Crime Stoppers of Williamson County General Information Contact Information nprofit Crime Stoppers of Williamson County Address PO Box 156 Franklin, TN 37065 Phone (615) 456-9331 At A Glance Year of Incorporation 1985 1
Mission & Impact Statements Mission We want to make a positive impact with every citizen including under privileged citizens, youth and elderly by helping them make changes in their communities and neighborhoods. We provide a way for youth and citizens to thrive and be a part of community development and feel good about making a difference which promotes personal growth and provides a sense of kindness, decency and integrity. Anonymous tips to our hot line have helped solve crimes in our county and surrounding counties which helps support a safe, healthy environment for our children, youth, teenagers, elderly and neglected families as well as all our citizens. The tips help save money and time spent to solve a crime which saves tax payers money. The tips help protect our law enforcement personnel because they know who they are going to apprehend before hand and are aware of what difficulties may arise before they travel to arrest the alleged offender. The quicker a crime is solved, the more time our law enforcement personnel have to spend on other crimes. We give individuals a way to be the one who makes a difference and help keep our crime rates low which promote a sound economy. Crime rates that are low help create flourishing communities with meaningful employment, a strong downtown and vibrant neighborhoods. Our next generation will be volunteers who work hard to enrich and protect lives of others by giving generously of their time, expertise or money. Many of our board members volunteer for other non-profit organizations also. Background Crime Stoppers was the brainchild of a young Albuquerque detective who was concerned by the number of unsolved cases he and fellow detectives were working, and was particularly frustrated that he had exhausted all possible leads on the murder of a young college student. He felt information that would solve the crime was available from someone other than the criminal. That idea led to the major factors that needed to be addressed so individuals would come forward with the information to help solve that crime. FEAR: Some people feared the court system. Others were frightened of retaliation from the criminals they would be giving information against. Offering ANONYMITY to people who provided information about crimes was the key to solving the problem. APATHY: Some people did not want to get caught up in the judicial system; others did not want to testify in court. There was reluctance to get involved. That detective realized that many people he was trying to get information from were not going to provide the facts unless there was something in it for them. The answer was to pay a reward for information that led to an arrest. The detective was on a tight budget that would not allow much money to establish a reward fund, so he set out to ask local business leaders to raise the funds. PUBLICITY: The next hurdle to cross was publicity. Help was enlisted from the local media to publicize the first "Crime of the Week" and the phone number to call with information. With a lot of hard work, the first Crime Stoppers program was born on September 8, 1976. The first call received by the program resulted in the arrest of three men, within 72 hours, who had been involved in the homicide of a student that had occurred four months earlier. Since the first case, more than 1,000 community and scholastic programs have started. Today, Crime Stoppers reaches around the world and is represented in the United States, Canada, Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, Australia and the South/Western Pacific Regions. The Crime Stoppers program has enjoyed great success, boasting an average conviction rate of 96% on cases solved by a tip to the program. The Crime Stoppers program is a non-profit organization of citizens against crime. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards of up to $1,000.00 to anyone furnishing anonymous information that leads to an arrest or conviction of criminals, including those committing serious felony crimes, and fugitives. 2
