Nonprofit safeguards can prevent scandals

ELLEN RICE | Olympia • Published January 31, 2013 Modified January 30, 2013

0 comments

Thanks to John Dodge for his recent piece on embezzlement. Years ago, at the end of a very long fundraising Saturday, I was handed a bank bag containing about $90,000 to get to the bank on Monday. I drove home with a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel and spent a sleepless weekend worrying about that bank bag.

It occurred to me then that our group should have spent a few less minutes on decorating and a few more minutes thinking about money handling. In my many years of nonprofit work since then, I have decided there are two red flags that no volunteer or boss should ignore: 1) a money handler who is territorial or prickly and 2) a money handler who is too nice. Both of these behavior patterns deflect questions.

A few safeguards up front can save a lot of tears.

Similar stories:

Tracking device leads police to suspect in bank robbery

Tracking device leads police to suspect in bank robbery

Olympia police detained a bank robbery suspect Tuesday afternoon after a teller gave a tracking device, along with money, to a man who entered the South Sound Bank on the 2000 block of Harrison Avenue. The man implied he had a firearm and demanded cash.
Financial trauma finds it way to the ‘treasure islands’

Financial trauma finds it way to the ‘treasure islands’

A couple of years ago, the journalist Nicholas Shaxson published a fascinating, chilling book titled “Treasure Islands,” which explained how international tax havens – which are also, as the author pointed out, “secrecy jurisdictions” where many rules don’t apply – undermine economies around the world.
Robbery suspect worked near targeted bank

Robbery suspect worked near targeted bank

A 32-year-old former employee of the Grocery Outlet on Harrison Avenue is accused of robbing the South Sound Bank branch in the same strip mall where he worked, court papers state.
Swiss: 1,500 money-laundering cases last year

Swiss: 1,500 money-laundering cases last year

Unpaid fees lead to safe deposit caches of suspicious paintings and expensive jewelry. A foreign client's offshore deposits turn up possibly forged documents from the sale of tanks and high-caliber weapons to an African defense ministry.
Cyprus keeps limits on money flows

Cyprus keeps limits on money flows

Cyprus will keep limits on money transfers and withdrawals until it is more confident that its ailing banks will not face a run, the central bank's chief said Thursday.