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I'm so mad at people giving Minnesota Freedom Foundation shit rn??? I spent three years processing donations for a small non-profit as my full-time job. Processing *$300k* of donations after a fundraiser took 3 FT staff working around the clock for 2 weeks. Doing nothing else.
Non-profits have to be EXTREMELY precise in how they handle money. Every year they get audited and have to account for where every single dollar came from and where every single dollar went. You have to make photocopies of every check, in duplicate. You have to keep databases.
And that's all BEFORE you give the money to the bank who has their own intensely scrutinized careful process to actually put the money in your account. It's not just a lump sum of $35 million that MFF got. That's also tens of millions of credit card transactions and checks.
Usually non-profits have to use credit (loans) to pay for expenses because the donated funds aren't actually available to spend for weeks or even a month.
35 MILLION dollars?! MFF only has THREE staff, to do EVERYTHING, including the actual bailing people out!!
35 MILLION dollars?! MFF only has THREE staff, to do EVERYTHING, including the actual bailing people out!!
And if you've ever dealt with courts and jails you know that's a fuck ton more bureaucracy that slows shit down. Courts are SLOW.
They spent $200k bailing people out in two weeks that's fucking IMPRESSIVE that more than their entire operating budget was
They spent $200k bailing people out in two weeks that's fucking IMPRESSIVE that more than their entire operating budget was
If someone had asked me when I was working at that job "WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR DONATIONS!! WHERE'S THE MONEY!" Only two weeks later??
The answer would be "sitting on my desk while I manually input them one by one into a database and create reports and records for the bank"
The answer would be "sitting on my desk while I manually input them one by one into a database and create reports and records for the bank"
If we had suddenly had $35 million in donations in two days I think I probably would have started crying under my desk
Yes of course we would need to hire more staff just to process everything
But hiring staff is itself a time consuming task it takes weeks at the very minimum
Yes of course we would need to hire more staff just to process everything
But hiring staff is itself a time consuming task it takes weeks at the very minimum
Except you can't pay the processing staff with the donated money until after you process the donations you're going to use to pay them
Unless you take out loans which you can't do until after you process the donations to prove to the banks that they should give you credit
Unless you take out loans which you can't do until after you process the donations to prove to the banks that they should give you credit
And if you took on volunteers you BETTER be REAL careful and make sure they know what they're doing. Any time we tried to used volunteers for donation processing they would make a bunch of mistakes which I would have to go back & correct or else the auditors would get on our ass
And if you're processing tens of millions of donations that's a LOT of potential mistakes human error is inevitable even in the best data entry staff let alone volunteers
And if you don't fix every mistake and make it perfect by the time the audit comes you're FUCKED
And if you don't fix every mistake and make it perfect by the time the audit comes you're FUCKED
You can face harsh penalties, even lose your non-profit status or face criminal charges, if you fail your audit badly enough
You need to have proof of where every single dollar came from & where every single dollar went
Receiving the money is Work but so is documenting spending
You need to have proof of where every single dollar came from & where every single dollar went
Receiving the money is Work but so is documenting spending
You can't just give the money to the store let alone to the court
You have to get itemized receipts, in duplicate, track all of them, manage whicu cost center they came from, report them to the bank, and keep them documented and organized enough for the auditors a year later
You have to get itemized receipts, in duplicate, track all of them, manage whicu cost center they came from, report them to the bank, and keep them documented and organized enough for the auditors a year later
If the auditor says "Where did you get the money for this $35 transaction" you better have a photocopy of the check
If they say "what did you do with this $35 donation" you better produce receipts
It's actually more complicated than that
If they say "what did you do with this $35 donation" you better produce receipts
It's actually more complicated than that
Thirty five million dollars, three staff, and sooooo many protesters that need to get bailed out with it RIGHT NOW?!
Have some fucking compassion they're doing the best they can.
"Bail out every protester in the country NOW. Period."
That's just not possible!! Not for a 501c3
Have some fucking compassion they're doing the best they can.
"Bail out every protester in the country NOW. Period."
That's just not possible!! Not for a 501c3
Right after a big fundraiser my boss would always come up to my desk right away and ask "So! How much did we raise? 
" And I always had to be like lady I can't even accurately TELL you how much we raised until after I process it all.
" And I always had to be like lady I can't even accurately TELL you how much we raised until after I process it all.
For one, I can't fucking count hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks in my head, and using a spreadsheet would be itself a ton of labor I might as well just properly process it all first
Plus we don't know what checks will bounce, what credit cards get declined or refunded
Plus we don't know what checks will bounce, what credit cards get declined or refunded
$35 million is a Rough Estimate I'm guessing. After all the fees, bad transactions, it's gonna be a different number.
Okay I'm done venting now just
The non-profit industrial complex has some messed up stuff going on yes.
But have some compassion for the workers. Please. These are just people trying their best. Labor takes time to perform. They're getting worked HARD right now lay off
The non-profit industrial complex has some messed up stuff going on yes.
But have some compassion for the workers. Please. These are just people trying their best. Labor takes time to perform. They're getting worked HARD right now lay off
