Turtleboy Investigates

Protester’s Mosaic Cultural Complex Cheating On Taxes By Lying About Being A Non-Profit

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Guest Blog

When I read about the community leaders who very publicly told parents and teachers to stop supporting the Turtleboy blog, well I just had to find out a little more about these great folks. I mean, if we’re going to base school policy on what these leaders have to say, I think we should know a little more about who they are and what they represent. I was sure I’d find that they are totally qualified for the task and be responsible citizens of the utmost character.

The woman who called out the blog by name, Brenda Jenkins, aka Urkel frames

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is the President and CEO of Mosaic Cultural Complex. Interesting name for a company, so I figured I’d check out what their all about.

I got on their website and found they have “Mosaic Circles” that go like this: “Peace Circle: are conducted on a weekly basis and provide a system of case management, support and healing. These Peace /circles show participants how to: Reframe and rewrite their life stories; Reframe their past; Break the shackles of shame; Release the pain; Stop the slow acid drip of regret; Move from grief to gain; Practice acceptance; /Cultivate gratitude; Break the habit of blame /find Inner Peace and create a satisfying future. Trauma Circle: Serves all Men of Color whom have experienced trauma. Men are identified through the Peace Circles as being a victim of or perpetrator of violence. The Trauma Circle utilizes the Peace Circle process combined with clinical expertise to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

What does that even mean? “Acid drip of regret?” Sounds more like acid trip, but whatever. They mentioned PTSD, a horrible condition, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they’re a legit operation.

 

Moving on to their Facebook page, I found right on the top that they’re a nonprofit organization.

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Excellent! Nonprofits are required to do all kinds of reporting and filing and it’s all a matter of public record. You know, if the government’s going to let you get a tax deduction for donating to these places, they want to make sure they’re being run the right way. They have to report what the top brass make, if there are any major donors, where they get their money from and a whole bunch more things.

It should be easy to find everything I’m looking for. On to the Mass Attorney General’s website… Every Massachusetts nonprofit has to file a public charity annual report with the AG’s office. The AG then posts all of them on their website. So a quick search of the company name, a click and…nothing. Nada. Zip. No filings found. Hmmm…that’s weird.

Hey, I know. The Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office keeps a record of all corporations and their required annual filings. Let’s check that out. A quick name search of the database and BOOM; there it is!

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Let’s see: became a corporation on August 10, 2005, and then {wait for it} filed nothing and the Secretary of State gave them an involuntary dissolution on June 18, 2012. Shut ‘em down. Now I don’t know everything, but that doesn’t sound like something a responsible “community leader” would let happen. I mean, come on, the filing fee is only $15 a year.

Well someone must have figured this doesn’t look very good, so in December 2013 through March 2014, they filed their 2005 through 2013 one-page annual reports. Wow, it only took them a year and a half after being dissolved to start trying to fix it.

On April 17, 2014, they filed an application for revival, which was accepted. Call me skeptical, but at this point I started to think that not everything was on the up-and-up or at least this community leader had absolutely no clue how to run a nonprofit.

Better check the IRS website. It’s got this great tax-exempt nonprofit search tool that you can use to make sure any donation you give is going to a legit organization that has it tax-exempt status. Surely, Brenda baby wouldn’t screw with the IRS. Right? Enter name and click and…

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No record found. D’Oh!

I hope nobody donated to this place and took a tax deduction for it. You might want to back and amend your returns if you did. So it looks like no one bothered to file with the IRS to get their tax-exempt status. I wonder if they filed any of their annual tax returns since 2005 that have a late filing penalty of $25 per day.

Now, I’m not perfect and I may be wrong. Maybe the IRS and Mass AG’s databases just missed the filings for Mosaic Cultural Complex, Incorporated. That could happen. Right? (Not likely) Well, Brenda Jenkins could quickly clear this whole thing up by posting the letter she got from the IRS that allows Mosaic to call itself a tax-exempt organization on their Facebook page. Until then, I don’t think she’s qualified to run a 7/11, much less tell us how to run our schools or which blogs we should read. Break THAT “shackle of shame.”

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14 Comment(s)
  • Adam
    March 21, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Keep riding Turtle Boy. Keep riding.

  • O the humanities
    March 21, 2015 at 5:45 am

    I’m sorry but I can’t hear a word she says when she’s wearing those glasses. Someone lied to her when she asked “do these look good on me?” all that aside, she’s just one of the ragtag crew pulled together by Boone puppet LaTulippe to intimidate the school committee, just in case they think they are going to rethink her 3-year candygram of a contract.

  • no
    March 20, 2015 at 9:21 am

    adjective
    (of a task or circumstance) imposed on oneself, not by an external force.
    “he went into self-imposed exile”

    Self Imposed Limitations?, I thought it was the white systems fault?

  • Dave
    March 20, 2015 at 9:09 am

    “Non-profit” and “Tax-exempt” are not the same thing. Companies can organize as non-profit corporations under Massachusetts law. Various entities, including non-profit corporations, can apply for tax-exempt status from the IRS. The two are not mutually exclusive.

    In this instance, whatever income the company generates is probably about equal to the expenses that it incurs, so it wouldn’t owe any taxes anyways. Therefore, it’s hardly worth the time and expense of applying for tax-exempt status, or the compliance costs of maintaining it.

    • Woo Town
      March 21, 2015 at 6:39 am

      Non profit status can be involuntary, e.g. You are incompetent at running a business.

      That aside, the failure to follow the simple rules that all businesses are required by the state to follow tells you all that you need to know about this entity. What? You mean I have to pay an annual fee to the state so it can pay the people who regulate corporations? NOT ME! That’s only for the little people. What a racist law!

      What? You mean that I have to file a piece of paper confirming that the people in my company are who they say they are so that the state can keep track of who is running what corporate entity to protect the public? RACISM!

      Imma ignore all of it. Rules are racist!

    • Sam Burnside
      March 27, 2015 at 8:29 am

      Except…anyone who solicits funds in the state, including grant solicitations, is required to file with the Division of Public Charities of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. The reports require certain information to offer transparency about the organizations that solicit funds within the state. Sorry, but it’s the law.

  • JoeMomma
    March 20, 2015 at 6:50 am

    Remember TB, it’s not illegal to be illegal in Massachusetts….

  • Patrick Fitzgerald
    March 19, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    could they put any MORE buzz words in the title!?
    just who I want for advice.

  • Not-A-Hippie
    March 19, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    Shocking.

    NOT.

  • Savvybear Turtleneck
    March 19, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    I want to know more about this whack job Brenda jenkins. Keep up the investigation, TB

  • Beetle
    March 19, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    Boom, roasted.

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