Families Giving back loses Tax exempt status

[DarrellH]

It will be interesting to see how the skaters mentioned in the article react publicly.

[kwanette]

It will be interesting to see how the skaters mentioned in the article react publicly.

Yeah, especially if a skater was mentioned who never did one of the shows..

[manleywoman]

I don't see why the skaters should have any reaction (besides deciding not to hire her as an agent). They weren't under investigation, and I don't see why it should negatively affect them.

[newbatgirl]

This is going to be about perception, which as a PR person Tara should well understand.

Personally I think that she did herself no favors behaving as she did on Johnny Weir's show. People who saw it and therefore have a tough time taking her seriously as a professional are certainly more willing to believe the NYPost version of things. It's an uphill battle for her.

[sk9tingfan]

In terms of redefining the purpose of her 501C3, while I don't want to make excuses, hers would not the first to do so. I think that a lot of those seeking and achieving 501C3 status don't think enough about the mission of what they want to accomplish and what is viable.

An obvious example of a 501C3 that did change its mission successfully is The March of Dimes which started as a charity that raised money for the eradication of Polio. When that happened, they redefined their focus/mission from eradicating Polio to eradicating birth defects.

In order to get out of trouble, Tara needs to really do some research and rethinking about what her 501C3 wants to accomplish as well as having appropriate accounting/reporting.

[Justathoughtabl]

This is going to be about perception, which as a PR person Tara should well understand.

Personally I think that she did herself no favors behaving as she did on Johnny Weir's show. People who saw it and therefore have a tough time taking her seriously as a professional are certainly more willing to believe the NYPost version of things. It's an uphill battle for her.

Not defending Tara or disagreeing with what you're saying, but apparently this is how Johnny relates to people, and the producers wisely highlighted it because it's entertaining. Tara, his mom and his aunt all have a tendency to be silly with Johnny on the show, and often it's a reaction to him teasing them. He teases Tara about her lack of organization, her mood swings, etc and really highlights those aspects of her. He does it in a loving way, but I'm sure it does Tara no favors. Still, that side of her also endears her to a lot of the fans because, as Johnny says, he needs someone he can just be silly with when the pressure is on. I'm not ready to judge her on her professional skills. Johnny's career appears to be going places, but I don't know if that's because of her work or because of Johnny's force of personality.

[newbatgirl]

Not defending Tara or disagreeing with what you're saying, but apparently this is how Johnny relates to people, and the producers wisely highlighted it because it's entertaining. Tara, his mom and his aunt all have a tendency to be silly with Johnny on the show, and often it's a reaction to him teasing them. He teases Tara about her lack of organization, her mood swings, etc and really highlights those aspects of her. He does it in a loving way, but I'm sure it does Tara no favors. Still, that side of her also endears her to a lot of the fans because, as Johnny says, he needs someone he can just be silly with when the pressure is on. I'm not ready to judge her on her professional skills. Johnny's career appears to be going places, but I don't know if that's because of her work or because of Johnny's force of personality.

Johnny is such a unique personality that I think most agents would be able to get him the kind of exposure that Tara has. But I think the way she has done it has been at the expense of HER professional image. Again, my opinion.

Also, as has been questioned on this board before, how much exposure has she been able to generate for her clients who are not Johnny Weir?

[BittyBug]

.....that side of her also endears her to a lot of the fans .....

Are you so sure about that?

[Justathoughtabl]

Are you so sure about that?

I said "a lot of," not "all of."

[Justathoughtabl]

Johnny is such a unique personality that I think most agents would be able to get him the kind of exposure that Tara has. But I think the way she has done it has been at the expense of HER professional image. Again, my opinion.

Also, as has been questioned on this board before, how much exposure has she been able to generate for her clients who are not Johnny Weir?

Tough one, because how many skaters get exposure in general, at least in the U.S.? Evan is OGM, so I don't know if he counts. I can't imagine what you're supposed to do if your clients are more obscure. Get them shows to skate in, and ... ETA that supposedly Johnny didn't like his former agent because he was impossible to reach on the phone and just generally didn't communicate well.
Agreed on her image. Now, as for being a show producer, it looked to me like Ice Dreams was a success, but I wasn't there. Again, I agree that a lot of the success could be because of Johnny.

[manleywoman]

Also, as has been questioned on this board before, how much exposure has she been able to generate for her clients who are not Johnny Weir?

Tough one, because how many skaters get exposure in general, at least in the U.S.? Evan is OGM, so I don't know if he counts. I can't imagine what you're supposed to do if your clients are more obscure. Get them shows to skate in, and ...
Now, as for being a show producer, it looked to me like Ice Dreams was a success, but I wasn't there. Again, I agree that a lot of the success could be because of Johnny.

It would be a lot harder to generate press for her other skaters. Maybe one of the things alluring about her as an agent is that she does create her own shows for skaters to perform in.

As for Ice Dreams: I was there, and posted a review about it on FSU here. It was a good show, though clearly created to give her skaters something to do, and to allow Johnny's TV crew to follow him around. But it was still very well-run and had great skating.

I had a conversation with one of the other bloggers there during the show and wondered how the Ice Dreams show makes money. At least half the audience had to be parents/families of the 100 or so local skaters that get to do the group or synchro numbers in that show (and yes, there were about that many on the ice at one time!). So the rest paid admission. And there was a small auction. But with the production costs, catering, stage set-up, etc, I can't imagine it turned a huge profit. I wonder if that $$$ just rolls into next year's show as well.

