Last week, ProPublica published a piece on Nick Adams’s FLAG charity.
Nick Adams is a conservative commentator and fierce supporter of Donald Trump; he is currently the Special Presidential Envoy for American Tourism, Exceptionalism, and Values, a role Pres. Trump seems to have designed specially for him.
Adams is also the founder of FLAG, a civics education charity exempt under section 501(c)(3).
Of course, your 501(c)(3) doesn’t usually get a ProPublica write-up unless it’s doing things that are at least a little shady. And FLAG seems to have done some things that are a little shady (shady enough that two of our own—Lloyd and Phil—are quoted in the story).
What has FLAG done wrong? According to ProPublica, potentially three things:
- It has spent very little on providing civics education.
- It has, however, spent a lot—up to half of its revenue—on payments to Adams and his mother.
- Part of its fundraising involved a sweepstakes that it seems to have never paid out on.
Of course, if FLAG has engaged in these practices, it is not alone in having questionable governance and limited regulatory oversight. It does highlight the importance of the regulation we have, though, and the critical nature of stronger oversight of tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations.