There has been a lot of the talk about the PHCA’s financial position from the years 2011-2015. Was the organization bankrupted in 2013? Did it close? Did it really have $238,000 stolen from it? Let’s clear some things up.
First, let’s look at the financial position on five separate dates. These figures all come directly from the linked PHCA meeting minutes.
May 2012 – Total Assets: $502,981.04
July 2012 – Total Assets: $489,757.00
Nov 2012 – Total Assets: $441,681.43
May 2013 – Total Assets: $420,687.49
Nov 2013 – Total Assets: $400,000.00
The total amount of assets the PHCA had available to it certainly declined over this period. There were two major reasons for this that were both testified to.
1. Anita described how the economy wasn’t doing as well and it was more difficult for them to find donors in recent years.
2. There were no incoming grants as there had been in the past to pay employee salaries.
Jason led fundraising efforts for the PHCA which allowed them to continue to pay Stephanie her director’s salary and even provide her health coverage until May 2013 when Visalus stopped and it was clear, with no additional income or grants, payroll could no longer be afforded.
The prosecutor said during his questioning of Stephanie Serda that the community center was “bankrupt” in May 2013. At that time, the PHCA’s total assets were some $420,000; yes, a drop from the previous year to be sure, but certainly NOT BANKRUPT. In fact, the PHCA is still operating today.
Later in that year, the total assets were still $400,000 and the financial situation had been stabilized once the salaried positions had been eliminated and it was once again an all-volunteer organization. In fact, in the next year, they would be able to hire some additional tutors to help students with homework in the neighborhood.
Final thoughts. It should be quite clear that there was no theft of $238,000 possible from an organization with this financial situation. Yes, an $80,000 drop seems like a lot, but that was because the salary and benefits for Stephanie alone were $42,000 plus $8,000. The rest of the expenses went to the building’s utilities and maintenance. There just wasn’t money lying around to steal.
Yes, Jason ran the fundraiser so there was more money, but how much extra was it really for the center?
Numerous people testify to how much the PHCA was making on the Visalus. There were around $250,000 worth of Visalus purchased. The PHCA made 5% on those sales minus shipping. 5% of $250,000 is $12,500. The bill for shipping was around $8,000 from the PayPal records. This leaves a profit of about $4,500 for five months of work. Nice, but not $238,000. You might ask, what about the commissions? The total commissions during this period were around $30,000. Remember that Kristie didn’t start donating her commissions until she joined the board in the last month of Visalus sales. She and Jason had also already been selling Visalus for more than a year before doing it with the PHCA. The commission holders also had to keep some of their money for taxes on their respective incomes. This leaves about $15,000 in commissions for the community center. The $15,000 plus the $4,500 means that the Visalus fundraiser netted around $19,500 for the PHCA. A figure attested to by both Steve Kramer and Jason himself. An excellent fundraiser, but not something that would ward off the inevitable; the PHCA could not afford their payroll and expenses so changes had to be made.