After the Huntersville town board voted 4-2 (Hines, Boone, Bales, Walsh in favor) last month to continue the immoral practice of forced charity, I decided to take a closer look at the beneficiary of this forced charity, the Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson (“Ada Jenkins”). I began by requesting their recent Form 990’s (the form the IRS requires tax-exempt organizations to file on an annual basis) from the executive director of Ada Jenkins, Georgia Krueger, which she provided. And then, unlike the four Huntersville board members who voted to spend $15,000 of other people’s money on Ada Jenkins, I sent some questions to Ms. Krueger so I could learn more about some of the information found in Ada Jenkins’ tax forms. Below are the ten questions I submitted followed by the response (or lack thereof) I received from Ms. Krueger yesterday.
- How much in total contributions did Ada Jenkins receive from any local, state, or federal government body in your last reported FY from July 2016 through June 2017?
- How much in total contributions did Ada Jenkins receive from any local, state, or federal government body in your FY from July 2015 through June 2016?
- How much did each body listed in response to Questions 1 and 2 contribute respectively to Ada Jenkins?
- Per your most recent 990, under revenue – why did Ada’s contributions/grants decrease from a reported $2,806,115 in the prior year to a reported $1,863,505 in the current year?
- Per your most recent 990, under expenses – why did Ada’s salaries/other compensation increase approx. $142K over the prior year when revenues were down approx. $942K over the prior year?
- How many paid staff does Ada Jenkins currently employ – both full-time and part-time respectively?
- Per your most recent 990, on pg. 31/39 under Fundraising Events – where did you hold the dinner/auction for Event #1 that listed rent/facility costs of $61,278? And under revenue for the same event – please explain line items 1, 2, and 3, i.e., why is gross income less than gross receipts?
- Please list all sources of food donations to Ada Jenkins other than from individuals.
- Why did the number of recipients listed as receiving food assistance in FY 14/15 – 4,315, decrease to 1,628 recipients in FY 15/16?
- Is Ada Jenkins currently accepting new clients for any of its services/programs? If no, please specify which services/programs are not currently accepting new clients. [Ada Jenkins is currently accepting new clients per the response of Ms. Krueger.]
Mr. Rowell,
As requested, I have sent you each of the 990’s. However, I am choosing not to answer your questions below. Ada Jenkins is an amazing center of hope for many people-the largest number of which are from Huntersville. We work closely with our client-partners, through a system of integrated services that support the entire family in reaching economic security. That is obviously life changing for the better.
We are taking new clients.
Georgia Krueger
Executive Director
It’s always interesting when someone in charge of an organization funded with tax dollars tells a taxpayer to, politely, go pound sand when they start asking questions.
Ada Jenkins has benefited from $170K in tax dollars from Huntersville since 2003, including the $15K in the budget the town just approved earlier this month. They have likely received a similar amount from Cornelius and Davidson over the years since Cornelius budgeted $15K in this year’s budget while Davidson budgeted $32,500 ($20K in maintenance funds and $12,500 from the town’s non-profit pot). In addition, Ada Jenkins will receive $25K from Mecklenburg County and another $25K from the state. If my math is right, that’s $112,500 in taxpayer funding that Ada Jenkins will benefit from in FY 18/19 (and that’s assuming they don’t receive any money from the federal government as well). I wonder if any of the elected officials from any of the bodies listed above would get a similar response from Ms. Krueger if they asked the same questions I did?
Ada Jenkins reported salaries/employee benefit expenses of $1,210,132 on their most recent tax form. Ms. Krueger reported an income of $84,019 on the same form, so where is the remainder of this salary money being paid? And why did salaries increase last year while Ada Jenkins reported that their expenses exceeded revenues by $56,033? This doesn’t seem to be a sustainable business model.
Another interesting note from their most recent tax form, Ada Jenkins has been utilizing the services of a professional fundraiser for the past two years. The interesting part – the company is located in Georgia! I thought everyone in Davidson bought local? Apparently the folks at Ada Jenkins need to learn to “Turn Around, Shop In Town!”
You can find copies of Ada Jenkins’ most recent Form 990’s below.
Ada Jenkins Form 990 2016 Ada Jenkins Form 990 2015 Ada Jenkins Form 990 2014Eric