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State Auditor’s Office Launches Nonprofit Spending Dashboard
JACKSON, Miss. – Today, State Auditor Shad White announced the launch of a new Nonprofit Spending Dashboard on the Auditor’s website. This powerful transparency tool shows Mississippi state agencies have paid nonprofit organizations over $4.2 billion in taxpayer dollars since July of 2020.
“State government spends more of your money on nonprofits than paying off the state’s debt,” said State Auditor Shad White. “Before we started working on this project, no one in state government could tell us how much money was given to nonprofits. Mississippians have every right to know exactly where their hard-earned tax dollars are sent, and now they can see it for themselves.”
The Office of the State Auditor previously uncovered the following examples of money paid to nonprofits by Mississippi state agencies:
- The Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity was given $17,380.19 for hosting a “Queerceanera.” Of that, they spent $327.36 on Bud Light and Coronita beer, $2,500 on gift cards for “Queerceanera” attendees, and $14,126.84 on the venue, food, supplies, DJ, photographer, and travel for the event. They also paid $137.79 for five Lyft rideshares in New York City at 10:12 pm and 4:08 am on 4-5 March 2023, which included a two-hour stop at “the longest running lesbian bar in the country,” and $82.50 for dinner at a “restaurant in Baltimore” despite the receipt address being for a tobacco/vape store.
- Love Inside for Everyone (LIFE, Inc) was given $4,000 to cover rental fees for a nightclub (run by the nonprofit’s director) to host monthly “diva brunches.” Over $90,000 was spent with no receipts or supporting documentation provided to the Department of Health funds to host Gay Pride Weekend in Jackson in 2023
- Love Me Unlimited 4 Life was given over $140,000, which they spent entirely on salaries with a requirement to hire people who identify “as Gender Non-Conformant (GNC), Aged 17-34 that are People with HIV (PWH), members of the LGBTQIA community, and/or at risk for acquiring HIV.”
- My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) spent $7,000 on “incentive” gift cards reimbursed to MBK despite the Health Department not having any documentation showing whether these gift cards were distributed appropriately. Nearly $45,000 was spent on meal subscriptions, upscale grocery store gift cards, and gym memberships reimbursed to MBK despite the Health Department not having documentation showing whether these were appropriate expenditures.
- The Juanita Sims Doty Foundation received over $2.4 million from the Department of Human Services that flowed from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. IRS records show the Executive Director of the nonprofit was paid $106,050 in 2022 and $118,447 in 2023. The Juanita Sims Doty Foundation website features the Executive Director’s philosophy that “one cannot make a good choice when historically, both choices end badly for people of color” as the basis of its “Racial Equity Work.”
Mississippi state agencies paid nonprofits over $650 million in FY 2026, representing an increase from the previous fiscal year.
The Nonprofit Spending Dashboard can be found here.
Suspected fraud can be reported to the Auditor’s office at any time by clicking the red button at www.osa.ms.gov or calling 1-(800)-321-1275 during normal business hours. Taxpayers can also email nonprofitwaste@osa.ms.gov to report suspected fraud, waste, or abuse by nonprofits spending taxpayer money.
MageeNews.com is the online news source serving Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
