DO NOT GIVE MONEY TO ATHEIST ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL

 

by Martin Boers

In the past week, a person who claims to be the "Commercial Director" of Atheist Alliance International sent the following email to former supporters of the organisation, listing reasons why people should give money to AAI.


It will come as no surprise to followers of the AAI saga that the people who call themselves "directors" of AAI, without any legitimate mandate, continue to hide the truth about their ongoing mismanagement of the organisation.

What the above email fails to disclose is that Atheist Alliance International's tax-exempt status was revoked by the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) in 2016 due to their failure to fulfil their reporting obligations to the FTB. This means that, since 2016, AAI has been ineligible for the tax exemptions that are usually granted to non-profits registered in California, and AAI has therefore been accumulating a tax debt with the FTB for eight years. Based on information available on the FTB website, AAIs tax debt (including interest and penalties) could now be in excess of $10,000. That value will continue to increase until AAI meets the conditions to revive their business entity and then re-apply for tax-exempt status.

At the same time that AAI is hiding this information from potential donors, the recent email from the "Commercial Director" boasts about "financial accountability and low administrative costs". It proudly states: "we publish, for every campaign, how much money we raise and how we spend it." The AAI website says "We even publish itemized payments made to campaigns". Yet, if you look at the list of "itemized payments" on the AAI website, there are no entries dated later than mid-2021. For the past two years, AAI has been entirely opaque about how they have been spending charitable donations. I know that they have received charitable donations since 2021, because I donated to AAI's Kasese Humanist School campaign earlier this year. I have no idea how my donation was used by AAI.

Speaking of transparency and financial accountability, AAI is required to submit annual financial reports to the California Attorney General, whose role includes protecting the public from the misuse of donations to charities registered in California. Surely AAI has been more honest with the Attorney General ... right?

Well, no. The most recent financial statement filed by AAI to the California Attorney General shows a grand total of $0 in liabilities at the end of 2021. As well as hiding the truth from their donors, Atheist Alliance International is attempting to deceive the California Attorney General by failing to report their tax liability, which has been accumulating since 2016.

In her email, the "Commercial Director" of Atheist Alliance International claims that "Integrity is our most important core value."

Don't believe her.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More bumbling incompetence from Atheist Alliance International

Image
by Martin Boers In my previous article , I presented evidence that the so-called "board" of Atheist Alliance International (AAI) is attempting to hide a very large tax liability from their donors, and from the California Attorney General. Not only does the "board" of AAI have no democratic mandate to act on behalf of that organisation, they are also supremely incompetent at the roles they claim to occupy. The latest demonstration of incompetence has been the failure of the "board" to submit a Statement of Information to the California Secretary of State, as every Corporation registered in California is required to do every two years. Here is how the California Secretary of State website is reporting the status of AAI at the time of writing: The "Not Good" standing with California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) since 2016 is the reason for AAI's large (and growing) tax liability. This, along with their failure to fulfil other filing requirements ov
Read more

The hypocrisy of Atheist Alliance International

Image
by Martin Boers We are all subject to the laws of the countries in which we live, or visit, or do business. We might not like some laws, but most people understand that every law is there for a (hopefully good) reason. In some cases we might forgive law-breakers - think of a parent who runs a red light while driving their critically ill child to a hospital. But those cases are exceptional, and claims by any individual or organisation that they are above the law should be treated with scepticism. A well-known example of an organisation that claims to be above the law is the Catholic Church. For many years, secular campaigners have been raising awareness of the Church's attempts to avoid accountability for decades of alleged law-breaking. For example, in a 2021 article titled " Vatican Smokescreen: Canon Law Changes & Sexual Abuse ", historian and writer Jason Sylvester states: "The Vatican princes, and indeed religious leaders across the faith spectrum, think them
Read more