Troubled Nonprofit Know Your City Acknowledges "Irresponsible Behavior"

Board of Know Your City sheds more light on financial problems.

On Dec. 21, Cameron Whitten, executive director of Portland nonprofit Know Your City, sent out a puzzling email:

Whitten's email asked supporters of Know Your City, a multicultural history organization formerly called the Dill Pickle Club, to contribute $12,000 by year's end to keep Know Your City from closing.

On Dec. 23, former Know Your City executive director Marc Moscato told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the organization's money woes "certainly didn't happen overnight."

Today, the board sent out a second email providing a little more information about the financial shortfall.

The board also pledged an independent review of Know Your City's books and will hold a community meeting Jan. 14 at 6 pm at the organization's office at 800 NW 6th Ave., No. 331.

Know Your City's last publicly available tax return, filed in April 2013 for the tax year 2012, showed revenues of $57,000 and expenses of $63,000.

Updated at 11:45 am: Know Your City filed partial tax forms with the state for 2013 and 2014. Although the forms are incomplete, they appear to show a growth in revenue and a small positive balance at the end of 2014.

The organization reported revenue of $107,000 for 2013, then failed to disclose revenue for 2014 on the form it filed. A representative of the organization verbally told the agency 2014 revenue was $149,000, according to Oregon Department of Justice spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson. The 2014 form shows net assets of just over $6,000 at the end of that year.

The appeal for support has so far raised $3,581 from 102 donors.

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