Finding out about how the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp. runs their finances is a complex process that could lose anyone.
In fact, that’s why most of the members I’ve talked to have no idea where the money they donate goes after they write their check– making comments like, “We have to put our trust in them that they are putting it, (the donations), towards the right things,” one volunteer during the September muster told me.
On their Web site, MCDC states that the Minutemen Border Fence Project to which people donate is:
“… a project of the Declaration Alliance — a public policy and issues advocacy organization that aggressively addresses the intensifying assaults that the American Republic continues to endure — at home, and abroad. Declaration Alliance is a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit, tax exempt organization.”
Also, the organization has an IRS 990 form from 2006 available for their non-profit, Minutemen Foundation, Inc., which is where all the donations are apparently funneled.
But my questions come in the same form as ex-members such as former Arizona Chapter Director Stacey O’Connell and others asked before they were terminated by Chris Simcox. On the 2006 990 IRS form, there was a total of $87,500 claimed. This left an additional $177,599, (give or take $177, 559), unaccounted for if you know that one volunteer named Jim Campbell from Fountain Hills, Ariz. gave a donation of about $100,000 alone.
Here is a link to view the IRS 990 filing from the Minuteman Foundation, Inc., as well as an article by the Washington Times that may shed a little more light on the situation.
It makes me feel uneasy to know that many of the volunteers don’t know how they’re donations are handled in great detail. In all, this has left some pretty big questions unanswered, and proven much more complex a situation than I had thought.
