Youth With a Mission has been tied to the production of the controversial "docudrama" "The Path to 9/11" (
http://www.dailykos.com/...). With dozens of offices a complete financial analysis will take more time, but even a cursory examination of the Kona, HI office that has drawn the most attention leads to some suspicious findings.
Youth With A Mission, International is based in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and has one of the largest revenue of the myriad YWAM offices. This revenue has is extremely newfound, and revenue increases are roughly correlated with presidential years, both of which suggest that further examination is warranted. The data displayed below is from the organization's 990 forms hosted at ERI.
A few notes:
- There is notably no form for 2005, either at ERI or GuideStar. In 2004 YWAM applied for a filing extension to 11/15/05. If they applied for a similar extension this year then their 2005 form will not be available until after the election, let alone the potential airing of the docudrama. For the 1999 calendar year they applied for an extension to 08/15/00, and in 2000 they applied for an extension to 11/15/01. (This form is erroneously attached to the 2001 return at ERI.)
- There appears to be a mistake on their 2002 form incorrectly stating their final balance by approximately $3000. This error is then carried forward into future years. I have used their stated amounts rather than the correct amounts in the graph, with the correct amount for 2002 in paranetheses in the table for reference.
Click thumbnail for full chart:
Year | Revenue | Expenses | Past Year Balance | Net |
1999 | $88,553 | $89,394 | $34,078 | $33,237 |
2000 | $264,702 | $230,650 | $33,237 | $67,289 |
2001 | $76,873 | $115,515 | $67,289 | $28,647 |
2002 | $117,959 | $100,411 | $28,647 | $46,195 ($43,751) |
2003 | $302,287 | $227,580 | $46,195 | $120,902 |
2004 | $2,770,907 | $1,317,156 | $120,902 | $1,574,653 |
The two features of the data that are most noticeable are the substantial increase in revenue in 2004, and the fact that a large portion of this revenue was not spent. There was also a fundraising spike in 2000, and though its magnitude was nowhere near the 2004 revenue total it still represents triple the revenue of the preceding and following years. The organization claims on the 990 that in neither year did they engage in any lobbying activities, but the timing of the spikes is nonetheless conspicuous.
None of this evidence is conclusive in even tying this group to "The Path to 9/11", let alone demonstrating improper use of funds for such a project. However, the anomalies are substantial enough to warrant further inspection of this branch in particular, and the greater Youth With A Mission organization as a whole.