Road Warrior Foundation Ride

[Cavman]

I'll be riding with them on Wednesday.

https://www.facebook.com/StartYourDa...ADdchM&fref=nf

[Mazo EMS2]

Our local Spyder group, WISOAR, raised $14000.00 for them this summer at one of our events, Spyder Rendezvous. It would be enough to fund 7 riders.

[tobor9]

Sofia and I will meet them at their end in Charleston,SC

[robtdonna]

Meeting up with the Atlanta SpYder Ryders in Jasper and ryding with them to Woodstock.

[UtahPete]

Their name is a bit mis-leading. They're not organized as a Foundation. There is a nonprofit in Iowa with a similar name; Road Warriors Foundation, so THIS organization is actually called Project Road Warrior Foundation.

There is no financial info available on their website https://www.roadwarrior.org/ or on Guidestar, the leading website for all things nonprofit; https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-4226957. The last and only time they filed a required 990 tax return was for 2013; http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocument...0a604d6f-Z.pdf.

[UtahPete]

They state their purpose is to provide rehabilitation for wounded veterans, which is mis-leading at best (real rehab nonprofits are staffed with rehab professionals). Tax returns are supposed to show the source and uses of their income, including in-kind donations. The raffled Spyder would be an in-kind donation, assuming its actually donated. Quite often, nonprofits will raffle off 'donated' items that actually have to be paid for (at a discounted price) out of the raffle proceeds.

What are the 'costs' associated with the annual ride? No clue. I'm guessing it pays for travel expenses at least for the ride leaders (and who are they and what are their qualifications to deal with the issues of veterans in their care?). What do they do with excess funds?

Nowhere do they identify the Board of Directors and Officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer). Both are required of nonprofits to hold themselves accountable to the public.

Nowhere do they describe how they select the 8 veterans who are sponsored for the annual ride (which seems to be its only operating function). At least 2 of those 8 were not 'wounded', so how did they get selected? https://www.roadwarrior.org/2017-ride/

I get a little anal about these things, having consulted to nonprofits for over a decade. I have no doubt this nonprofit was formed with the best of intentions, but they have a duty to explain how they raise money, from whom and how those funds are expended, and who exactly is managing the organization to deliver not only the services for which it was formed but accountability to the public for its operations. This nonprofit, having been around 4 years at least, is doing none of those things and it's just a little bit disconcerting to me.

By the way, even though this is a nonprofit, only donations are tax-deductible. Raffle purchases are NOT deductible. Nowhere do they explain that.

[UtahPete]

There are many legitimate veterans organizations that do good work and spend the majority of their funds on direct benefits to veterans.

But, even the biggest of those can get themselves into trouble when they are not accountable and transparent to the public for their operations.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/10...ntroversy.html

If anyone has information about Project Road Warrior Foundation, good or bad, please post it here. Thanks.

[UtahPete]

Our local Spyder group, WISOAR, raised $14000.00 for them this summer at one of our events, Spyder Rendezvous. It would be enough to fund 7 riders.

That's a lot of money. How did you handle the donations? Were they made to your club and then transferred to the nonprofit? Was anyone given / expecting a tax deduction for their contribution?

[UtahPete]

I've sent the following message via email to the organization. I'll let you know what response I receive, if any.

More info about the organization1 messagePete Nixon

Tue, Oct 24, 2017 at 1:18 PM
To: info@roadwarrior.org
Hello, I'd like to know more about your organization. Guidestar has only the 2013 tax return and nothing else.Could you provide me more recent copies of the 990? If there aren't any, could I get the last 2 year's financialstatements?It would be helpful to know who is on the Board, and who the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer are.As you know, there have been some recent scandals regarding veterans' nonprofits and I'd like to ensure that you folksare legitimate before supporting your cause.

Thank you.--Pete Nixon
10 year Navy combat veteran (Vietnam)
VFW and American Legion member

[Mazo EMS2]

That's a lot of money. How did you handle the donations? Were they made to your club and then transferred to the nonprofit? Was anyone given / expecting a tax deduction for their contribution?

Never once did I hear "this will make a good tax deduction" at the entire weekend event. The money was raised in different ways such as auctions, raffles, ticket costs, registrations, entry fees, etc....to many events throughout the weekend. There were two of the veterans there for the weekend helping out with many things, and also speaking at a couple of the evening events. I don't doubt at all that there are "shady" organizations out there, but WISOAR has been working with them for several years now. I've never heard any "conspiracy theories" about any of it.

[UtahPete]

Never once did I hear "this will make a good tax deduction" at the entire weekend event. The money was raised in different ways such as auctions, raffles, ticket costs, registrations, entry fees, etc....to many events throughout the weekend. There were two of the veterans there for the weekend helping out with many things, and also speaking at a couple of the evening events. I don't doubt at all that there are "shady" organizations out there, but WISOAR has been working with them for several years now. I've never heard any "conspiracy theories" about any of it.

