The leader of an Atlanta Christian aid organization says a mass email her group sent to supporters seeking a personal wedding donation was a mistake.
Elisabeth Omilami, the executive director of Hosea Feed the Hungry & Homeless, said the email soliciting contributions for her daughter's upcoming wedding was supposed to go only to select members of her "extended family" rather than everyone on the organization's email list.
"That fact that it was sent to everybody was not my intention," Omilami told the AJC Wednesday. "It was supposed to be a targeted email to specific people."
The email, first reported by CBS Atlanta when a recipient complained to the news station, asks people to contribute money to the "nest fund" of Juanita Omilami and her fiance Brandon Ramey, who plan to wed later this month.
It's unclear how many people received the solicitation, but Omilami said it could have gone to thousands rather than to the close circle of friends that she intended. She said a staff member at the organization sent the email at her request.
The Secretary of State's office is investigating the matter, according to CBS Atlanta. The AJC requested comment from the agency, but did not hear from them Wednesday.
A watchdog group said the email could cost both the nonprofit and its executive director.
"It's wrong on many levels," said Daniel Borochoff, the president of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago. Email lists take time to assemble and can be bought and sold, so they have financial value. Using a list for a personal purpose is akin to stealing from the organization that owns it, said Borochoff, whose group evaluates the ethics and finances of nonprofits to help donors decide where to put their money.
"It's a misappropriation of the property of the nonprofit," Borochoff said. A nonprofit's email list is acquired or assembled using tax-free money, so it is in effect a taxpayer-subsidized list. Personal use of such a list could be deemed as a form of compensation that is subject to taxation, meaning Omilami could be asked by the IRS to pay for using it.
And the use could cost the nonprofit in future donations from current supporters. "For a lot of people, it's obnoxious and irritating if you're getting hit upon to help someone build a household," Borochoff said. "People will feel like their privacy has been violated and that's bad for the organization."
Amanda Patterson is among those who feel violated. The Atlanta woman has volunteered at the Hosea group and said she was shocked when she got the money request. She said it would have been in "poor taste" had it come from a family member or friend let alone a nonprofit group.
"Whether it was a mistake or not, I immediately removed myself from the mailing list," she told the AJC in an email, "and I'll think twice about supporting HFTH again."
Omilami, 60, is paid about $68,000 to run the Hosea group, according to a 2008 IRS filing by the organization. The group is named after Omilami's father, Hosea L. Williams, a legendary civil rights leader who has a street named after him in the Kirkwood area of east Atlanta. He ran the group until his death in 2000, when Omilami took over.
The organization received about $1.8 million in contributions and grants in 2008 and spent it on everything from feeding the poor to a medical mission to Haiti , according to the IRS filing. Omilami said the group fed 6,000 Atlantans on Easter and is helping people in Alabama and North Georgia devastated by the recent tornadoes.
"This is a big mistake," she said of the email. "I've given my life to serving this city and never reaped anything personal from it."
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