Massachusetts nonprofit turns people away

[bydesign21]

For several years I have tried the volunteer at a local nonprofit looking for volunteers in my town. We have also as a family offered to make donations in exchange for research help at this historical venue. we were invited to one of their open House events which is open to the public and several days later I was sent a no trespass order for trespassing.

Nobody at this business knows why the president is doing this to me. my best friend who is a constable approached him and the president told him an exact words that he didn't like my Facebook page and that he thinks I'm sue happy. this man is not a friend of mine on social media and I don't understand what he means by sue happy. I've never sued anyone outside of small claims when I had a client that didn't pay me for my business.

this gentleman refuses to take my calls my emails refuses to speak with us in person. He is slandering my name across town and with colleagues that I work with and I don't even know who this guy is.

Is it legal for a non-profit who depends on people's donations? Is this discrimination because it feels like it. I've been told by members there, that it's just small town politics.

 

[quincy]

For several years I have tried the volunteer at a local nonprofit looking for volunteers in my town. We have also as a family offered to make donations in exchange for research help at this historical venue. we were invited to one of their open House events which is open to the public and several days later I was sent a no trespass order for trespassing.

Nobody at this business knows why the president is doing this to me. my best friend who is a constable approached him and the president told him an exact words that he didn't like my Facebook page and that he thinks I'm sue happy. this man is not a friend of mine on social media and I don't understand what he means by sue happy. I've never sued anyone outside of small claims when I had a client that didn't pay me for my business.

this gentleman refuses to take my calls my emails refuses to speak with us in person. He is slandering my name across town and with colleagues that I work with and I don't even know who this guy is.

Is it legal for a non-profit who depends on people's donations? Is this discrimination because it feels like it. I've been told by members there, that it's just small town politics.

I suggest you continue to try to contact the "president" of this nonprofit to ask what is behind his comments and complaints about you.

Without knowing what he said about you, or why, it is difficult to tell if what he has said about you is defamatory.

You might want to change your privacy settings on your Facebook page.

 

[bydesign21]

I suggest you continue to try to contact the "president" of this nonprofit to ask what is behind his comments and complaints about you.

Without knowing what he said about you, or why, it is difficult to tell if what he has said about you is defamatory.

You might want to change your privacy settings on your Facebook page.

my settings on Facebook are extremely private, I'm a television celebrity and I don't like strangers on my page.

I have a signed affidavit from the Constable with his comments about what I say on my private page and that he thinks I'm sue happy. I have tried to email him call him and see him in person. My husband has shown up at his place of work in a second just walked in the door of the man threatened him with the police. My husband is on the town board. The president is the town's IT manager. all the people at the historical society that wanted to work with me he has told them to avoid me and not speak to me. it's impossible to ask him what his problem is but my guess it's because of what I've done on television in the fact that he's trying to compete with me doing events that I normally do around town with what I did on television.

 

[quincy]

my settings on Facebook are extremely private, I'm a television celebrity and I don't like strangers on my page.

I have a signed affidavit from the Constable with his comments about what I say on my private page and that he thinks I'm sue happy. I have tried to email him call him and see him in person. My husband has shown up at his place of work in a second just walked in the door of the man threatened him with the police. My husband is on the town board. The president is the town's IT manager. all the people at the historical society that wanted to work with me he has told them to avoid me and not speak to me. it's impossible to ask him what his problem is but my guess it's because of what I've done on television in the fact that he's trying to compete with me doing events that I normally do around town with what I did on television.

I recommend that neither you nor your husband trespass.

If you are a local "celebrity," you can expect to have your community comment on you and make critical statements about you. That comes with the territory.

You can speak with an attorney in your area who is well-versed in defamation law to see if sending a cease and desist letter is a smart action to take, or if you have a supportable defamation claim to consider.

Good luck.

 

[bydesign21]

I recommend that neither you nor your husband trespass.

If you are a local "celebrity," you can expect to have your community comment on and express criticisms of you. That comes with the territory.

You can speak with an attorney in your area who is well-versed in defamation law to see if sending a cease and desist letter is a smart action to take, or if you have a supportable defamation claim to consider.

Good luck.

Thank you neither of us have stepped foot on that property. My husband works at the same town hall that the president works at so it is public property.

