Fraud investigations could put a chill on an already tough fundraising atmosphere

Those who run charitable organizations fear recent alleged incidents of fraud at charitable institutions will further erode trust in charities and make it more difficult to raise money.

"There's already trend lines that indicate the trust in charities has been waning over the years," said Lorraine Goddard, CEO of United Way Centraide of Windsor and Essex County.

"And when you have misappropriation (allegations), especially a kind of a rash of them over the short period of time, it certainly casts a [pall] across all charities who are already struggling to raise dollars."

Goddard said it's too early to tell if a recent alleged case of misappropriation of funds from the United Way in Chatham-Kent has affected their fundraising efforts, but she says people are asking questions.

"When people are being asked, do you give or don't you and why don't you give? And one of the reasons why people are maybe not giving anymore, what continues to pop up is that 'I don't have trust in charities that they're going to protect my dollars,'" said Goddard.

Last month, a Tilbury woman was charged with fraud over $5,000 in connection with an alleged misappropriation of $300,000 that occurred over a year at the United Way of Chatham-Kent. The organization has previously declined comment on the case.

Also in February, the former president of the South Asian centre in Windsor was charged with defrauding the centre of more than $360,000 over a 12-year period. His lawyer told CBC he intends to plead not guilty.

Police are also investigating a $60,000 alleged fraud involving the now-defunct volunteer association at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Goddard can't say why there has been rash of cases but says the Windsor-Essex United Way has several checks and balances in place and they have a different governance body than the one in Chatham-Kent.

"We have our own boards of directors, we have our own staff, we have our own controls. So what happens in another United Way has no impact on another United Way," said Goddard, adding anyone can go to their website to check their financial statements.

'We all suffer as a result of this'

Meanwhile in Vancouver, the non-profit Consumers' Association of Canada has had to suspend operations in January because it can no longer raise the necessary funds. And the retired president blames the difficulty in getting donors to trust the charity.

"The behaviour of other groups and money being taken and used without proper authorization makes people think whether they should give it to anybody," said Bruce Cran, who also stresses his organization has always taken a very responsible approach to their finances.

While the general public may forget about the recent alleged cases of embezzlement over time Goddard doesn't think the overall reluctance to give to charities will fade anytime soon.

"I think like all charities are going to be impacted by this and all charities need to make sure that they have the controls in place, the structures to prevent this from happening. Because again, we all suffer as a result of this," said Goddard.

She said now when they go into workplaces to fund raise they take extra steps to reassure the donors their dollars will be safe with the United Way.