Melissa Bailey Photo
Occupy Wall Street — the grassroots anti-corporate protest that has spawned a nationwide movement — lost $100,000 when its account was frozen for over three days, according to the fiscal agent handling online donations.
The reason behind the freeze turned out not to be The Man, but an apologetic “oh, man” from Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a D.C.-based not-for-profit that’s collecting money for the cause.
Occupy Wall Street hired AfGJ as its fiscal agent 10 days ago, after the fast-expanding protest against corporate greed centered at Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park decided to seek out a more formal way to fund-raise.
AfGJ lends the group a structured way to accept donations, besides the daily practice of stuffing banknotes into a large soup pot. (See video.)
Last week, AfGJ announced that an account with $40,000 to $60,000 in donations collected via credit cards online had been frozen.
The not-for-profit blasted a Visa subsidiary for freezing the funds, then redirected its ire at another online donation manager, then finally admitted fault in the episode — all the while losing $100,000 in rejected donations while the organization straightened its finances out.
When the account was frozen, AfGJ initially blamed Authorize.net, one of a series of companies involved in the credit card transactions.
“I can’t help but believe that politics must be involved somewhere,” said Kathy Hoyt, a founding member of AfGJ, in a statement posted online. She noted that Authorize.net is owned by CyberSource Corporation, which is owned by Visa, which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
AfGJ has since removed that statement, cleared the company of any wrongdoing and admitted fault.
Authorize.Net and its parent companies were not involved in any account freezing, according to Bruce Frymire, a Visa spokesman.
“I learned a lot” about the complicated process of managing online donations, said Chuck Kaufman, AfGJ’s national coordinator, Monday.
Kaufman acknowledged the company misidentified Authorize.net as the entity that had frozen the funds. The company that did so was e‑onlinedata, an independent sales organization that manages online donations.
Visa spokesman Bruce Frymire said Authorize.net merely handled transactions. E‑onlinedata, which is not a subsidiary of Authorize.net or its parent companies, handled the money, Frymire said.
Upon finding out that info, AfGJ redirected its ire. Kaufman Friday issued an alert to AfGJ supporters asking them to call e‑onlinedata to demand the release of the frozen funds.
Later Friday, AfGJ called off the dogs and issued an apology. E‑onlinedata contended, and AfGJ conceded, there was “no political motive in freezing our account and holding the funds,” but that AfGJ was at fault because the high volume of donations was “exposing E‑Onlinedata to a level of liability not covered in our merchant contract with them,” the statement reads.
“We apologize to E‑Onlinedata for any actions on our part that may have been construed as reflecting negatively on their company,” AfGJ wrote. “Following extensive conversations with the company today, we are confident that the situation is on its way to a rapid resolution. Please stop making calls to E‑Onlinedata.”
Reached Monday, Kaufman said the company has released the money, and he expects the money to hit AfGJ’s bank account on Tuesday.
Kaufman said he had just received a tally of the damage done: $100,000 in attempted credit card donations were rejected over the course of three and a half days because the account was frozen. It’s not clear whether those donors gave up, or were able to make a donation through another avenue. AfGJ enabled donations through PayPal starting on Thursday of last week.
Labor Helps Out
Meanwhile, Kaufman said the Occupy Wall Street movement has solved another problem it was facing. Activists last week didn’t have a good place to put the money, because they didn’t have a non-taxable account — just a personal checking account set up by three volunteers.
Now the AFL-CIO has helped the movement set up an “unincorporated association account” where it can accept donations without the money becoming taxable, Kaufman said. As long as they keep diligent receipts of where the money goes, he said, “that should satisfy the IRS.”
Previous Occupy Wall Street/ New Haven coverage:
• New Haven’s “Occupation” Takes Shape
• Anti-Bankers’ Dilemma: How To Process $$
• Labor, Occupiers March To Same Beat
• Protests’ Demand: A “World We Want To See”
• Protesters To Occupy Green Starting Oct. 15
• Wall Street Occupiers Page Verizon
• New Haven Exports “Free”-dom To Occupiers