More on Angel Food Ministries’ Campaign Contributions

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has also picked up on Angel Food Ministries questionable campiagn contributions.  The AJC reports, though, that the 501(c)(3) is also under scrutiny for making nearly $500,000 in unsecured loans to insiders and disqualified persons. 

Angel Food Ministries, the Georgia nonprofit started to help struggling families with food costs, made more than $453,000 in unsecured loans in 2007 to formerly high-paid family members running the organization. It brought the total of their loans to more than $1.1 million over a two-year period.  Internal Revenue Service documents show that father Joe Wingo; his wife, Linda; and sons Wesley and Andrew together earned $402,097 in 2007, down from $2.1 million in 2006.  However, the organization gave the family growing amounts in unsecured loans. The Wingos owed Angel Food Ministries nearly $663,000 beginning in 2007, and that increased to $1.1 million by the end of the year.

As I mentioned in my most previous post, that’s a whole lotta groceries that went, instead of to the poor country folk of rural Georgia, to the founder’s pockets.  The most distressing new revelation is that more than 200 metro Atlanta churches participate in the Angel Food Ministries.  One ought to expect that donations will dry up soon.  Here’s a good teaching point using the media attention as context:  “what should a tax exempt organization do by way of crisis control when faced with revelations like this?”

dkj