# Toronto City Staffer stole from United Way Funds.



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

What is going on at Toronto City Hall these days? Is everyone so underpaid that they have to steal from the charities they run?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...fundraiser-highlight-charities-194030121.html



> Police allege that between 2006 and 2012, Colpitts, 54, stole money from the sale of discounted amusement tickets donated to the United Way campaign for sale to city employees in fundraising efforts and that he* used the money for his own benefit.*
> At the time, Colpitts was the *financial co-ordinator* for the campaign within the City of Toronto, police said.


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## Spidey (May 11, 2009)

I'm surprised that more questions don't arise about public sector participation in United Way campaigns in general. There is a certain amount of pressure for workers to participate and contribute. And as the article points out the controls seem pretty lax. Why should the employer be picking the charity for it's workforce? Why should so much employment time be contributed to this charity when we are supposed to be doing our jobs?


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## rikk (May 28, 2012)

Spidey said:


> I'm surprised that more questions don't arise about public sector participation in United Way campaigns in general. There is a certain amount of pressure for workers to participate and contribute. And as the article points out the controls seem pretty lax. Why should the employer be picking the charity for it's workforce? Why should so much employment time be contributed to this charity when we are supposed to be doing our jobs?


OT: For the GC anyway, management made that decision ... rationale ... "United Way/Centraide manages the GCWCC on behalf of Treasury Board and the Government of Canada. United Way/Centraide was selected for this role, through Treasury Board’s competitive process, because of our ability to pool resources to reduce the cost of fundraising by other charities and the ability to achieve economies of scale on their behalf." 

Keep in mind there is no obligation to donate, I never did, I donate directly to my own charities, I was a canvasser a couple of times (every time you move, you become the new guy), wasn't overly burdensome, the whole thing can be intimidating for some I suppose ... 
http://www.gcwcc-ccmtgc.org/en/about_GCWCC/faq.php

Fwiw a buddy decided to donate to his particular (unique to the United Way) charity through the United Way ... the donation got to the charity about a year later less the going fundraiser fee (currently 15% the article says) ... so if you have a favorite charity, the lesson I think is donate directly ...


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

carverman said:


> What is going on at Toronto City Hall these days? Is everyone so underpaid that they have to steal from the charities they run?
> 
> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...fundraiser-highlight-charities-194030121.html


 ... what another idiotic low-life ... just shameful. Makes one wonder if this is just a one-off or the administrators of these charities actually that "lowly" paid.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Horrible...


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> ... what another idiotic low-life ... just shameful. Makes one wonder if this is just a one-off or the administrators of these charities actually that "lowly" paid.


I think it's the beginning of a trend. 
A few years ago, my son (high school) was instructed to sell tickets for a childrens wish charity. Forget the name. 

Reading the literature and believing it was for a good cause, I took a few books of tickets and sold them at work to my co-workers. ($10/ticket).
The prizes were marked on the tickets and there was supposed to be a draw for the prizes on such and such a date.

However, before that date, the co-ordinator of the Ottawa foundation had a "mysterious fire in her home office" and the books of how much was collected was
destroyed in the fire as well as the tickets that were supposed to be entered in the draw. Any unsold tickets were not accounted for, so the charity had to 
cancel the draw with much public embarrassment. 

In the end the charity (which was legitimate) got nothing form the sale of the tickets in the Ottawa area, and the parent organization had to refund the numbered tickets to the people that bought the tickets.
She was charged, but there wasn't enough evidence to convict her of any wrongdoing. The parent organization lost out, because according to the press, it seemed like a
scam and they had to refund the money..that they didn't collect in the first place... in order to maintain their charitable status with CRA.


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