Proclaim wrote:This kind of stuff really disgusts me!

I appreciate those that stepped up to help keep the organization afloat. I also appreciate the way this was handled once discovered.

My questions are: Where was the over-sight by the Board at the time this was going on? Are they going to be held accountable too? I am a Board member for two non-profit organizations and also a bookkeeper for a local country club. There absolutely should have been over-sight that would have caught this and stopped it before that much money disappeared! Sickening how pathetic people can be, including those that directly stole the money and those that should have prevented it!

Cindy was the acting Treasurer, She was also running headquarters. We also now know why she ran for president in 2015. Her husband Dave was the Vice President. Nancy term as president was winding down and she was not interested in doing it anymore. A bad case of two many eggs in one basket. None of the people who were on the executive side of IHMSA are there anymore. They have all been replaced. Also at that time none of the board members had access to monitor the Well Fargo accounts. So too little oversight allowed this to happen. I agree, Had anyone looked at the accounts it could have been stopped. Everyone was too trusting and didn't think this could happen.
Steve

Several members including myself had posted concerns that financials were not published. When they finally were, I was actually shocked by the fact that a financial statement published showed that there was a significant loss of funds and not one member posted here. I reached out to several board members who disclosed the problem and was asked to remain silent due to criminal charges. Astonished to me that not one person saw a problem. Obviously, the membership is not interested in the financial health of the organization. Sad, very sad.

Steve W.

Firstly I would like to thank our President and his Executive for handling this ugly issue in the way they did, also thanks to those who chipped in to help us along.
Sure there should have been oversight but that is water under the bridge and a valuable lesson learned.

19 Turkeys wrote: Astonished to me that not one person saw a problem. Obviously, the membership is not interested in the financial health of the organization. Sad, very sad.

Steve W.

I think that is a bit harsh Steve, I believe that basically we are a trusting bunch and assume all is being taken care of. We trust our fellow silhouette shooters to put the money in the box and take the correct change (in 20 years of running silhouette matches up here the books have always balanced when I sorted the cash out after the match).
I remember at a Michigan State match years ago now where they had a reporter from the local paper there to cover it, he was astounded that we could leave thousands of dollars worth of firearms and equipment on our tailgates with no concerns about theft!

Steve W., please pick a side. I have read many post of you asking about financials over and over complaining about administration not providing any info and now you are blaming membership for not complaining about a loss of funds. Maybe this is just back tracking your previous views? Either way is sad, very sad to see the finger pointing at membership for Cindy's actions.

Lets please remember that Cindy is the criminal here. She stole the money all by herself.

One of the things that an embezzler does is to create conflict and discord to distract from what is really going on.

Cindy attempted to have Steve W banned from the forums because he was asking for the financials. She could not publish financials without giving herself away so she tried to silence him.

We need to come together and show our strength, heal and move on.

Please bring a friend to a match and please shoot an extra gun. We have the greatest and friendliest shooting sport. Lets do what we do best.

Joe

borregos wrote:Firstly I would like to thank our President and his Executive for handling this ugly issue in the way they did, also thanks to those who chipped in to help us along.
Sure there should have been oversight but that is water under the bridge and a valuable lesson learned.

19 Turkeys wrote: Astonished to me that not one person saw a problem. Obviously, the membership is not interested in the financial health of the organization. Sad, very sad.

Steve W.

I think that is a bit harsh Steve, I believe that basically we are a trusting bunch and assume all is being taken care of. We trust our fellow silhouette shooters to put the money in the box and take the correct change (in 20 years of running silhouette matches up here the books have always balanced when I sorted the cash out after the match).
I remember at a Michigan State match years ago now where they had a reporter from the local paper there to cover it, he was astounded that we could leave thousands of dollars worth of firearms and equipment on our tailgates with no concerns about theft!

I agree with Pete. There was no way of knowing until the bitter end that it had gone wrong.

Our membership should not be privy to every little thing about the organization. That is my opinion only. If we were it would be a constant b!t@c$ fest at every match. Again my opinion. As State Director. I'm asked How come and Why not enough as it is. I sincerely believe and hope "our" financial well being will be better reported in the future.

I joined 33 years ago to shoot and have fun. I hope I have done a respectable job representing and promoting IHMSA. I have left the day to day running of the organization to those with the talent, resources and most of all drive to do it. It has been a daunting task to be sure. Now we have someone who stole "our" money. I will leave it to those "I" have left the day to day running of the organization. Our officers and Directors are scattered across the U S and the World actually. It's not like you can call and say let's meet at the Burger Hut and talk about this.

Great comments here but there is another side to this story. Members (me a lot) have continually asked for more updates from HQ about the daily/monthly/yearly goings on at HQ. I have asked several times just to hear from our various committees what is being considered of if nothing is under review then let us members know that too. This situation would have been hidden due to the nature of the events to hide the missing funds so that would not have been known by many people anyway. There is a lesson here for all of us. We need more oversight about the running of IHMSA especially the funds and also the members need to be allowed to know the organization is running on an even keel. The steps taken to watch our organization funds are perfect and I doubt this will ever happen again. As many good people that have stepped up and offered their valuable time for our organization there is still room for improvement. Communicate with the members!!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate the work everyone puts in for IHMSA from the target setters (sometimes the shooters), the MDs, state, regional directors and the HQ staff but we can do better. I am not an accountant so I know I would not have been able to spot the missing funds and appreciate the people who put their time in to resolve this matter.

I am going to chime in. First, people need to look at is this is a volunteer organization. Most of us still works or have a business to attend to as well. There is not enough of us to go around and when asked if someone would step and take the plate, the answer is generally no. So, now it is back to square one again-not enough people to go around. Now as for what had happened. Yes-there should have been more people monitoring the accounts, but, we are short handed. We all are guilty of trusting everyone, me for one also. But in reality, one bad apple came close to ruining the barrel. But as a great organization as we have, we will get over this mild stone and go back to shooting and trusting one another again. It really hurts knowing that this would have happened, but that is life. It is really easy to crucify someone else for another's mistake. Please open your hearts and think what would you have done or how would you of handled the situation. The situation was handled in a very professional way to keep from hurting what legal rights we have. The old saying is-Loose lips sink ships.

Comment deleted

What do the bylaws say about financial disclosure to the members? Most require annual or semi-annual reports and possibly informal audits.

Telephone meetings for board meetings is not too difficult.

The latest bylaws I have state as follows, "The Secretary/Treasurer shall present a full, half-year and annual financial report to the membership via the pages of the IHMSA News. As a general rule, such reports will not have been subjected to external audit." I requested for years that financials be published. The prior administration ignored my requests. Financials were not published for years. Had they been, we would have seen this happening. In my opinion, this would not have happened if the bylaws had been followed.

Steve W.