ORLANDO, Fla. — Pulse survivors and victims’ families say they will have to wait even longer to get answers on how onePULSE Foundation spent millions of dollars.
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The nonprofit dissolved at the end of 2023. onePULSE Foundation was supposed to turn in their final tax-exemption form to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last month.
The Foundation tells 9 Investigates it asked for an extension.
This is as survivors and victims’ families have been asking for transparency from onePULSE Foundation and for an explanation on why there is still no permanent memorial.
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“I am beyond angry,” said Darelis Torres.
“It was millions of dollars. We could have had funds of memorials with the type of money that they were using and spending, where did the money go? Where did the money go?,” said Tiara Parker.
Torres, Parker and other Pulse survivors have been asking that same question ever since onePULSE Foundation dissolved at the end of last year.
onePULSE Foundation’s final records to the IRS, a form 990, is supposed to give the public some answers. It possibly will be the only glimpse of how the organization never achieved its primary mission of building a permanent memorial.
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The document was due May 15. But now, the Foundation has asked for an extension. The IRS typically gives six-month extensions.
Robert Maguire, vice president of research and data for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, says it’s not uncommon for nonprofits to do this but it’s not practical.
“Obviously, that is problematic in a lot of ways in that the nonprofit system was not set up for that kind of timely accountability that a lot of people need,” Maguire said.
A Form 990 has a treasure trove of information on how much money a nonprofit raised and how much they spent, including on executive’s salaries.
9 Investigates reported in November, roughly a quarter of onePULSE’s expenses in 2022 went to “executive compensation”. $828,000 were split among five salaries. Barbara Poma, the founder and former CEO of the Foundation, earned the most out of the salaries, $248,000, according to financial documents.
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“So that there can be a measure of accountability from the outside if an organization that is supposed to be acting as a nonprofit, is being used as sort of a piggy bank for the people who are running the organization,” Maguire said.
onePULSE Foundation said in a statement to 9 Investigates it is filing “all appropriate financial statements in the manner, and within the timing, it has done throughout its existence. Nothing is being done out of the ordinary or to harm constituents.”
However, former onePULSE Foundation employees, including a former executive, tell 9 Investigates that the Foundation previously asked for an extension because of their mid-year meeting with auditors. But with no board, former employees are asking why the Foundation would even need an extension.
9 Investigates asked the Foundation’s lawyer Tuesday afternoon on why the Foundation asked for an extension and when it plans to submit the form. We are waiting on a response.
The Foundation also told 9 Investigates that it plans to submit another tax-exemption form for this year by 2025--even though the nonprofit has not legally existed this year. It dissolved December 31, 2023.
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Maguire said it is unusual for a nonprofit to file this form after it dissolved and said this may signal that the foundation rushed to dissolve.
“Maybe this was a rushed termination. And that in order to terminate, they did it very quickly. But then they realized that they had other financial issues to resolve. But I think that’s remains to be seen,” Maguire said.
Torres says these records may finally give survivors and victims’ families closure.
“All these families that we’ve seen throughout the years have suffered on empty promises,” Torres said. “I definitely think the transparency brings forth the justice so that we call start a process of healing.”
Several survivors, including Torres and Parker, are demanding an audit. Several state agencies have told 9 Investigates they are not auditing the former nonprofit.
“What’s craziest is that there seems to be no accountability on nonprofits because there’s just no nonprofit regulation. Everybody seems to be kicking the ball,” Torres said.
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