I will talk to a lawyer about defamation.

 

[quincy]

Thank you neither of us have stepped foot on that property. My husband works at the same town hall that the president works at so it is public property.

I will talk to a lawyer about defamation.

I think having an attorney in your area personally review the facts is smart.

Here is a link to an overview of Massachusetts defamation law, published by the Digital Media Law Project:
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/massachusetts-defamation-law

 

[xylene]

Organizations deny volunteers for all kinds of reasons.

They also often reject donations, especially highly conditional ones (like you seem to be offering)

You are on formal notice to stay from the property, likely from somehow not taking an earlier hint.

Anyhting else beyond hiring a lawyer is just you exacerbating the situation. You may be being discriminated against, but being a local media celebrity is not a protected class.

It is possible this person sees you and your husband as a threat to his position.
That is much much more understandable than you seem to be willing to see, with your "I don't even know who this guy is." routine when you admit he's trying to compete with me doing events that I normally do around town with what I did on television. "

There is no law that a non-profit has to allow you to 'horn in' on someone else's org.

 

[quincy]

A celebrity's involvement with an organization can be an asset or it can be a detriment. Some organizations will welcome the additional publicity a celebrity can bring but if the celebrity is a controversial figure, the publicity can do more harm than good.

 

[cbg]

The bottom line here is that you do not have a right under the law to volunteer and no laws are being violated.

 

[quincy]

The bottom line here is that you do not have a right under the law to volunteer and no laws are being violated.

There could be defamation ... but that requires a personal review of what has been said and why.

 

[cbg]

That's a separate issue from whether the non-profit is violating any laws by turning her down as a volunteer. Though I will grant you I could have phrased it more specifically.

 

[quincy]

That's a separate issue from whether the non-profit is violating any laws by turning her down as a volunteer. Though I will grant you I could have phrased it more specifically.

Fair enough.

I agree with you that it does not appear that the nonprofit is violating any law by turning away either a potential volunteer or a potential donor.

I won't speculate on the reason behind the no-trespassing order. If the "historical venue" is private property, it is within the property owner's rights to keep unwanted guests off the property.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Fair enough.

I agree with you that it does not appear that the nonprofit is violating any law by turning away either a potential volunteer or a potential donor.

I won't speculate on the reason behind the no-trespassing order. If the "historical venue" is private property, it is within the property owner's rights to keep unwanted guests off the property.

OP had commented about "research help" in their first post. If it's genealogical information, perhaps OP would be better looking into NEHGS.

I think OP should focus on other ways to serve the community.

 

[quincy]

OP had commented about "research help" in their first post. If it's genealogical information, perhaps OP would be better looking into NEHGS.

I think OP should focus on other ways to serve the community.

I think (at this point at any rate), bydesign21 has no choice but to look at other ways to serve the community.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Is it legal for a non-profit who depends on people's donations? Is this discrimination because it feels like it. I've been told by members there, that it's just small town politics.

You did not say in what state this organization operates and that matters because much of the law that governs what is going on here is state law. Federal law does not regulate "nonprofit" organizations. Federal tax law does regulate tax exempt organizations. A lot of people use the term nonprofit to refer to tax exempt organizations, but that is not an accurate use of the term. Indeed, a lot of tax exempt organizations do have a profit. Also, for understandable reasons, most people equate tax exempt organizations with charities, but that too is not accurate. While many tax exempt organizations are charities, there are many categories of tax exempt organizations (about two dozen) and the rules in the tax code are slightly different for each one. So, in addition to the state, it would be important to know what kind of tax exempt organization it is and what it does to know what rules apply.

All that having been said, there is nothing in federal tax law that requires any tax exempt organization to accept all donations that are offered (especially those that are offered with strings attached) or that requires any tax exempt organization to accept all volunteers who offer their time to the organization. Engaging in racial discrimination and a few other kinds of discrimination that are generally illegal under federal law can put at risk their tax exemption, but apart from that it is not a violation of their tax exempt to turn away a particular donor or volunteer for personal reasons unrelated to illegal discrimination.

While it is unlikely that state law prohibits the organization from doing this either, without knowing the state and exactly what kind of organization this is I cannot say for sure if there might be a problem.