Thread by @Fahrenthold

WHAT HAPPENED TO $246 MILLION?

The FBI says it’s found a “massive fraud” centered on a nonprofit in MN. The group had received $246M in federal aid to feed hungry kids.

I’m an investigative reporter covering nonprofits. Here’s what I want to know — and how you can help…

I found this story by reading the great @StarTribune coverage of the FBI’s raids last month.

I want to know how anyone could lose track of *that* much money — even during a pandemic, when money was flowing fast and oversight became more difficult.

startribune.com/fbi-investigat…

I’ve started by pulling every document I can find: IRS filings, search warrants, court records, state databases of food-aid spending.

What I want is a timeline, of what happened when, and a full financial picture of this nonprofit.

The numbers are interesting. This nonprofit, which only started in 2016 and had only 30 employees, grew super-rapidly to handle 26 percent of all Minnesota’s spending in two food-aid programs.

Now I’m moving to the part of the story where I actually talk to humans, looking for people who know this nonprofit and/or the food-aid system that funded it.

If you know something — about this specific case, or the broader system, I’d love to hear from you! [e-mail]

And please keep sending any other tips about stories in the nonprofit world! All the best leads I’ve gotten have come from you all.