Impact Crime Stoppers enjoys an average 96% conviction rate for tips called into Crime Stoppers Hot Lines. We paid out over $4000.00 in 2015 for tips called in which helped solve bank robberies, tips on Human Trafficking, paid for tips where drugs or guns in schools were found; paid for tips to help stop the spread of synthetic drugs; paid for tips that helped solve store thefts and robberies, paid for meth tips and other drug related tips as well arrest of some of county's most wanted. Those listed tips are just a few of the many, many tips on which we paid money for information that led to solving crimes. This helped make our communities and neighborhoods safer. We participated in Williamson County Fair to spread the word about Crime Stoppers. Helping keep our county safe provides a safe environment for people to live, shop, go to school, participate in recreational activities and stay healthier because of the safe environment. We provided safety handouts to citizens concerning personal safety, car safety and home safety. Crime Stoppers of Williamson County works. We are a partnership between the entire community, the media and law enforcement working together to keep our county safe from criminal activity. We would like to reach out more to our older citizens to provide safety tips geared to some of their problems. We want to reach out to the youth and young adults to give them the opportunity to make a difference in their neighborhoods. We want to help strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships and provide safety hand out tips for internet safety and child safety. Needs $11,000.00 - $12,000.00 a year would allow Crime Stoppers Organization to pay more for tips that are called in and keep our funds at an acceptable level. $13,000.00 - $19,000.00 a year would help with media and print costs so we can concentrate on keeping Crime Stoppers information in front of people through media and print outlets. $15,000.00 would help pay for signage to go in neighborhoods and at cemeteries as well as other property areas deemed important. $13,000.00 would help provide more visible presence of Crime Stoppers opportunities for tips in high schools where it is important to keep guns and drugs out of the school environment. $26,000.00 would help Crime Stoppers Organization to provide more hand outs and promotional items that will help keep our name in front of people in their homes and work place. We could participate in more community and county wide functions to share the information about Crime Stoppers of Williamson County. Other ways to donate, support, or volunteer Mail a check to Crime Stoppers of Williamson County, c/o P O Box 156, Franklin, TN 37065; We always need donations of items to hand out to youth and children and 55 and older groups. If you would like to see about becoming a board member of Crime Stoppers of Williamson County, please call 615-456-9331. You must be able to pass a background check before consideration for the board. Service Categories Primary Organization Category Crime & Legal - Related / Crime prevention Secondary Organization Category Community Improvement, Capacity Building / Community & Neighbourhood Development Tertiary Organization Category Crime & Legal - Related / Law Enforcement Areas of Service Areas Served TN - Williamson TN - Maury 3
Board Chair Statement It is difficult to address the successes that Crime Stoppers affords because our main concern is keeping the tipsters anonymous. They are anonymous and that is the whole purpose of Crime Stoppers. Crime Stoppers was started by a young Albuquerque detective who was concerned by the number of unsolved cases he and fellow detectives were working, and was especially frustrated that he had exhausted all possible leads on the murder of a young college student. He felt that information that would solve the crime was available from someone other than the criminal. That principle led to the major factors that needed to be addressed so individuals would come forward and money talks. Fear: some people feared the court system. Others were frightened of the retaliation from the criminals they might be giving information against. The young detective knew he had to offer anonymity to any person who provided information about crimes and that would be the key to solving his problem. Apathy: Some did not want to get caught up in the judicial system, others did not want to go to court or testify in court. There was reluctance to get involved. The detective realized that many of the people he was trying to get information from were not going to provide the facts unless there was something in it for them. The answer was PAYING A REWARD FOR INFORMATION THAT LED TO AN ARREST. After the detective accepted the fact that a tight budget would not allow for much money to establish a reward fund, he asked business leaders to raise the funds. The next hurdle was publicity. He enlisted help from the local media to publicize the first "crime of the week" and the phone number to call with information. With all that hard work, the first Crime Stoppers program was born on September 8, 1976. The first call received by the program resulted in the arrest of three men, within 72 hours, who had been involved in the homicide of a student that had occurred four (4) months earlier. The Crime Stoppers programs have enjoyed great success, boasting an average conviction rate of 96% on cases solved by a tip to the program. It is difficult to raise money for our organization because we cannot tell anyone the successes we have. People like to know how their money is being spent. Crime Stoppers has checks and balances, a CPA and board members to watch over the money, but we can't publicize information about the money spent on tips. All board members have to pass background checks before they can be on the board. CEO Statement Crime Stoppers is unique because we actually give every citizen a chance to make a difference in their own neighborhood, school, and county. We help save money for citizens by providing tips that help law enforcement make arrests in crimes faster. More important, we help keep the officers safe because when they know who committed a crime and how to find the person/s, consequently, they have the appropriate safety precautions in place when they make the arrest as far as knowing the danger level involved beforehand. Crime Stoppers enjoys a 96% average conviction rate on cases solved by a tip to the program. 4
