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Camden-area charity investigates missing money [Bangor Daily News, Maine]
[September 29, 2014]

Camden-area charity investigates missing money [Bangor Daily News, Maine]


(Bangor Daily News (ME) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 30--CAMDEN, Maine -- An investigation is underway into the possible misappropriation of money from a prominent local charity.

Stephen Crane, who was appointed president of the United Mid-Coast Charities Inc. board of directors in August, confirmed Monday that an investigation into the organization's finances is underway. He said that the probe had moved beyond the internal level, but he would not specify to which state or federal agency the case had been referred.



Crane said he could not comment further but hoped that at some point he could say more to residents of the community.

The board became aware of the possible misappropriation of money after Crane was elected president, according to a person associated with United Mid-Coast Charities. The amount of money involved is "large" and the possible misappropriation of funds has been going on for many years, the person said.


Attempts to reach some of the other 42 board members Monday were either unsuccessful or the members declined to comment.

The board held its annual meeting on Aug. 20 in Camden and elected Crane as its new president.

The stated mission of United Mid-Coast Charities, which was formed in 1942, is to provide grants to other charities that perform literary, charitable, educational and medical benefits for residents of Knox and Waldo counties. The organization's website states that it distributes 100 percent of donations and that an endowment covers operational expenses such as postage, paper, printing and office services.

The organization is run by volunteers and has no paid staff members, according to the nonprofit group's filings with the Internal Revenue Service and its website.

The Camden-based nonprofit organization's latest publicly available filing with the IRS stated that its total revenues in 2012 were $308,000, which included $226,000 in donations, with the remainder being miscellaneous revenues, including investment income. That year the organization handed out more than $330,000 in grants.

The largest beneficiaries of United Mid-Coast Charities' grants in 2012 were Broadreach Area Childcare Services in Belfast, which received $40,000; the Penobscot Bay YMCA in Rockport, $32,000; and the Waldo County YMCA in Belfast, $25,000.

The organization's net assets totaled $1,566,000 as of Sept. 30, 2012.

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