State Auditor questions nonprofit oversight, spending of taxpayer dollars

• “The state must stop handing taxpayer dollars to nonprofits with vague goals and then failing to monitor what these nonprofits do with it,” said Auditor Shad White.

State Auditor Shad White says oversight of nonprofits spending taxpayer money in Mississippi is ineffective.

In his second report this year looking at tax dollars flowing to nonprofits, White said Monday the government is wasting “so much money.”

“The state must stop handing taxpayer dollars to nonprofits with vague goals and then failing to monitor what these nonprofits do with it,” said Auditor White.

His first report on the issue came in May where the Auditor’s office called into question certain grants related to HIV/AIDS prevention by the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH). After the report’s release, MSDH said that even prior to the Auditor’s findings the agency had taken “decisive action to strengthen oversight and accountability,” including implementing a leadership overhaul in the affected program nearly a year ago and launching a comprehensive agency-wide reform to modernize and tighten its grants management and compliance processes.

READ MORE: Miss. Dept. of Health says oversight lapses in HIV program grants are unacceptable

Now comes the second report, where the Auditor’s office reviewed an additional group of taxpayer-funded grants to nonprofits administered by both the MSDH Office of Preventive Health and Health Equity as well as the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

White’s office highlighted spending from three nonprofits – My Brother’s Keeper, 100 Black Men of Jackson and the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation.

According to the report, My Brother’s Keeper received over $250,000 from MSDH through a subgrant known as “Moving to Integrated and Holistic Disease Prevention among Underserved Mississippians.” Yet, White points out that the nonprofit “underspent on providing services and overspent paying salaries to its own employees” while not reaching the targeted demographic.

The Auditor notes that nearly $45,000 was spent on meal subscriptions, upscale grocery store gift cards, and gym memberships reimbursed to My Brother’s Keeper despite the Health Department not having documentation showing whether these were appropriate expenditures.

As for the other two nonprofits mentioned in the report, the Auditor’s office questioned spending as part of the $40,000 to address health disparities among African American youth through 100 Black Men of Jackson and the over $2.4 million which flowed from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation.

The State Auditor recommended nonprofits be required to submit documentation showing the amount of money received, the services provided, and any subcontracts made to other organizations if they receive taxpayer money.

“These records could be submitted to the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration or the Secretary of State’s office,” the report urges. “At minimum, state agencies should verify each nonprofit receiving taxpayer money has appropriately registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State before agreeing to send taxpayer money to them.”

In addition, the Auditor said state lawmakers should require nonprofit directors to sign statements under penalty of perjury attesting to the outcomes they have achieved with their taxpayer-funded grant.

You can read this latest Auditor report below.