Programs Programs Crime Stoppers Hot Line Description Crime Stoppers enjoys an average 96% conviction rate for tips called into Crime Stoppers Hot Line. We paid out over $4000.00 this year for tips called in which helped solve bank robberies, paid for tips where drugs or guns in schools were found; paid for tips that helped solve store thefts and robberies with guns, Synthetic drug manufacturing and sales, Human Trafficking, credit card thefts, extensive vandalism, paid for meth tips and other drug related tips as well arrest of some of county's most wanted. Those listed tips are just a few of the many, many tips on which we paid tips. This helped make our communities and neighborhoods safer. Population Served,, Safety Education Description Helping keep our county safe provides a safe environment for people to live, shop, go to school, participate in recreational activities and stay healthier because of the safe environment. We provide safety handouts and other information to citizens concerning personal safety, car safety and home safety. We are a partnership between the entire community, the media and law enforcement working together to keep our county and surrounding counties safe from criminal activity. We would like to reach out more to the older citizens to provide safety tips geared to some of their problems including scam artists who prey on our older citizens. We want to reach out to the youth and young adults to give them the opportunity to make a difference in their neighborhoods and schools. We want to strengthen neighborhood spirit and policecommunity partnerships and provide safety hand out tips and information for internet safety, child safety and texting and driving. Population Served,, CEO Comments One of our biggest challenges comes from the very important thing that makes our organization work - anonymity. People like to know how their money is spent when they make a donation. We can't say, we paid a specific tip for this particular crime and that particular crime and kept that law breaker off the street because the criminal might be able to figure out that someone they know provided the tip and we will never put the tipster in a dangerous situation. Also, we have to be vigilant in the safety of our board members. Another reason we have to work harder at getting donations is because we provide a contribution to our county that is different from other charitable organizations by giving individuals a way to be the one who makes a difference. Our organization has a positive impact on our abused and neglected youth and adults by helping them make the changes in their communities and neighborhoods. We provide a way for youth and citizens to thrive and help with community development and feel good about making a difference. Teaching our citizens safety for themselves and others by helping them find ways to help others provides a sense of kindness, decency and integrity which helps them in their personal growth. 5
Governance Board Chair Board Chair Clint McCain Term Sept 2015 to Sept 2016 Email ClintMcCain@franklinsynergy.com Board Members Name Affiliation Status Board information available upon request. Board Demographics - Ethnicity African American/Black 0 Asian American/Pacific Islander 0 Caucasian 10 Hispanic/Latino 0 Native American/American Indian 0 Other 0 0 Board Demographics - Gender Male 8 Female 3 Unspecified 0 Governance Board Term Lengths 1 Board Term Limits 0 Board Meeting Attendance % 95% Written Board Selection Criteria? Written Conflict of Interest Policy? Percentage Making Monetary Contributions 95% Percentage Making In-Kind Contributions 100% Constituency Includes Client Representation Number of Full Board Meetings Annually 12 Board CoChair Board CoChair Tom Donofrio 6
