A Bluffton council member’s foundation raised money for years. Was it a real charity?
A foundation run by a Bluffton Town Council member does not exist as a legal entity or registered charitable organization, even though its name was used to solicit donations from the public intermittently for at least 10 years.
In a biographical statement and online profile, council member Bridgette Frazier represented herself as the CEO and founder of the Oscar Frazier Foundation, named for her father, a beloved local politician and Bluffton’s poet laureate who died unexpectedly of liver cancer in 2005.
The Oscar Frazier Foundation’s name was attached to various fundraising events and a scholarship fund meant to benefit local high school students, according to event descriptions and news reports.
But no such organization is registered with the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office, a requirement under state law, nor is there any Internal Revenue Service-designated tax-exempt nonprofit by that name.
There is no evidence the foundation handled large sums of money or misspent donated funds. But there is also no way to confirm how much money the entity took in, where it was spent and if funds were separated from Frazier’s personal finances.
Frazier initially answered questions about the group, saying it is currently inactive, but then declined to speak further with reporters or document the foundation’s activities in detail.
After reporters attempted to contact Frazier over email, she refused comment, saying “beyond this point I will consider it harassment.”
In the initial interview, Frazier downplayed the foundation’s activities.
“We never marketed ourselves as being a tax-exempt organization,” she said, adding that the organization was meant to keep alive “the legacy and community-mindedness” of her father, who volunteered for decades with youth sports organizations in Bluffton.
Frazier, a Beaufort County middle school teacher and owner of a local catering business, added that much of her own money had funded the foundation’s activities. The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette were not able to locate any public accounting of the foundations’ finances.
Tax-exempt nonprofits must file yearly financial reports with the IRS, and S.C. charitable organizations that don’t have tax-exempt status file a similar form with the Secretary of State.
Frazier said the foundation gave its last scholarships in 2007 and 2008 and was currently “suspended.”
But public records and event descriptions show donations and events associated with the foundation as recently as 2017.
During her unsuccessful 2016 run for a seat on the Beaufort County Board of Education, the Island Packet reported Frazier was the “founder and CEO” of the foundation, “a nonprofit named for her father that provides scholarships to local high school students and recognizes local humanitarians.”
After reporters first asked about the foundation, Frazier removed this title and reference to the foundation from her LinkedIn page and an event description for a foundation-hosted charity dinner was scrubbed from the web.
Reporters found no evidence of foundation events since Frazier was elected to town council in November.
Where did Oscar Frazier donations go?
In an interview and in a prior public statement, Frazier said the foundation had originated after her father’s death in 2005 and was founded by Shannon Loper, director of Beaufort County Parks and Recreation, or PALS.
“We kind of stepped in and helped continue building it,” Frazier said during a 2017 meeting of the PALS board, according to archived footage of the meeting.
Through a Beaufort County spokesperson, Loper declined to be interviewed.
Frazier said in an interview that the foundation gave eight $500 to $1,000 scholarships to graduating Bluffton High School students, raising approximately $3,000 in total.
The newspapers spoke with one former student who remembered receiving scholarship money from the foundation. Reporters could not locate or confirm the names of other recipients.
The Oscar Frazier Foundation’s name has appeared on a handful of charitable events in Bluffton in more recent years.
A 2011 event description, removed from the web after the newspapers first asked about the foundation, said the organization had given over $5,000 to Bluffton High School students.
The $25 tickets to the event, the annual “Salt & Pepper Soiree,” with an open wine bar, live music and hors d’oeuvres, benefited the foundation’s scholarship fund, the description read.
In an interview, Frazier said money for entertainment came from her personal funds.
In 2015, the foundation hosted a Gullah gospel soul brunch buffet, also with live music, benefiting “the organization and its initiatives,” according to a Bluffton Today article from the time.
In 2016 and 2018, Oscar Frazier Day events were hosted in Bluffton, organized through a Facebook page referring to “The Oscar J. Frazier Sr. Foundation.” Proceeds from the 2016 event went to “local youth educational and sports needs,” according to an event description.
The Bluffton Boys and Girls Club was the benefactor of one of these events, Frazier said. A representative for the organization did not respond to a voicemail and emails requesting confirmation of this donation.
No record of 2017 donation
In 2017, Frazier and her brother Oscar Frazier Jr., presented gifts totaling $1,000 to the Beaufort County Parks and Leisure Services board — $500 for “whatever PALS would like to use it for” and $500 for youth athletes to afford sports equipment.
The PALS board previously granted use of the Oscar Frazier Park for an annual softball tournament benefiting high school scholarships, after a request from the Frazier family, according to meeting footage.
In video footage from 2017, Frazier can be seen presenting a $500 check to the board. But Beaufort County has no record of this donation, according to spokesperson Liz Farrell.
In response to a records request for any money received from the organization, Beaufort County said “the requested information was not found.”
What does this mean?
South Carolina law imposes certain requirements on organizations that raise money from the public.
The solicitation of money from the public for charitable purposes triggers registration requirements with the S.C. Secretary of State, according to Shannon Wiley, the office’s general counsel.
A group asking for donations would need to register and provide an annual statement of finances detailing fundraising and expenses, which is available for viewing by the public, or file a yearly exemption if it meets certain criteria, Wiley said.
The Oscar Frazier Foundation does not have documents on file with the Secretary of State, a spokesperson said.
Selling tickets to raise money for a foundation would be considered a “charitable appeal,” according to Wiley.
If an organization doesn’t register, “that is a violation of the Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act,” which could incur fines, suspension and possible legal action if a group doesn’t register after being notified, Wiley said.
Law enforcement can investigate and pursue criminal penalties if an individual violates the act with the intent to deceive or defraud, according to S.C. statute.
Wiley said that the Secretary of State is unlikely to penalize an organization that is currently inactive.
In a brief interview, Frazier did not address registration with the state.
In the future, she would “love to be able to reestablish” the foundation as a tax-exempt organization, she said.
