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Rob Ford's Toronto

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JWBF said:
The question is what the fund actually funds since as far as I know school boards in Ontario (at least) don't want to due with Robbie, well maybe with the exception of Steph's and Dougie's schools.



Toronto Foundation has been the only administrator of the RFFF.
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The RFFF doesn't exist except as a ledger item on the TF's books. The Toronto foundation is just a convenient way for supporters to launder - I mean process - donations and get a tax receipt.
 
animatronic said:
The RFFF doesn't exist except as a ledger item on the TF's books. The Toronto foundation is just a convenient way for supporters to launder - I mean process - donations and get a tax receipt.
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So very true.
 
The money has to stay with the Foundation or be donated to a registered charity. TF follows strict protocols.
 
Congrats to Urban Toronto for hitting over 1 million posts today, in large part thanks to the Mayor Rob Ford thread. Well done "folks" :).
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Rob was the only one responsible I would agree, but you are saying that TF would be participating in a laundering scheme, and I'd be careful with that. They have an excellent reputation and would ensure that funds only go to a legit, registered charity. They would only issue receipts for money that they actually received. In addition, when these foundations are established, there needs to be a minimum amount to create the fund, and then proceeds from the interest are paid out at an amount determined annually by TF. Some funds exist for 10 years, some exist in perpetuity. I don't know which the RFFF is, but if it passes the 10 year mark, the fund remains with the TF in perpetuity.
 
PinkLucy said:
Rob was the only one responsible I would agree, but you are saying that TF would be participating in a laundering scheme, and I'd be careful with that. They have an excellent reputation and would ensure that funds only go to a legit, registered charity. They would only issue receipts for money that they actually received. In addition, when these foundations are established, there needs to be a minimum amount to create the fund, and then proceeds from the interest are paid out at an amount determined annually by TF. Some funds exist for 10 years, some exist in perpetuity. I don't know which the RFFF is, but if it passes the 10 year mark, the fund remains with the TF in perpetuity.
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Not suggesting any involvement by the TF - suspect they probably have good controls. But there are lots of ways to play dirty. For example:

1. Criminal takes dirty money (drugs, whatever) and donates it to charity. They take the tax receipt and get a rebate on their legitimate business or personal income, essentially giving them half back in clean untraceable funds.

2. Supplier charges a large markup on goods and services purchased by the charity, or fudges volumes and amounts. They get paid in full and divert the funds to a criminal via another fake invoice.

3. Someone has a hobby that isn't tax deductible, so they sign up with a foundation like TF, make donations themselves and then direct where the money goes.

And so on. Remember the stories about how the delivered equipment didn't match Rob's boasts, in either quality or quantity? We've also got a politician with known addictions and cash problems directing where funds donated by city lobbyists are being spent with cursory oversight. That in itself is a huge red flag.
 
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True,TF can't control where the money is coming from, but my response was to the use of "charity" in quotation marks, because they can control where it goes, although not what happens once it gets there, although as a laundering scheme, working directly with a charity rather than a named fund would be far more efficient and less likely to encounter roadblocks along the way. Now, if Fords themselves were administering a charity, it would definitely be suspect, but establishing a fund through Canada's major community foundation seems like probably the one honest, decent thing Rob has done.
 
PinkLucy said:
True,TF can't control where the money is coming from, but my response was to the use of "charity" in quotation marks, because they can control where it goes, although not what happens once it gets there, although as a laundering scheme, working directly with a charity rather than a named fund would be far more efficient and less likely to encounter roadblocks along the way. Now, if Fords themselves were administering a charity, it would definitely be suspect, but establishing a fund through Canada's major community foundation seems like probably the one honest, decent thing Rob has done.
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My concern is not with TF, but rather the weirdness about RFFF. For instance RoFo's threat to "take back" money (I think he said $50,000) he'd donated to Don Bosco after they threw him out as coach of the Eagles. Was that HIS money or RFFF money? I don't think Rob differentiates himself from his Private Foundation. And I am sure there was more going on at Bosco than the parents complaining about him slurring the school community. I suspect there was a tight confidentiality agreement signed by the school to get rid of him. Could money have changed hands via the RFFF to the football team?

Its just really odd that there's no info about Rob's foundation. No mission statement, no CRA financials, just a credit card donation page. Presumably RoFo gets a list of donors names, addresses & phone numbers (to add to his campaign lists). And since registered charities that are deemed to engage in political action are specifically denied tax credits so this one does look like a back door or blind.

There was also an interesting media report of the COI case I pulled up where Ruby asked Rob how much money RFFF has raised and Rob said about $1oo,000. Ruby asked if that was a year? Rob said probably in the last 5 years, plus his own funds. I'm surprised if Ruby didn't go further in his questioning or investigations, but then the case was just about very specific donations solicited on the Mayor's letterhead. Rob was a little more careful in his subsequent solicitations for RFFF.. Poor illiterate, innumerate, unethical little Robbie learned something from that court case.
 
Chances are, Rob doesn't know the rules. You can't just "take back" the money you have with Toronto Foundation.

No mission statement, no CRA financials is not at all odd because it's not an independent foundation; it's a named fund operated under the auspices of a charitable foundation. The use of the word "foundation" is misleading; you can call it what you want but it's a fund within a foundation. It pays an admin fee to Toronto Foundation for looking after the legalities.

As the holder of a similar fund, TF provides us with the financials each year, but they aren't published separately anywhere.
 
Apologies for the current-events tastelessness, but the Wheel Of Fortune before-and-after notion of the "Don Bosco Eagles Of Death Metal" came to mind
<oof>
 
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