Tom Williams
Retired Consultant

It’ been awhile since I blogged on embezzlement and regrettably, I’m feeling compelled to revisit this dark topic.  The recent situation that sparked this writing is my learning of a familiar organization experiencing a valued staffer that embezzled a six figure amount of the money donated to their mission.  As I shared in my previous blog, this sickens me professionally and saddens me for the work of all the great people that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars now being for naught.  Disgustingly this action succeeds when we drop our complete nonstop attention to safeguards.

While I certainly encourage you to dig through our Nonprofit Network blog library and read “3 Dangerous Myths About Nonprofit Embezzlement”, today I want to share a different insight that may generate conversations within your organization.

Did you know that 93% of people who embezzled funds NEVER had a criminal record before?  This fact from Marquette Report on Embezzlement is one that deserves some sincere reflection.  Ponder the implications of this data about the 3,000+ embezzlers the Michigan State Police see annually (for profit and nonprofit).  This means that all our safeguards are not to stop criminals from taking our organization’s hard earned money.  Our safeguards are actually intended to eliminate an opportunity for a “trusted” person to take advantage of our negligence and take their first step over to the dark side.