The Times also searched LexisNexis, an online full-text database of news and periodical articles and broadcast news transcripts. Nimitz, the head of a nonprofit that boasts 66,000 members and millions in annual revenue, was never profiled or quoted.
Multimillion-dollar nonprofit charity for Navy veterans steeped in secrecy
By Jeff Testerman and John Martin, Times Staff Writers
In Print: Sunday, March 21, 2010
First of two parts
Suppertime on a Sunday evening, a phone rings in suburban Tampa. Some 1,200 miles away, in a call center in Michigan, a cheerful telemarketer starts his pitch for a donation to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.
Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan need your help, he says. Any donation, even $20, would help pay for care packages.
He says the Navy Vets group has a long history. "They have a main office right there in Tampa. They really are on the up and up.''
How much of the donation gets to the Navy veterans, the homeowner asks, and how much goes to the telemarketer?
"That's a good question, I'm glad you asked. Hold the line and I'll get a supervisor.''
The supervisor says 20 percent goes to the charity. When the homeowner presses for more details, the line goes dead.
Other questions about the nonprofit went unanswered as well. In a six-month investigation, the St. Petersburg Times could find only one officer in the entire organization, and the nonprofit declined to reveal where its millions of dollars of income went.
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