RALEIGH, N.C. — Raleigh’s Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina says it is rebuilding and refocusing its work on prevention after failing to adequately manage its financial obligations and fundraising.
The group lost more than $400,000 in state grants and its contract with Wake County to provide case management services for those living with HIV/AIDS, according to a report by the Raleigh News & Observer. The problems started after the group failed to pay $209,539 in payroll taxes in 2012. The taxes include federal income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare.
The unpaid taxes led to several tax liens placed on the organization by the Internal Revenue Service, which in turn prompted the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to suspend its grants to the group this year, an expected $470,000. Making matters worse was a decline in other revenue for the group.
Melanie Black Dubis, who was recently named chair of the group’s board, blamed “previous management” for the failure to pay the taxes. The group’s former board chair, Scott Hoffman, has resigned, as has its former executive director, Stacy Duck. Tavonyia Thompson, the group’s former finance director, has taken over as the agency director.
“When the full Board learned of this issue, it took immediate action, and AAS-C is in good standing with the Internal Revenue Service,” Dubis wrote in a statement to the News & Observer, which notes that it isn’t “clear how the group resolved the tax liens, but DHHS allowed funding to resume in October.”
Despite the all-clear, Wake County says it won’t be immediately contracting with the group again and will instead rely on its new staff to serve roughly 400 clients, costing the county $105,554.
The Alliance’s financial problems are the third time this year a local non-profit in the state serving the LGBT community has come under fire for its financial mismanagement or filing requirements, following challenges at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte and Charlotte’s Freedom Center for Social Justice.