Lack of transparency raises many concerns
It is my personal opinion that The Guardians Foundation has a true lack of transparency as to how monies collected are used, as well as a misrepresentation of information they present as “facts.” TGF should remove itself from Bonner County.
Discrepancies in Daily Bee article (June 6, 2016)
1. States — “In 2014, Sandpoint Elks named TGF the Veterans’ Organization of the Year.” Not true.
2. States — “ Costs nearly $20,000/year to keep Kootenai House up and running.” On Feb. 23, 2016, Mike Shaw stated it costs $12,000/year to maintain Kootenai House.
3. States — “The shelter (Kootenai House) is a small home that provides up to 2,190 bed nights annually to veterans and their families.” It should state that, it is capable of providing up to 2,190 bed nights annually to veterans and their families. Divide 2,190 by 365 days/year which equals six people per night, every night throughout the year. I’ve only seen two people staying at the house, and one is the house manager.
4. States — “I want to stay here until we reach our goal of $15,000, which is about three-fourths of our annual budget.” As quoted above, the Kootenai House costs $12,000/per year (includes rent, utilities, maintenance/repairs, insurance, etc.); why then is TGF trying to raise and take $20,000/year out of Bonner County?
5. States — “Earlier this year, he received Idaho’s Brightest Star Award from the governor’s office.” I believe Mike Shaw was put in for the award by Penny Poitras, one of his paid employees.
It is my opinion that all the information provided in the June 3 article, to the Bonner County Daily Bee, was provided by Michael Shaw, founder and CEO of The Guardians Foundation, and that none of the statements he made were ever checked out for accuracy.
We, in Bonner County have no information from TGF as to how many Bonner County veterans they have assisted and how they’ve been assisted. No way of tracking where money raised in Bonner County goes.
My opinion as to how it all started — In 2012 or 2013, two men from TGF set-up a table in front of Walmart and stated that, “money raised here is to only assist Bonner and Boundary County veterans in need.” The table was set-up on a Friday. On Monday, I phoned TGF in Coeur d’Alene, spoke with Penny Poitras (Mike Shaw’s right-hand person), and asked her how they accounted for the money raised in Bonner and Boundary counties so that it only went to help these two counties’ Veterans. Her response was, “That’s not true. The money can be used to assist veterans from California to Florida.” I believe that’s called misrepresentation on the part of the two TGF representatives. I think things have gone steadily downhill from there.
To review additional information regarding TGF, Google “The Guardians Foundation in Coeur d’Alene,” click on “Guardian Foundation Inc., Organization Report.” Scroll down to “governance” (you will see that “information is self-reported by the organization, meaning no one has ever investigated as to the truth and accuracy of their report. To all questions regarding transparency about essential board leadership practices, the answer was the same, “response not provided.”
As an additional comment, being as how TGF likes to state they have Guide Star Gold rating, in my opinion the rating really doesn’t mean anything. The Guide Star rating is based only on information provided to them by the applicant (TGF).
MICHAEL HARMELIN
Sandpoint