PD - Nonprofit accused of misusing $185,000

Here's an article about this awful situation from the Press Democrat....

"This story is true, folks, I witnessed the whole thing, and will testify in this lawsuit.

It's really disgusting that the Trees Foundation would do this, while we scrape by on a shoestring budget from month to month. The donation was intended for us, and we should have gotten it; instead, the Trees Foundation decided to keep it for themselves. We all hope that this matter can be settled very soon.

Forever Wild,
Shunka Wakan"

Nonprofit accused of misusing $185,000

Lawsuit says Humboldt County's Trees Foundation ignored request to give funds to Earth First activists

By MIKE GENIELLA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A nationally known North Coast environmental organization was accused Thursday of keeping a $185,000 donation intended for Earth First activists.

The nonprofit Trees Foundation, a mainstay of environmental activism since 1991, allegedly used the money for other purposes despite the expressed wishes of the donor, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Humboldt County Superior Court.

Trees Foundation board Chairwoman Susan Barsotti said Thursday her southern Humboldt County-based organization "has done nothing wrong."

"We haven't seen the lawsuit, but I can say it's without merit," said Barsotti. She declined to discuss specific allegations.

But environmentalist Kathryn Miller, who said she divides her time between Humboldt County and Guatemala, contended that she made arrangements with the foundation to oversee a fund to benefit the North Coast Earth First Media Center in Arcata. It's headed by organizer Shunka Wakan.

The Trees Foundation has a practice of allowing donors to use the organization' s tax-exempt status to set up special funds to benefit designated recipients.

"Any interest earned on the account prior to the money being dispersed is considered Trees Foundation's fee for this service," according to the organization' s Web site.

Miller said in early 2005 she decided to donate $185,000 inherited from her mother's estate to the Earth First center.

Miller said the Trees Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization, agreed to hold the money for the exclusive use and benefit of the Earth First center.

"Since I was spending so much time in Guatemala, I believed I needed someone locally to administer these funds," said Miller.

But earlier this summer, Miller said she learned that none of the money had been turned over to the center.

In fact, Miller said she received a letter dated July 6 that informed her the Trees Foundation had "deposited the fund into our general operating account, and we've been using them for the benefit of dozens of groups and hundreds of activists."

Miller said she decided to file the lawsuit after demands for return of her donation and an accounting of the spending went unheeded.

"It's disgusting and disappointing, " Miller said.