Task Force could be more open, watchdog says

A Hayden nonprofit consultant says Kootenai County's prominent human rights organization could be more transparent in its finances if it restructured.

Tim Hunt says it is difficult to track the revenue sources for Kootenai County Task Force, Inc. on Human Relations because it is not a nonprofit organization.

"I fully support everything they're doing. That's why this is so hard," said Hunt, retired director of the nonprofit management program at Northern Arizona University. "I've been a watchdog of nonprofits for the last at least 40 years, and particularly the ones whose goals I agree with, I like to see them operating within the parameters set down by the state of Idaho and the IRS."

But Tony Stewart, co-founder of the task force, said the group has good reason for not having nonprofit status.

Lobbying restrictions for 501 c3 nonprofits would hinder the 30-year-old organization's advocacy work and efforts to fight hate groups, Stewart said.

And the task force has the issue covered, he added. The group's sister organization, the Human Rights Education Institute, is a nonprofit and handles all of those responsibilities, he said, including accepting donations that are tax deductible.

"That's why we created HREI. We are an arm of one another," Stewart said. "Everything is routed to HREI that involves a 501 c3."

That way, the task force can do its work without being a nonprofit, he said.

"We're kind of in the twilight zone. We say we (the task force) are a not-for-profit, but we're not a nonprofit," Stewart said.

Hunt still has concerns.

"It is my understanding that you are either a nonprofit organization, or you're a profit making organization. There's nothing in between," he said.

Being a nonprofit would allow more access for the public and government to track the organization's finances, he said.

Nonprofits must spell out their income sources to the IRS on I-90 forms, he said, to prove they aren't competing unfairly with for-profit groups.

"You can look at their I-90 and see how they earn their money and how they spend their money," Hunt said. "With the task force, you can't find that information out."

Being a nonprofit could also add more protection for the group's board of directors, he added.

"When you become a corporation and then a nonprofit corporation, it extends an awful lot of freedom of personal liability from the individual board members," he said.

Stewart said the task force has nothing to hide.

Since its creation in 1981 - it became a state corporation in 1986 - the task force's budget has usually been about $1,000, Stewart said. In recent years, that has increased to $10,000.

The funds come from various individual donations, sometimes from board members themselves. The bulk is from the group's annual fundraising gala on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

"We make sure to tell everyone that their contributions are not tax deductible," Stewart assured.

As the task force is entirely volunteer and has no paid staff, he said, its funds are split between insurance, donations to HREI, and paying for its newsletter and setup at the North Idaho Fair.

Task force members often pay out-of-pocket to do the group's primary work, Stewart added, which includes traveling across the country to support towns and entities fighting hate groups, as well as advocating for hate crime victims.

He pointed to when the task force's attorney Norm Gissel donated two years to help with the lawsuit that drove out the Aryan Nations.

"We work on a really tiny budget. If we had lots of money, we would have no choice, we would have to go and become a 501 c3," Stewart said. "Our CPA (certified public accountant) says, 'If you want to operate really small and do lots of volunteer work, you can do it this way.'"

The group's CPA could not be reached on Monday.

The task force's hands would be tied as a nonprofit, Stewart added.

A 501 3C nonprofit is barred from lobbying legislators, for instance, which would pose a problem for the task force that has helped develop human rights laws, like the Anti-Malicious Harassment Law and the Domestic Terrorist Control Act.

"As a 501 c3, you can't criticize political leaders or lobby, so it's really confining," Stewart said.

The Human Rights Education Institute handles any major contributions or major expenses, he said.

The task force created the nonprofit 13 years ago for just that purpose, he said. HREI can both enjoy a tax-exempt status and operate on higher expenses, because it can accept large donations that are tax deductible.

HREI, which receives most contributions at its Human Rights Banquet in April, focuses on education only, Stewart added. Its funds are spent on activities like diversity training, educational programs for teachers and human rights events at schools.

Meanwhile, the task force is free to continue its advocacy work, Stewart said.

"It gets confusing for people, the difference between these two organizations," Stewart said, adding that task force members are also on the HREI board.

Dan Lepow, HREI executive director, said the partnership works.

"We have been hand in glove," he said. "We (HREI) do the educational activities, and they (the task force) do the legislative and advocating activities."

Task force board member Christie Wood said she isn't worried about improprieties within the group.

It isn't up to Hunt how the organization is structured, she added.

"It is our board that has the best determination on how to operate," Wood said.

Still, Hunt has other suggestions. He said the task force could also sacrifice its corporate status and become a subgroup of HREI, or become a 501 c4, which has more flexibility than a c3 nonprofit.

The IRS doesn't comment on specific cases.

Local CPAs asked to comment said they didn't know enough about the task force to give an opinion.

Stewart said the task force only wants to play a positive force in the community, and will always be open about its finances.

"Our tasks are to help victims and people who are discriminated against," he said. "We want to be transparent and open."