Trayvon’s Foundation: Following the Paper Trail
(A Guest Post By Treeper: Big Jim)
Not long after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense, Trayvon’s family created a charitable, tax-exempt organization, the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation, Inc.
Given the volume of smaller donations that have been generated during the public appearances of Trayvon’s parents, and that some larger organizational donations have been received by the Foundation, I wanted to find out how much money had flowed into and out of the Foundation.
In order to find the money I needed to follow the paper trail, and as you will see below, in following the paper trail I ran into a few surprises.
For a tax-exempt organization the paper trail starts with its incorporation. In order for an organization to have tax-exempt status (a “501(c)(3)” organization) it must comply with Internal Revenue Service regulations.
These regulations govern the structure, operations, and reporting requirements of tax-exempt organizations. IRS regulations state that a tax-exempt charity must be organized as a corporation, trust, or association. So my first stop was the Florida Secretary of State’s Corporation Division.
The Corporation Division’s web site identifies the corporate officers and other relevant information about the organization. https://www.sunbiz.org/
The Foundation was created as follows:
- Name: Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation, Inc.
- Date Filed: 3/30/12
- Registered Agent: Marlon A. Hill, Esq.
- Director: Stephanie Fulton [Trayvon’s aunt]
- Director: Sybrina Fulton [Trayvon’s mother]
- Director: Jahvarius Fulton [Trayvon’s half-brother]
- Director: Michael Hall [marketing director of MediumFour]
The record also has an attached “Articles of Incorporation,” that describes the purpose of the organization and how it is to be governed.
From the corporate record we can make some interesting connections. Michael Hall is the “chief of ideation and marketing” for MediumFour, a marketing firm. MediumFour also happens to be the firm that handles marketing for the Parks & Crump law firm. https://www.mediumfour.com/archive/portfolio/parks-and-crump/
Parks and Crump, commonly referred to as part of the “Scheme Team”, are attorneys for the Martin/Fulton family.
It is also interesting that Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, was originally not a director of the Foundation.
But the most interesting thing to be gleaned from the corporate record as of October 6th was that the Justice For Trayvon Martin Foundation, Inc. was no longer active as of 9/30/13.
According to the Corporations Division their corporate status was administratively changed to “inactive” because no one paid the annual fee or filed the annual report.
This meant that the Foundation could no longer function as a tax-exempt organization. According to Florida statutes “A corporation administratively dissolved continues its corporate existence but may not conduct any affairs except that necessary to wind up and liquidate its affairs under s. 617.1405 and adopt a plan of distribution of assets pursuant to s. 617.1406.”
Apparently someone in the Foundation noticed the lapse, and by October 9th the Foundation was reinstated back to October 1st.
In addition, there were two changes to the governance of the Foundation. Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, replaced Michael Hall as director, and Kim McCray replaced Marlon Hall as the registered agent. McCray is also identified in various news stories as the executive director of the Foundation.
The Foundation solicits donations through a link on its web site: trayvonmartinfoundation.org/donate/
Having followed the paper trail this far, here’s where I had hoped to pick up the money trail. Many charitable organizations post their financial information on their web sites; the Justice for Trayvon Foundation does not.
Interestingly, donations don’t actually go to the Foundation. They go to The Miami Foundation:
“Please mail check/money order to: The Trayvon Martin Foundation c/o The Miami Foundation 200 S Biscayne Boulevard Ste 505 Miami, FL 33131”
The Miami Foundation also administers Trayvon Martin Foundation donations: “The Miami Foundation administers all funds going directly to the Trayvon Martin Foundation.”
In fact, donors are specifically instructed not to make out checks to the Trayvon Martin Foundation: “If you would like to mail in your donation, please make all checks/money orders payable to: The Miami Foundation (DO NOT make donations payable to ‘The Trayvon Martin Foundation’).” [emphasis mine]
The Miami Foundation manages and administers donations for a number of charitable organizations, and its financial information is available through its web site. (www.miamifoundation.org) Unfortunately, neither the Miami Foundation’s 2012 IRS Form 990 nor their financial statements, contain any information on the revenue or expenses of each of their client organizations.
So I decided to go to the Internal Revenue Service web site. The IRS has a web page at which one can search for charitable organizations.
https://www.irs.gov/Charities-&-Non-Profits/Charitable-Organizations
But a search for the “Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation,” and various permutations of that, revealed nothing. So I went back to the corporate record, got the Foundation’s EIN number (also known as a federal tax ID number), and did a search using that.
To my surprise, the Justice for Trayvon EIN number, that’s listed with their corporation information, is actualy the EIN number of The Miami Foundation.
This is from the Trayvon foundation corporate record:
And this is what pops up on the IRS web site:
So at this point I am unable to find the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation’s Form 990. Why is the Form 990 important? The Wikipedia article explains:
The Form 990 provides the public with financial information about a given organization, and is often the only source of such information. It is also used by government agencies to prevent organizations from abusing their tax-exempt status. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_forms#990
If you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor, I’ve kicked over a few rocks and hit a brick wall. And ended up with some questions:
1) Why does the Trayvon foundation list the Miami Foundation’s EIN number in their corporate information?
2) Does the Trayvon foundation intend to file a Form 990? If so, when? If not, why not?
3) What compensation do the directors of the Trayvon foundation receive?
4) What are the Foundation’s other expenses?
5) Since the Miami Foundation processes the donations and administers the funds of the Trayvon Foundation, what do the directors of the Trayvon Foundation actually DO?
6) What financial controls does the Miami Foundation have in place to ensure that funds donated to the Trayvon Foundation actually go to the Trayvon Foundation? Since the checks are made out to the Miami Foundation, the only way to distinguish a Trayvon Foundation donation is the “in care of” note on the envelope.
7) What percentage of the Trayvon Foundation revenue goes to accomplish the goals listed in their corporate charter, and what percentage is overhead expense?
8) Out of all of the Foundation’s financial assets, how much is dedicated to specific projects and how much is available for discretionary use?
The next step is to contact the Justice for Trayvon Foundation and request a copy of their 2012 Form 990. As the Wikipedia article notes:
IRC 6104(d) regulations state that an organization must provide copies of its three most recent Forms 990 to anyone who requests them, whether in person, by mail, fax, or e- mail.
So I’m going to contact the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation and request a copy of their Form 990.
To be continued . . . . . . . .