Full text available at caag.state.ca.us/charities/pdf/ms.pdf

Read it for yourself.

The money spent on trucks and vehicles was not donated specifically for that purpose. There was only one donation that was given that was restricted to be used to purchase a vehicle.

Terri Crisp did not get approval from the board of directors prior to making purchases. She was supposed to, but she did not.

Terri Crisp’s salary was reduced when she was demoted from president to director of field operations.

Terri Crisp got a lump sum payment to compensate her for time working without a salary.

The portions of the AG settlement agreement that Elizabeth points out were added by the AG not by the board of directors.

Originally the AG was seeking to file suit against Terri Crisp, Jennifer McKim, Shari Thompson and each individual board member along with filing a suit against Noahs Wish.

Call 3 Problem Solvers: Charity Makes Settlement With Attorney General

Former Director At Center Of Controversy

POSTED: 5:24 pm PDT August 17, 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Noah’s Wish, a Sacramento-area charity that rescued hundreds of animals after Hurricane Katrina, turned over $4 million in frozen funds Friday. It’s the result of a settlement between the Attorney General, Noah’s Wish, and the charity’s former director.
Allegations swirled around the charity after the disaster, that the money wasn’t being used for the animals, as donors expected.

Noah’s Wish former director Terri Crisp is at the center of the controversy.

Charlie Crosby, a current Noah’s Wish volunteer, said the charity supports the attorney general’s settlement agreement.
Under the settlement agreement, the charity agrees to turn over $4 million to the attorney general’s office.
As for Crisp, she agrees not to serve as a director, board member or trustee with any charity for five years.
But some alleged the ink isn’t even dry on the settlement agreement and Crisp may be violating it.
They said she’s running a new animal rescue group called Animal Resources that is based in Placerville, not far from her home.
Crosby said other volunteers know that she is the leader of that organization.
Crisp declined the Call 3 Problem Solvers’ request for an on-camera interview.
However, she said by phone that Noah’s Wish former employees are trying to discredit her.
About Noah’s Wish, she said, “Were we never trying to do something intentionally wrong, absolutely not.”
On the settlement, she said, “There was more attention put on me, and it should have been evenly distributed among the entire board.”
As for Animal Resources, Crisp said she’s helping out but is not part of the decision making and has no voting rights. While Crisp and Noah’s Wish have parted ways, both plan to keep working tirelessly for animals in disasters.

The attorney general’s office said it’s familiar with concerns about Crisp and Animal Resources and is monitoring the situation.

Crisp’s daughter Jennifer Mc Kim works with Animal Resources now as does Sheri Thompson and Colleen Benz.

This article in the Times Picayune goes into detail

And yes, I am very aware that they are “seizing” 4 million dollars. Like I said previously, they were determining what monies were to be considered “restricted” and what monies were to be considered “unrestricted”. This is the amount they determined is indeed restricted, and that is why they are taking it and redistributing it. This has happened with every organization they have investigated so far, whether it be the Louisiana AG, California AG, or whatever state the organization has originated from.

You will also notice that they have not filed any personal charges on ANYONE - on the board or Terri Crisp. They have not found fault with ANYONE. Don’t you think someone would be in jail if they had indeed found any wrong-doing such as fraud, misuse of funs, etc??? Come’on, you sound like a halfway intelligent person. Surely you are smart enough to know that much more would of happened other than taking part of the monies taken in.

But I know I’m just wasting my breath. I can’t wait for the official report to be released, with the full disclosures, so that everyone will finally see that it’s nothing other than distributing the funds.

“Terri Crisp agrees that she will not serve as an officer, director or trustee, or in any position having the duties or responsibilities of an officer, director or trustee with any nonprofit organization for a period of 5 years from the date of execution of this Settlement Agreement. Terri Crisp further agrees that she will at no time in the future serve in any fiduciary capacity with Noah’s Wish, nor will she serve as an employee or volunteer of Noah’s Wish, or in any capacity. In the event Ms. Crisp violates the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Attorney General’s sole recourse shall be against Ms. Crisp and not against Noah’s Wish.”

