One measure of how honest a non-profit organization is, is how transparent it is. Amethyst Foundation, Inc., is not very transparent, to put it mildly. They seem to try as hard as possible to maintain as much secrecy as possible. Their website is bare-bones with not a single name of anyone affiliated with it, only a general phone number and email address. There are only five consumer reviews of it on the entire web. If you've tried to find out anything about Amethyst Foundation, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's quite a feat for any corporation to keep such a low profile, particularly a non-profit. There's usually a reason for this.
For those, interested, I have located their IRS Form 990 filings for the fiscal years 2009, 2008, and 2007. Federal law mandates that at least the last three years must be made publicly available. Most non-profits provide more, but Amethyst Foundation supplies only the Federal minimum of three years.
Despite these 990 Forms being the most sparse, nondisclosing I've ever seen, they tell quite a story. For the last eight years, Amethyst Foundation, Inc., with its three tiny locations, has received over $1.2 million annually--99.5% from gifts, grants, contributions and membership fees (in other words exclusive, noncompetitive New Hampshire state contracts paid by the taxpayers). Where does the $1.2 million go? Total expenditures are reported to come to just under $1.2 million. They are breaking even, right? What an efficient non-profit!
Let's look closer: There are two employees. Bob Kelley, the Director, makes roughly $70k annually. The Board of Directors work for nothing (really??). There are no other key employees who are reported to earn any income.
"Office expenses" come to nearly $40,000(!)--I saw one old ink jet printer, some antique PCs, and a DVD player that doesn't work when I was there, and their documents look like the work of a high school student.
"Health Insurance" came to over $100,000, which is surprising given that there are only two employees. Are all the contract part-time workers provided with health insurance? I doubt that At least I've never heard of such a thing.
"Utilities" came to almost $20,000!
Most of the rest of the expenditures fall into the amorphous categories of "other salaries and wages" (roughly $550,000 annually) and "all other expenses" (roughly $100,000). Where is this $650k going to? There's no way of knowing. They can't employ that many people. It's impossible. And LADCs, administrators, janitors, etc...don't make that much. And the money's not going toward facilities--take a look at the dump that is Amethyst Foundation, Inc.'s corporate headquarters in Epping, New Hampshire:
Amethyst Foundation gets a gift from New Hampshire tax payers of $1.2 million yearly. More than half of that disappears into the amorphous categories of "other salaries and wages" and "other expenditures." Other amounts seem outrageously high. They also sit on nearly $700,000 of assets. And remember, because Amethyst Corporation, Inc., is a IRS 501(c)(3) corporation, they are tax exempt.
Despite these 990 Forms being the most sparse, nondisclosing I've ever seen, they tell quite a story. For the last eight years, Amethyst Foundation, Inc., with its three tiny locations, has received over $1.2 million annually--99.5% from gifts, grants, contributions and membership fees (in other words exclusive, noncompetitive New Hampshire state contracts paid by the taxpayers). Where does the $1.2 million go? Total expenditures are reported to come to just under $1.2 million. They are breaking even, right? What an efficient non-profit!
Let's look closer: There are two employees. Bob Kelley, the Director, makes roughly $70k annually. The Board of Directors work for nothing (really??). There are no other key employees who are reported to earn any income.
"Office expenses" come to nearly $40,000(!)--I saw one old ink jet printer, some antique PCs, and a DVD player that doesn't work when I was there, and their documents look like the work of a high school student.
"Health Insurance" came to over $100,000, which is surprising given that there are only two employees. Are all the contract part-time workers provided with health insurance? I doubt that At least I've never heard of such a thing.
"Utilities" came to almost $20,000!
Most of the rest of the expenditures fall into the amorphous categories of "other salaries and wages" (roughly $550,000 annually) and "all other expenses" (roughly $100,000). Where is this $650k going to? There's no way of knowing. They can't employ that many people. It's impossible. And LADCs, administrators, janitors, etc...don't make that much. And the money's not going toward facilities--take a look at the dump that is Amethyst Foundation, Inc.'s corporate headquarters in Epping, New Hampshire:
When investigating non-profit organizations, one looks for the following trouble signs:
- large end of year assets, which indicate hoarding;
- vague categories (such as "other salary and wages") to inflate spending; and,
- an overall lack of transparency.
Amethyst Foundation, Inc., exhibits all three. Their end of year assets are huge--nearly equal to their total revenue, in fact. They use very vague categories for most of their expenditures, suggesting that they might be inflating spending. The specific categories appear at face value to be inflated (Office expenses, Health Insurance, Utilities). And I refer to Amethyst Foundation, Inc., as the "Amethyst House of Mystery" because it is nearly completely lacking in transparency. Just google it for yourself and see.
What a sweet deal Amethyst has going. If they weren't so incompetent at what they do, and weren't such religious ideologues intent on forcing everyone into admitting they're "an alcoholic with an incurable disease" requiring months of AA attendance, it might even be somewhat moral.
What a sweet deal Amethyst has going. If they weren't so incompetent at what they do, and weren't such religious ideologues intent on forcing everyone into admitting they're "an alcoholic with an incurable disease" requiring months of AA attendance, it might even be somewhat moral.
Here are the IRS Form 990's that Amethyst Foundation filed for the last several years. The 2007 form has information on it for several prior years. The members of the Board of Directors are listed, too:
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