Okay, thanks. I appreciate the response. Who in your organization is promoting Road Warriors? There are so many established, reputable veterans' organizations around, I'm wondering why this one?

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

If anyone has information about Project Road Warrior Foundation, good or bad, please post it here. Thanks.

According to Charity Navigator only a small subset of 1.57 million non-profits get reviewed or analyzed by them. Here's their comment regarding PRWF.

Why isn't this organization rated?
This organization is not eligible to be rated by Charity Navigator because it is not required to file the full IRS Form 990. It is required to file a form 990-N. This form provides some information, but it lacks the level of data we require to issue a rating. Visit the Methodology section of our site to learn about our criteria for evaluating charities.
What does it mean that this organization isn’t rated?
It simply means that the organization doesn't meet our criteria. A lack of a rating does not indicate a positive or negative assessment by Charity Navigator.

To see the criteria that Charity Navigator uses to rate a charity go here: https://www.charitynavigator.org/ind...t.view&cpid=32

I'm guessing that Guidestar uses similar criteria. I think the key is their size and income level. According to Manta.com they are very small, way under the $1,000,000 income level, $500,000 in public donations, to be rated.

Project Road Warrior Foundation Inc is a privately held company in Mechanicsburg, PA and is a Single Location business. Categorized under Clubs. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of 71333 and employs a staff of approximately 3.

I did some searching to see what more I could find. Interestingly, or disturbingly, however you want to view it, is the fact it appears there has been no 990 filing by them since 2013 tax year. A couple of websites that have the IRS database of 990s have only the 2013 form, which shows an income of less than $800. It is a public charity, 501(c)3 and can receive tax deductible donations.

As of now all I can say is we just have to trust BRP and Lamont that all is legit and above board. They do provide a unique service, giving wounded veterans a chance to ride. It looks like that is all they do so there is no need for a staff of therapists, etc., at least not yet.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I just did some more looking. PRWF filed a 990-N for calendar year 2014 according to the IRS web site. That means that for 2014 their income was less than $50,000. 990-N is postcard filing, usually done electronically.

I found an index for 990 filings for 2016 on the IRS web site. The index is 46 megabytes! No idea how big the entire file of returns is. PRWF was not listed in the index so my attempts to find their filing beyond 2014 has come up empty.

[UtahPete]

I contacted the PA Department of Corporations. They did file in 2014 as a non-profit corporation but haven't provided any further information. They also have not registered with the PA Department of State's Charity division; they thanked me for the heads-up and will be following up to find out what is going on with that.

I did hear back (by email) from the founder and registered agent of the corporation, who acknowledged they have not 'been able' to get Guidestar to accept their 990-N filings and would provide me a copy. He also acknowledged that I had a right to be concerned by the lack of published information, but didn't provide any of the information I was requesting.

Stephen Berger Steve@roadwarrior.org via projectroadwarrior.onmicrosoft.com	6:29 PM (3 hours ago)
to me, info

I will send the most recent 990’s. Guidestar keeps pulling that one because we actually filed the long form 990 and then filed two postcards. I understand any skepticism.

Steve

STEVE BERGER

Road Warrior Foundation

C. 717-877-7443

[UtahPete]

I did some searching to see what more I could find. Interestingly, or disturbingly, however you want to view it, is the fact it appears there has been no 990 filing by them since 2013 tax year. A couple of websites that have the IRS database of 990s have only the 2013 form, which shows an income of less than $800. It is a public charity, 501(c)3 and can receive tax deductible donations.

As of now all I can say is we just have to trust BRP and Lamont that all is legit and above board. They do provide a unique service, giving wounded veterans a chance to ride. It looks like that is all they do so there is no need for a staff of therapists, etc., at least not yet.

You know what they say "Trust but verify". Unfortunately, I know of too many nonprofits that abuse their privilege and dupe people into supporting a credible-sounding (and heart-tugging) cause only to find out that they have not been responsible in how they manage the public's funds. I hope that's not the case here; I hope they are forthcoming with answers to questions that should have been asked and answered already by now.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Stephen Berger Steve@roadwarrior.org via projectroadwarrior.onmicrosoft.com	6:29 PM (3 hours ago)
to me, info

I will send the most recent 990’s. Guidestar keeps pulling that one because we actually filed the long form 990 and then filed two postcards. I understand any skepticism.

Steve

STEVE BERGER

Road Warrior Foundation

C. 717-877-7443

Steve Berger's occupation is insurance agent with an office on Washington Rd, Pittsburgh, PA. That gives you an idea of how small the foundation is!

