The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Donate Real Estate" ...
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Neighborhoods for Sale
This eight-part yearlong series documented and exposed the nexus between the deep-pocketed developers who have transformed the city during the building boom of the past decade, the alderman who supported these wholesale changes and millions of dollars in campaign donations. The Tribune's series began by exploring how "pay to play" politics drives zoning changes in Chicago and showing how seemingly arcane official actions directly affect people across the city's neighborhoods. The Tribune also created a first-ever interactive database containing ten years of zoning changes, allowing residents to go online and research developments in their own neighborhoods.
Tags: real estate; pay-to-play; Richard Daley; interactive database; developers; corruption
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Shriners Hospitals for Children Investigation Series
Freelance reporter Sandy Frost investigated a tip from Shriner Vernon Hill that there were irregularities in the way the fraternal Shriners organization and the charitable Shriners organizations were handling their money and not complying with Standards For Charitable Accountability.
Tags: Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine AKA Shriners; Standards for Charity Accountability; 2001 Criminal Tax Manual; Hershel Gober; Philanthropic Research, Inc. AKA Guidestar.org; Second Avenue Partners; Mike Slade; Aquantive; Nick Hanauer; Shriners; Masons; Knights Templar; Royal Order of Jesters; National Sojourners Order of Quetzacoatl; Mike Severe, Imperial Officer, Shrine of America; compensation; real estate transactions; excessive benefit transactions; charitable donation fraud; HIPPA; Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; Vernon Hill; Suite101.com; Paul Dolnier; 501c10 non profit fraternal corporation; 501c3 non profit charity; Better Business Bureau; Charity Watch Center; Pennsylvania's Charitable Special Investigation Unit; Internal Revenue Service; IRS; good old boy system; U.S. Senate Committee on Finance; whistleblower retaliation; Charles G. Cumpstone Jr., Potentate Stewart W. Lewis; Charities Review Council of Minnesota; Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; GAAP; Independent Sector; SLAPP: strategic lawsuits against public participation; Cabiri Royal Order of Scotland; International Order of Demolay
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The Deputy Mayor and the Olympics
Although Bloomberg accepted no campaign contributions since first running for New York City mayor in 2001, Bernstein shows that his deputy mayor, Daniel Doctoroff, represented a conduit for donations from bankers, real estate developers and others with economic interests. While leading NYC 2012, an organization established to raise funds to bring the Olympics to New York, Doctoroff convinced many people who wanted to do business with the city of New York to donate to his pet organization.
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Special Report: Good Works, Fast Cash. Special Report: How Much Would You Pay?
Dixon spent three months following a chain of titles on hundreds of property deals and deeds. She found that several real-estate companies which contract with charities to evaluate and sell real estate donations on behalf of the charities are scramming the charities. Dixon found that " The company [Donate Real Estate] was selling property to associates of the founders, who then flipped, or resold the property, to buyers who paid many times the first purchase price. Those buyers then got mortgages based on inflated appraisals, didn't make their payments, and the homes went into foreclosure." The investigation unearthed a brazen and widespread real estate and mortgage fraud scheme that took advantage of novice investors.
Tags: real estate; fraud; scam; mortgage; Habitat For Humanity; charity; Donate Real Estate; MLS records; Maupin; bankruptcy
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Secret lottery foundation/ governor's house
The Register investigates the political and business activities of Don Siegelman, Alabama's governor. Part of the stories focus on "secret fund-raising activities by the governor through what was thought to be a dormant nonprofit foundation to support a state lottery initiative," according to the contest entry summary. The rest of the stories reveal how a longtime supporter of the governor, using his accountant as a straw man, has bought Siegelman's private residence in Montgomery, Ala., for twice its appraised value.
Tags: elections; voters; donations; PACs; nonprofits; real estate; money and politics; IRS form 990
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Did Gore Open a Door?
The story explains how a well-connected real-estate developer turned around an ill-fated government project. It also explores whether large donations to the Democratic National Committee for the 1996 Clinton/Gore reelection campaign played a role in the deal.
Tags: None
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Coastal Commission -- an Ideal Gone Astray
Los Angeles Times articles reveal the state's Coastal Commission, formed to regulate development along the California coast, has become a political machine often siding with campaign donors or bowing to political pressure from politicians, Sept. 7, 1987.
Tags: California; Coastal Commission; campaign donations; politics; real estate
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No title (id: 2785)
Charlotte Observer exposes the PTL Club, whose leaders spent more than a half million dollars on expensive cars and real estate in California while pleading for donations from viewers to keep the television ministry going, Oct. 5, 1984.