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ATLANTA — It's been a rough few months for the New Georgia Project.
The nonprofit founded by Stacey Abrams and once helmed by Sen. Raphael
Warnock (D., Ga.) dismissed most of its leadership over the summer. A
former executive told the Washington Free Beacon that the group's top accountant was fired after saying he couldn’t do his job without violating
the law. Now the group missed a crucial IRS filing deadline, an error that
puts it on the wrong side of federal law.
Such chaos is now commonplace at the New Georgia Project, which Abrams
founded in 2013 to register non-white voters in the Peach State. The
group, and its affiliate New Georgia Project Action Fund, appear to have
fallen into dire financial straits since the June dismissal of chief
financial officer Randall Frazier. Although the groups raised a combined
$37 million in 2020, their human resource director claimed in an October
video call terminating three top employees that the New Georgia Project
could no longer afford to pay their salaries.
The New Georgia Project's Form 990 financial disclosure, which was due to
the IRS on Tuesday, would shed light into what the two groups did with
their millions in 2021. The forms offer a detailed picture of a
nonprofit’s finances, including how much was paid to top officials and contractors. But New Georgia Project Legal Affairs Director Tangi Bush
told the Free Beacon on Wednesday that the group’s "finance department"
was still preparing the disclosures. Nonprofits and charities must provide their 990s to the public within 24 hours of an in-person request.
The former executive who spoke to the Free Beacon says that the New
Georgia Project's lack of staff and culture of secrecy are to blame for
the groups’ missed IRS filing. Bush could not even say who works in NGP’s finance department when asked by the Free Beacon, citing a "personnel
issue."
According to National Legal and Policy Center counsel Paul Kamenar, the
groups’ failure to file the Form 990 on time suggests "serious financial irregularities that should be audited." With no known leadership in its accounting division, the New Georgia Project seems unable to comply with federal laws governing nonprofits, and faces potential fines or other penalties.
The New Georgia Project could also face sanctions from state authorities
for failing to disclose its finances. Black Lives Matter group was
temporarily barred from raising charitable funds in California and
Washington in February after it failed to report its 2020 finances on
time.
Abrams and Warnock are no longer affiliated with the New Georgia Project
and the New Georgia Project Action Fund, although they both maintain ties
with the groups’ leaders, including board chairman Francys Johnson.
Warnock, who led the group from 2017 to 2019, appointed Johnson to his
"Federal Nominations Advisory Commission" in March 2021. In September, he co-hosted a rally for Abrams.
The New Georgia Project worked to get both Abrams and Warnock elected this cycle, with mixed results. Abrams lost her second gubernatorial bid by
nearly eight points. Warnock will face Republican challenger Herschel
Walker in a December run-off after failing to earn 50 percent of the vote
on Election Day.
Published under: Georgia Run-Off, IRS, Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/new-georgia-project-misses-tax-deadline/
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