Foley Square. Congressmembers
Nydia Velazquez and Adriano
Espaillat, Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams and Attorney General Leticia
James were also present.
On Wed., July 17, Mayor Bill de Blasio
said that Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents had been spotted
in the city at least eight times since Sat.,
July 13, AM New York reported.
“We are sending a strong message
to immigrants across New York,” said
Congressmember Nydia Velazquez,
whose district includes parts of the East
Village, Lower East Side, Brooklyn and
Queens. “You are our neighbor and
here in New York City, we take care of
our neighbors.”
Attorney General Letitia James said
she is working with attorneys general
across the U.S. to strengthen an underground
network of advocates, immigrant
groups, politicians and attorneys
to help individuals who feel threatened
by ICE to know their rights.
“My offi ce has been carefully monitoring
the situation,” she said, “and we
are assessing our legal actions.”
The Mayor’s Offi ce of Immigrant Affairs
and the American Civil Liberties
Union Web sites provide fact sheets
and tips on how individuals threatened
by ICE can protect themselves. For example,
if ICE agents come to a person’s
home, they must have a warrant signed
by a federal judge to enter.
“This is not new, they raid every
day,” Espaillat said. “It’s what we are
fi ghting.”
School-fundraiser portal vanishes; Cash, too
BY MICAELA MACAGNONE
NYCharities is an online contributions
portal that many nonprofi t
organizations and New York
City parent-teacher associations use to
manage donations. Web sites of organizations
that use NYCharities often include
a “donate” button that links directly to
the NYCharities Web site. NYCharities
then maximizes organizations’ abilities
to get donations, by allowing the donor
to create a recurring donation, asking
if the donor works for a company with
a matching-gifts program, and offering
tiered ticket pricing if organizations have
ticketed events.
All nonprofi ts are required to fi le a
Form 990, which is a federal tax return
exempting charities and nonprofi ts from
income tax. In August 2018, NYCharities’
nonprofi t status was revoked by the
Internal Revenue Service for “not fi ling
a Form 990-series return or notice for
three consecutive years.” NYCharities
did not publicly report this revocation.
NYCharities has gone into ghost mode.
Phone calls to its offi ce and knocks on
its door are not answered, as are most
e-mails. Google Reviews throughout the
last month have featured warnings like,
“FELLOW DONORS & CHARITIES
PLEASE SUBMIT A COMPLAINT TO
THE NYS ATTORNEY GENERAL.
— This nonprofi t has disappeared with
countless donations it received on behalf
of other non profi ts. The total amount
could amount to federal charges…” and
“The nycharities website is down. They
have taken donations on our company’s
behalf and now I am concerned I may
not get that money…” and “Sent a complaint
Congressmember Nydia Velazquez spoke at Foley Square, calling on
New Yorkers to educate themselves on their rights if confronted by
ICE agents.
form to the NYS AG offi ce. We
did as we are very concerned about no
communication from NYCharities, and
what is happening to recurring monthly
donation… .”
The last time the organization posted
on Facebook and Twitter was last
November. Three organizations that
worked with NYCharities, the P.T.A.
for P.S. 110 (in Greenpoint, Brooklyn),
Class Size Matters and Little Essentials,
have not received any donations from
NYCharities since May.
In 2015, the P.S. 110 P.T.A. obtained
501(c)(3) nonprofi t status. Parents involved
in other nonprofi ts at the time
had recommended NYCharities. Erica
Young, the school’s P.T.A. president,
said past interactions with NYCharities
were normal: NYCharities would send
the P.T.A. a check once a month, with
the money donated through the Web
site. The only thing that stuck out to
Young was that names were never used
in e-mails from NYCharities: No name
signed off on e-mail exchanges.
Last week, however, Young was redesigning
the P.T.A.’s Web site and realized
that the “Donate” button wasn’t working.
Initially, she thought it was just a
glitch. The following day, she got a phone
call from a parent whose nonprofi t also
works with NYCharities, who told Young
to check and see if she had received a
June deposit from NYCharities, because
her organization had not. Young realized
they had not received a check; the last
one they received from NYCharities was
May 8, though the NYCharities Web site
showed that it had “processed” all 138
donations it received from May and June.
Young called and e-mailed NYCharities
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
but received no response.
The P.S. 110 P.T.A. is owed $10,000
by NYCharities. The P.T.A. is responsible
for all the Brooklyn school’s artenrichment
programs; this past year the
P.T.A. paid for art residencies, a program
in the cafeteria called Wellness in the
Schools, and an orchestra program with
Carnegie Hall.
After not receiving a response from
NYCharities for a few days, Young called
the Manhattan District Attorney’s Offi ce
and went to the 94th Precinct, in Greenpoint.
Police at the precinct told her that
because the money wasn’t technically
stolen from Young herself, donors themselves
would have to come in to the precinct
if they wanted to press charges or
make a complaint.
Leonie Haimson, the executive director
of Class Size Matters, a nonprofi t
organization that advocates for smaller
classes in the city’s public schools, is
owed about $7,000 from NYCharities.
Haimson is one of the few who has been
able to get in contact with NYCharities
by e-mail in the last two months. She emailed
them on July 16 at 9:30 p.m., asking
for the whereabouts of May and June
donations. NYCharities responded at
10:30 p.m., saying: “We switched banks
in June, and so sent most every charity
amount by check. Is it possible that it
wasn’t accounted for because of the way
it came in?”
Again, no name was used in the e-mail
— and Haimson received no check. She
reached out to the New York State Attorney
General’s Offi ce about the matter
but received no information.
Wendy Moore, the executive director
of Little Essentials, tells a story similar to
that of Young and Haimson. Little Essentials
is an organization that offers “at-risk
families living in poverty urgently needed
children’s supplies and parenting education.”
The group has used NYCharities
without incident since 2012. But Moore
realized something was wrong when they
didn’t receive donations from May. Since
then she has submitted complaints to the
state attorney general and the New York
State Charities Bureau. Moore, Young
and Haimson all said they are concerned
about asking people to cancel their recurring
donations, and then asking them
to recommit to contributing again on a
different platform.
The list of the board of directors and
board of advisers on NYCharities’ Web
site includes more than 50 infl uential
names, along with their companies and
positions. Among them are Silda Wall,
founder of the Children For Children
Foundation and ex-wife of former Governor
Eliot Spitzer; John Haworth, director
of the George Gustav Heye Center at
the Smithsonian Museum of the American
Indian; Nolan Bushnell, founder of
Atari; and Charles Radcliffe, senior V.P.
at Morgan Stanley.
The attorney general’s and Manhattan
district attorney’s offi ces have both been
informed of NYCharities’ unresponsiveness
and the money it owes to P.T.A.’s
and other school groups.
However, the A.G.’s offi ce did not respond
to e-mails or phone calls requesting
comment from this paper; no one
picked up repeated calls to the press line.
The D.A.’s offi ce declined to comment,
and a spokesperson there would neither
confi rm nor deny if there is an active investigation
into NYCharities.
6 July 25 - August 7, 2019 DEX Schneps Media