Or, Is Christmas Canceled this Year?
When I first discovered the problems with Grassroots Productions Limited, Federal Tax Returns 2 months before it was announced by the Greensboro News & Record, I honestly thought it was just an an accounting error. It wasn't until Betty Cone was quoted as saying, “I didn’t make any big announcement. I just took the (nonprofit status) information off of our forms and moved ahead." that I began to put 2 and 2 together.
You see, it was along about that same time that Sue Lecin Polinsky of TriadTech was building the website for Grassroots Productions Limited and the website also included no references to the non profit status of Ms Cone's company. I even checked it via the Wayback Machine, an Internet tool that lets you see how websites used to look before they were redesigned. If GrassrootsProductionsLtd.org has ever been redesigned the changes were minor as I couldn't find any non profit references then or now.
In other words, when TriadTech built the website for Grassroots Productions Limited, a plan was already underway to convert the non profit to a for profit corporation. And quite honestly, there is nothing illegal about that.
But it is illegal to accept tax-deductible contributions unless you are a non profit in good standing. God standing doesn't necessarily end on the day the IRS revokes your non profit status. And when you've been a non profit for years and years and years people just naturally assume you remain a non profit. I don't know whose Idea it was to convert Grassroots from a non profit to a for profit corporation but the sloppy job they did may put Betty Cone and the Board of Directors of Grassroots Productions Limited on the hook for taxes going back to 2008 with the evidence being Ms Cone's infamous quote and the Wayback Machine.
Sure, a lot of the doners will simply amend their own tax returns and pay taxes on their donations to help out Ms Cone but foundations like the Cemala Foundation can only give grants to non profits and will have to be paid back. Then there will be interest and penalties for 3 years of unpaid taxes. The evidence that someone intended to convert to corporation to a for profit corporation is as plain as the jingle of Santa's bells.
As for canceling the Festival of Lights? You'll have to ask Ms Cone.