Company Affiliation retired Term Sept 2012 to Sept 2014 Email tadpmd@comcast.net Standing Committees By-laws CEO Comments Crime Stoppers board members must pass a back ground check before they can become a member of our board. We will continue that practice. Sometimes volunteers and companies like to give their time and / or money to organizations where they receive more publicity than on a Crime Stoppers Board. That preference makes our board members have to work harder to get more board members to be on Crime Stoppers' board and we have to work diligently to raise money for our organization. Companies, business leaders and people in general like to see what their donation does to help the organization they give to. They like a visual. With anonymity being vital to Crime Stoppers success, it is hard for us to give people a visual to show how important their support is and what crimes have been solved. Foundation Staff Comments Board members' names and contact information are not made public here, due to the sensitive nature of their work with the organization. This information may be made available upon request. 7
Management Executive Director/CEO Executive Director Clint McCain Term Start Sept 2015 Email Clint.McCain@franklinsynergy.com Staff Full Time Staff 0 Part Time Staff 0 Volunteers 11 Contractors 0 Retention Rate 0% Plans & Policies Does the organization have a documented Fundraising Plan? Under Development Does the organization have an approved Strategic Plan? Number of years Strategic Plan Considers N/A In case of a change in leadership, is a Management Succession plan in place? Does the organization have a Policies and Procedures Plan? Does the organization have a ndiscrimination Policy? Does the organization have a Whistle Blower Policy? Does the organization have a Document Destruction Policy? Foundation Comments Crime Stoppers of Williamson County is exempt from the annual requirement to file with the TN State Department of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming, evidence of which can be found on the Other Documents page. 8
Financials Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Start Sept 01 2013 Fiscal Year End Aug 31 2014 Projected Revenue $19,000.00 Projected Expenses $19,000.00 Endowment Value $0.00 Endowment Spending Policy Income Only Endowment Spending Percentage (if selected) 0% Detailed Financials Revenue and Expenses Total Revenue -- -- -- Total Expenses -- -- -- Revenue Sources Foundation and Corporation -- -- -- Contributions Government Contributions $0 $0 $0 Federal State Local Unspecified Individual Contributions -- -- -- Indirect Public Support -- -- -- Earned Revenue -- -- -- Investment Income, Net of Losses -- -- -- Membership Dues -- -- -- Special Events -- -- -- Revenue In-Kind -- -- -- Other -- -- -- 9
Expense Allocation Program Expense -- -- -- Administration Expense -- -- -- Fundraising Expense -- -- -- Payments to Affiliates -- -- -- Total Revenue/Total Expenses -- -- -- Program Expense/Total Expenses -- -- -- Fundraising Expense/Contributed Revenue -- -- -- Assets and Liabilities Total Assets -- -- -- Current Assets -- -- -- Long-Term Liabilities -- -- -- Current Liabilities -- -- -- Total Net Assets -- -- -- Short Term Solvency Current Ratio: Current Assets/Current Liabilities -- -- -- Long Term Solvency Long-Term Liabilities/Total Assets -- -- -- Top Funding Sources Top Funding Source & Dollar Amount -- -- -- Second Highest Funding Source & Dollar -- -- -- Amount Third Highest Funding Source & Dollar Amount -- -- -- Capital Campaign Is the organization currently conducting a Capital Campaign for an endowment or the purchase of a major asset? Capital Campaign Goal $0.00 State Charitable Solicitations Permit TN Charitable Solicitations Registration Exempt - Expires 0 Organization Comments One of the biggest challenges that are facing our organization is the concept that makes it work, -anonymity-. We need to keep our funds flush in order to be able to make all the payouts. As our county is growing, so are the tips. We get more and more tips and are happy to pay for them. However, it is hard for us to advertise in regular media outlets as we can't divulge any of the information that is used for our organization concerning crimes and pay outs. The tips are really, truly anonymous. A caller is given a number and that is how they are known. caller id. We can't tell about the crimes we help solve because tipsters might be found out. We put the safety of our citizens as a high priority in our organization and Crime Stoppers of Williamson County 10
plays a vital role in helping solve crimes in our county and surrounding counties. GivingMatters.com Financial Comments Crime Stoppers of Williamson County is exempt from the annual requirement to file with the TN State Department of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming, evidence of which can be found on the Other Documents page. This organization files the Form 990N, which does not contain financial information. Therefore, no financial data is available for the charts and graphs on this profile. Most small tax-exempt organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less ($25,000 for tax years ending after December 31, 2007 and before December 31, 2010) are required to electronically submit Form 990-N, also known as the e-postcard, unless they choose to file a complete Form 990 or Form 990-EZ instead. Comment provided by Beth Groves 8/2012 Created 02.04.2018. Copyright 2018 The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee 11