Mismanagement of financials by a local nonprofit organization has led to the resignation of multiple board members over the past few days, after one board member’s research found that almost all of the organization’s funds were being spent on a board member’s compensation, overhead, and other items not directly serving veterans.
On Wednesday, five board members sent a joint letter of resignation to the Santa Clarita Veteran Services Collaborative citing financial management issues they described as a pattern of “unsustainable, ethically questionable, and damaging practices,” which they said failed its mission to serve veterans.
The letter was provided to The Signal by Dr. Harleen Grewal, one of the five who resigned via that letter.
Jonathan Hatami, Brandi Heter, Missy Carter, Grewal, and Capt. Brandon Barclay of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were the board members who formally resigned.
Other members who have resigned on their own include Denise Lite, Leon Cristobal, Darlene Gandara and RJ Kelly.
According to the five-member letter, since 2019 the organization’s $300,000 in revenue was not used to support veterans and instead was disproportionately spent on overhead, with 90% of all revenue going toward operational costs.
The letter stated that $130,000, or 44% of the organization’s revenue, was paid to board member Jeff Stabile, $135,000 was spent on rent, and $90,000 was used for utilities and overhead.
Expenditures that were going toward veteran services included $1,800 for a backpack walk dating back to 2019, $630 in Aldi gift cards purchased in November, and $1,000 for car repairs of Veteran Service Officers, spent just this year.
On Friday afternoon, Stabile referred comment to the organization’s chairman Philip Solomon, but said he did not have Solomon’s phone number. Before additional questions could be asked, he immediately hung up the phone. Solomon could not be reached as of the publication of this story.
The Veterans Collaborative’s federal 990 forms, which are public record dating back to 2021 and are posted on the IRS website, reinforce the contentions of the board members who resigned and paint a picture of an organization whose reserves have been dwindling for several years as its expenses — led by Stabile’s compensation and the rent and utilities — have outstripped its revenue.
According to its website, the Veterans Collaborative aims to provide an array of referral resources for all veterans, active military, and their families and has a Veteran Center located at 23681 Newhall Ave.
“The organization has consistently claimed to be a ‘100% volunteer-based nonprofit.’ The financial records contradict this claim, as large sums have been paid to Jeff Stabile, creating a false public perception and violating the trust of donors,” the five-member letter read. “Given these serious concerns, we no longer have confidence in the organization’s ethical integrity or its ability to serve the veteran community.”
Grewal, a dentist, joined the board in February and, as a business owner herself, she wanted to have insight on the financials of the Veteran Services Collaborative, she said Friday.
After she requested bank statements and tax returns for transparency, other board members refused to provide that information or claimed they hadn’t filed taxes, she said, which she found alarming.
She then took it upon herself to access the financials through the IRS, she said, because she wanted to know more on the administrative side and was excited to be on board with an organization whose mission was to support veterans.
“I’m a patriot. I love this country, I love our veterans, and I wanted to do whatever I could in my you know, free little spare time that I do have. I was happy to volunteer to the Veterans Collaborative, helping our fellow veterans that have served our country.”
After she discovered the financial issues, she brought it forward to the board, which was received with surprise by everyone. Not long after, the joint resignation letter was sent to the organization, she said.
“I believe overall the SCV Veterans Collaborative is an important organization for our veteran community … I know how important veterans’ groups, charity, financial aid and veterans’ services are to our SCV community,” Hatami, a deputy district attorney, wrote in a text message to The Signal on Friday. “However, for me personally, when we as board members ask the public for money, when we say we are supporting needy veterans, and when we say we are ‘volunteers’ — those things must mean something.”
“I don’t think we should give money raised for veterans to non-veteran groups. I also think all money raised for veterans should be given back to veterans. For those reasons, I chose to resign my position on the board,” Hatami added.
He was referring to a section in the letter that stated the organization was supporting other groups such as PFLAG and the NAACP with a portion of the funds intended to support veterans.
Stabile and his wife, Peggy, are the founders of the local chapter of PFLAG, which supports the LGBTQ community and family members. PFLAG’s website has a page about a scholarship named for the Stabiles.
Kelly, who resigned on his own from the Veterans Collaborative board, was a founding member of the organization dating back to 2017 when it was under the leadership of founders Judith and Elliot Wolfe.
He resigned about six to eight months ago for the reasons mentioned in the letter, he said in a brief phone call Friday.
“The vast majority of the funds were going for overhead and nothing was basically going towards veterans, with the exception of supplying food through their food pantry,” which was already provided through donations not costing the organization, Kelly said in the phone call on Friday.
“I was not happy with the direction that it was going, because it was not the original intent.” he added. The organization was formed to “collaborate with other organizations to make the community bigger and stronger for veterans … they departed from that concept into this food bank,” he said.
According to Kelly, VSOs were no longer available through the organization, which are essential to veteran services as they assist with important paperwork, he said.
Lite, an attorney and former city planning commissioner, resigned from the board through an email on the same day the five-member joint letter was sent to the board, but if she knew that letter would be sent, she would’ve signed it as well, she said on Friday.
“I was, literally shocked, and there was no way I could be a part of an organization that proclaimed to care for veterans when the money wasn’t going to veterans,” Lite said. “Whatever organizations serve this community, transparency and integrity is of paramount importance. Financial ethics is of paramount importance.”
In her resignation email she stated, “I believe each of you in your hearts truly wants to see veterans serviced … Had I known then what I know now, I can honestly say that I would have elected to support veterans in a different way. Just Imagine $150,000+ being spent for veterans’ medications they maybe couldn’t get covered. Or meals they needed. Or to provide job or skills training with that money.”
“We see all of these news stories about veterans are homeless living on the streets of Hollywood. That should not be happening,” she said. “Everybody involved in veterans’ lives, services should be bending over backwards to make sure that they get every penny, not bending over forwards to feed themselves.”
Barclay, captain of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, declined to comment Friday on his resignation from his board advisory role.