ALSO
The Attorney General of California will be re-distributing funds seized from Noah’s Wish to “suitable beneficiares for the purpose of which the funds were raised ie: to support the animal victims of Katrina. The Attorney General states that “None of the money will be used for the benefit of any organization affiliated with Terri Crisp.”

A copy of the full report will soon be available on the website of the Attorney General of State of California.

Draw your own conclusions as to why the AG is restricting Crisp from being involved in a nonprofit for 5 years and why they are not allowing any organizaiton affiliated with her to receive funds from Katrina.

It blows my mind what some of the people on here view as “fact”. Even GUESS who seems to believe he/she has information, is full of misinformation that is being promoted as fact. I’d like to just set the record straight on a few of GUESS’ allegations.

First of all, yes you are correct that Noah’s Wish was under investigation, which includes Terri Crisp. That is where your facts end, though. Noah’s Wish and Terri have NEVER been under investigation for misuse of funds, missing funds, fraud, etc. They have simply been investigated because they received a large amount of money and the AG was trying to determine what amount is restricted and unrestricted – PERIOD.

Quite a few of the organizations who took in donations during Katrina were also investigated.

They money Noah’s Wish spent on trailers and trucks was money that was donated SPECIFICALLY to purchase these items. This money goes in the “restricted” category. If they had spent this money on ANYTHING other than trailers and trucks, they would have been breaking the law. These trailers and trucks were part of “the plan” since Noah’s Wish began and were not a new idea because of available money.

Everyone seems to be pointing a finger at Terri Crisp. In reality, the board of directors are the ones that voted on each of these purchases. Not one large item could be purchased without going through the proper channels.

The million dollars that was raised to rebuild the Slidell Animal Control Shelter is still sitting there waiting for Slidell to be ready. The reality is that the location where the shelter was is in the flood plain and is no longer deemed an appropriate location. The new shelter is going to be built on property that the city has another facility on (mosquito abatement). They have been waiting for the other facility to move so they can break ground on the new shelter. The location the other facility was moving to ended up having some wetlands issues that they are working through, so it’s taken longer than expected. GUESS says, the money has not been given to the shelter “from the mouth of Slidel city officials” is a true statement. What you neglected to say is that the money was offered, but there was fear of the money going into “general funds” and not being used strictly for the shelter, so it was decided that Noah’s Wish should build the shelter and then donate it to the city to avoid a lot of red tape. This idea came from Slidell Animal Control and not from Noah’s Wish. As I said, the money is still there waiting for them to be ready to break ground on the new shelter. Throughout the AG investigation it was Terri Crisp that continued to remind the AG that this money was earmarked and she wanted reassurance that Slidell Animal Control would indeed receive it.

I believe that covers all of GUESS’ allegations, but there are a few others previous to this one that I thought was worth bringing up. The main one that keeps coming up is salaries. First of all, the salary that Linda so kindly keeps bringing up is incorrect. The figure of $141,000 a year came from a financial statement that included the yearly salary – along with four years of back pay - which was a decision made by the board of directors and not by Terri. She has never received a salary of $141,000. Most years it was -0- to $6000. Once the funding became available, her salary was adjusted to just over $80,000. The national average for this type of position of a national non-profit organization is $130,000. Even at her top pay, she was WELL BELOW the average for the same position. I see a lot of you piping in with your remarks of how you run a non-profit on hardly any money, and that is very noble and I know it takes a lot of sacrifice. But to compare the job in a small non-profit with the job of a director of a national organization, especially when that job makes you responsible and liable for the safety of numerous volunteers, staff, animals, and the public – it’s no comparison. I seriously doubt most of you would take on that responsibility, and liability, without being compensated.

Rebecca, I too have worked alongside Terri Crisp for many years, and I will continue to do so. Yes, I agree that there may have been some mistakes along the way, but I know for a fact that none were due to maliciousness, self-gain, or greed. Mistakes may have been made because animals were put first, and accounting was not made as big of a priority as it should have been. Believe me, if this weren’t true, I’d be jumping ship and not supporting her, but this is not the case and she has my FULL support. Remember, *I* have made my decisions based on the CORRECT information.

And you should know the AG investigation is now over. The AG has determined what is, and what is not, restricted – and no one has been found at fault. I think that speaks volumes…

I sure wouldn’t let Noahs Wish take care of any of my pets….