If he made two postcard filings after the 2013 EZ form I think they should have shown up on the search on the IRS web site. Only the 2014 one showed. I wonder if the IRS is so back logged that 2015 postcard filings haven't been processed yet. The IRS has suffered tremendous budget cuts the past few years and I imagine postcard filings are a low priority for processing.

I sent Lamont a PM expressing our concerns about PRWF. I expect he'll be able to give us some reassurance about the foundation.

[robtdonna]

Sometimes you have to have faith. Apparently Can Am does in allowing ten of their vehicles to be used. The group has been doing this for several years and it appears to be well organized.

I donate on a yearly basis to several veteran organizations, this one I will show support by riding with the group as they pass through Georgia on Friday. Proud that Can Am gives these ten vets the opportunity to ryde our great machines and proud of those ten for their service.

I will also probably donate money as I do on many other rydes. Whether it is tax deductible or not never comes into my mind. I've donated money to many groups on rides over the years, also to fund raisers for individuals, some of whom I know, some of whom I do not. Many of those were not tax deductible, but unless you're a business donating big bucks, does it really matter in the big picture? If so - don't donate.

[bmccaffrey]

I think BRP or (and) Lamont should weigh in on this conversation,

(curious)

[Buckeye Bleau]

Our local Spyder group, WISOAR, raised $14000.00 for them this summer at one of our events, Spyder Rendezvous. It would be enough to fund 7 riders.

Wow, good for all of your efforts, this is a good organization. They actually approved me for the Ryde last year, I declined so that they could accept a more worthy, younger rider, and I am glad that I did. This year I contributed, I hope that others will as well.

Joe

[Lamonster]

I’m riding with them now. They are legitimate. This is the email Steve sent to one of you guys.

I will send the most recent 990’s. Guidestar keeps pulling that one because we actually filed the long form 990 and then filed two postcards. I understand any skepticism.

Steve

STEVE BERGER

Road Warrior Foundation

C. 717-877-7443

[adzgrrrl]

A friend and I will be catching up with them on Thursday morning in Guntersville, AL and riding with them to their overnight stay in Kodiak, TN. Can't wait to meet everyone!!!

[UtahPete]

I’m riding with them now. They are legitimate. This is the email Steve sent to one of you guys.

Thanks, that helps. It wouldn't take very much in the way of transparency by the organization to put my mind at ease and have me get on board with what they seem to be trying to do. I think the concept is a good one, and it sounds like a great way for BRP and Spyder owners to participate in a worthwhile cause. It also gives greater visibility to BRP Spyders, which benefits all of us enthusiasts. If I was any closer, I'd participate. Do they plan on expanding to more than one ride a year?

The information that is being requested of them is really not that big of a deal; it's the information they are supposed to be providing to the public anyway. Many nonprofits, particularly small, entrepreneurial ones like this one, don't understand that. But, if there is a cause to be served, it is much larger than 8 veterans a year and to serve that need the organization will have to grow beyond what it currently is. To do that, it must have its legal and financial affairs in order, and that is what I'm asking for.

[Cavman]

Talking it over with some of the guys, we maybe had around 75 bikes there with around 10-15 being two wheelers. The rest were Spyders of all types. There was a husband/wife that were from PA. Saw a few Spyders from FL as well.

It was a fun ride. Lots of folks along the way standing on the roads waving and cheering. The vets got to do many laps on the Barber's race track. Great dinner at the American Legion with a young lady proving musical entertainment singing and playing her guitar.

[gcain747]

I am also a Viet Nam Vet and consider Lamont and Joan to be very good friends. I actually talked Lamont into spending an extra day on this years RWF ride so they could see how we hosted them in Birmingham, AL and give our riders a chance to see him and Joan again. I will admit I bribeded him with free food. I have rode with this group for two years now and can tell you without a doubt they are as dedicated as anyone in the world to help vets. Perhaps if you are going to question the results of the organization you should talk to some of the riders who have participated in the past events. Ask them how much the “Ryde” helped them. I think you would be amazed at the answers you get. Also, you should join an RWF ride and see for yourself how much Therapy these youn men and women receive. It does not always take a schooled trained therapist to help people. Several of the past riders were so moved by the experience they now are volunteers for the organization.

I personally do not even claim the money I donate to them so I don’t care about the taxes or the IRS.

Greg Cain
Heart of Dixie Spyder Ryders
Birmingham, AL

[Buckeye Bleau]

I am really at a loss for words and I am making every attempt to be calm and polite.

This organization is very small, they do a great service, which is very visible if you just try to find it. Perhaps some of you are bean counters and just cannot let it go, perhaps some of you just have other motives.

If you are spending all this time on this small group, which we know what they do, why not spent more effort checking on where the money goes for some of the BIG charities. Go check out the money in Goodwill, United Way and the shameful Red Cross. Then compare your results to the much smaller Salvation Army or St. Jude's Children's Hispital. Thee lies a difference that does not even require much comparison.

Joe