[Justathoughtabl]

As for Ice Dreams: I was there, and posted a review about it on FSU here. It was a good show, though clearly created to give her skaters something to do, and to allow Johnny's TV crew to follow him around. But it was still very well-run and had great skating. I had a conversation with one of the other bloggers there during the show and wondered how the Ice Dreams show makes money.

I could imagine it not making money (it's not a charity, right, so that's okay) but serving as a vehicle to promote Tara, Johnny, and skating. I believe both Tara and Johnny would want as much publicity for themselves as possible, as most businesses do. And I also think Johnny is genuine when he talks about wanting to promote his sport. I think it was Toller Cranston who said skating shows rarely make money. Don't know if he was limiting that assessment to North America.

[BittyBug]

I said "a lot of," not "all of."

Exactly, and I'm questioning "a lot of" because I have yet to read anything flattering about Modlin from more than one or two apologetic fans.

[Jenny]

Johnny's career appears to be going places, but I don't know if that's because of her work or because of Johnny's force of personality.

It's possible she's busily working behind the scenes setting up meetings, making connections, pitching Johnny for all kinds of projects and cutting lucrative deals for him. But I'm more inclined to think that any doors that open are because of his notoriety and credentials, not because of her power as an agent or publicist.

She wouldn't be the first to be in business for essentially self-sustaining reasons - working with Johnny means she gets to travel, go to splashy events, meet celebrities, and run skating shows. Total speculation here, but my guess is the majority of what she gets out of her work is not in the form of monetary compensation, but in a lifestyle. To a lesser degree, I think Johnny might be in the same boat.

I definitely think her shows are more about giving her clients and friends something to do, and to keep them out there and noticed - more so than making any money. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, and I do appreciate the effort to include youngsters and give them opportunities to perform and spend time with the bigger names.

Tara's shows remind me of some of the skating magazines and now websites we've seen come and go in the past - I always had the idea they were more about getting their owners access to skating events and skaters than really making any money. Again, not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Justathoughtabl]

Exactly, and I'm questioning "a lot of" because I have yet to read anything flattering about Modlin from more than one or two apologetic fans.

Yes, I'm talking about the fans on Johnny's FB page. (I'm not one--not even a FB member-- but I do read it from time to time b/c there's stuff on there you can't get anywhere else.). That's why I didn't say "all of." But this is really only a small part of the point I was trying to make. As I've said, my opinion about Tara goes back and forth. Clearly Johnny is fond of her and cherishes his friendship with her. Clearly SOME of the fans take that to mean Tara should be around in some capacity, as she makes Johnny happy. Perhaps he needs this sort of close relationship with the people on his team in order to feel comfortable. Whether the friendship clouds Johnny's judgment about her as a manager is another matter. But it's his career and his business. I was certainly taken aback when she was shown on his show being unprofessional to someone on the phone: "So, like, are you ever going to tell me what you want Johnny to skate at the show, or should we just show up and guess?"

[Sylvia]

Weir and Modlin are featured in this Ice Dreams 2011/Fireworks prep. meeting back in April: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf-VK0Tz4rw

[Willowway]

For those poster(s) who talked about Tara re-envisioning the purpose of her 501c3 - isn't the point of the original article that the IRS pulled her designation and that she no longer has a registered 501c3 to envision?

I have been involved with several 501c3 organizations along the way and the Dept. of Treasury requirements (which have always, in my experience, included regular or periodic reporting) have always been as clear as crystal. The privilege of this designation which allows people tax deductions for contributions in most cases (not all) has, as it should, a basic level of financial administration attached. All principals in the organization are obligated to take the financial accountability seriously.

[genevieve]

For those poster(s) who talked about Tara re-envisioning the purpose of her 501c3 - isn't the point of the original article that the IRS pulled her designation and that she no longer has a registered 501c3 to envision?

They are referring to a repurposing of the non-profit that happened while the 501c3 was still in effect

I have been involved with several 501c3 organizations along the way and the Dept. of Treasury requirements (which have always, in my experience, included regular or periodic reporting) have always been as clear as crystal. The privilege of this designation which allows people tax deductions for contributions in most cases (not all) has, as it should, a basic level of financial administration attached. All principals in the organization are obligated to take the financial accountability seriously.

But there are MANY nonprofits where the principals do not take the financial accountability seriously - because they themselves don't understand the requirements. I'd say it's more common than not for a non-profit to be run by well-intentioned people who don't know what they're doing. The more together ones hire people who understand the requirement, but most board members don't. And in most cases, board members aren't (and shouldn't be) involved in the day to day operations.

As to your assertion that federal requirements are crystal clear.....

[Willowway]

As to your assertion that federal requirements are crystal clear.....

One might expect the reporting requirements to be rather Byzantine - from what I've seen, they're not. The forms that need to be filed (quarterly or annually) actually come directly to the organization. I was surprised by that - that the designated person receives the proper forms, with time to fill them out and file them. All you need to do is what you are asked to do. And if you're on a board, all you need to do is ask the designated person what has been filed. It's actually rather straight-forward. The contents of the reports are also rather obvious if the organization keeps even a rudimentary set of books. Nothing crazy, what one would expect.

[FSfan107]

I asked Phil Hersh on Sunday via Twitter whether he had heard about this story. Here is his response to me:

olyphil
@Laura722 Yes. But I am in London, doing reporting on London Oly