Readers, we were made aware of a public attack on the Fed Is Best Foundation. We’d like to provide a response to the commenter, and in the spirit of transparency and accountability to you all, we’re providing you with both her original letter and our response:
Dear Ms. Grattan,
Thank you for your concern regarding the Fed is Best Foundation’s nonprofit status and for your inquiry regarding our financial transparency. You gave us less than 24 hours to respond to your email, which was sent at 5 PM on Saturday evening, when we were home with our families. We hope you understand the delay. Since we no longer have the benefit of providing you this information privately, we want to make sure that our followers also have an opportunity to receive the same transparency that you requested of us.
First, we are not certain what research you have conducted on us so we can’t speak to that part of your email or post, but for your awareness, The Fed Is Best Foundation was recently incorporated as a nonprofit organization in the state of Arkansas. It is more accurately a no-profit, no-revenue organization at this time, since it is entirely self-funded by co-founders Dr. Christie de Castillo-Hegyi and B. Jody Segrave-Daly, who pay for all operations out of their own pockets.
It is not considered a 501(c)(3) organization, thus it has not sought or received any tax benefits as that IRS exemption allows. It also does not solicit or accept donations, thus there are no (nor have there ever been) funds that require the accountability oversight of which you speak. To be clear: the reason you can’t find any records is because The Fed Is Best Foundation receives no funds and has no donors; hence your conclusions are a case of reverse causality. Based on the evidence, the wrong conclusion was drawn. We all make mistakes like this time to time, as you have here. It’s why appropriate research and carefully gathered facts are so very important – in science, legal cases, and even personal blogs and Facebook posts.
At which time in the future where we may consider filing a 501(c)(3) designation or begin to accept donations, we assure you and the public that we would hold public accountability and our duty to fiscal integrity in the highest regard. You can learn more about us and our disclosures here and also here. And yes, we do indeed hold the Federal Trademark, which is an excellent idea for any organization intending to use a name publicly and for branding purposes. You may want to consider this for your blog as well. We believe it’s an excellent business practice and part of a solid long-range marketing strategy.
Second, as for the targeted ad that crossed your news feed, we can’t control how Facebook’s advertisement algorithms work, but we suspect you saw our link because you write and share breastfeeding-related stories on both your personal Facebook and blog Facebook pages, which affects how Facebook markets to you. For more information and assistance in this matter, and how to block our ads if they are distressing to you, we urge you to visit the Facebook help center listed on your Facebook settings dashboard.
Third, your comments were removed not because you were asking for transparency, but because they made unfounded claims against our organization with no evidence to support them, which clearly violates our comment policy. Above all, we seek to keep our comment sections friendly and educational, and allow our users to discuss relevant topics freely and without the threat of bullying or personal or character attacks. You can read the full policy here.
And finally, we take libel and defamation against us very seriously, and will choose to believe that you are simply a concerned citizen and doing your civic duty, and not “exploiting,” as you say, the large number of followers we have for your own personal gain. We could ask you to remove the defamatory comments, but, your Facebook page is your territory. We’ll leave that part up to the professionals. We appreciate the time you took to email us, and we again thank you for your comments and concern.
#FedIsBest
The Fed is Best Foundation
(original email below)
Amazing that someone launching a baseless attack didn’t do a smidgen of research first. I’m a nonprofit attorney. Incorporation as a nonprofit is authorized by the state first. IRS tax exempt status is not required unless you solicit tax deductible donations and always comes second anyway. This is pretty basic stuff, don’t need to be an attorney to research it before trying to attack.