Attorney General Joseph A. Foster announces that the Fitzwilliam Historical Society, a non-profit organization, suffered a theft of $58,421.08 taken by its late treasurer, Thomas Morton. Mr. Morton took the money from the Society's bank account in a series of withdrawals from 2013 to 2016. As treasurer, Mr. Morton had access to the funds.

The theft was uncovered in March, 2016 by another director after board members became concerned that they were not receiving regular treasurer's reports and that the organization's bills were not being paid on time. The other director obtained bank records and discovered that Mr. Morton had written checks to himself from the Society's account. Fitzwilliam Police Department was notified. On April 5, 2016, Mr. Morton admitted to the police that he had signed checks to himself from the organization's bank account. The next day Mr. Morton died. The Society has recovered only $10,000 in insurance proceeds.

This is the third recent incident involving a theft by a director from the bank account of a local historical society. In each case, the director had ready access to the organization's funds without oversight by others. Attorney General Foster said: "New Hampshire charitable organizations play an important role in our communities. Non-profit leaders have a duty to implement effective controls over the finances of their institution."

The Charitable Trusts Unit will conduct a mandatory training session with the board of directors of the Fitzwilliam Historical Society. The training will focus on the establishment and enforcement of a system of financial controls to limit the risk that such a theft will occur again. Effective controls include: separation of record keeping from money handling, review of bank account statements by a second person, limitation on use of credit cards, regular treasurer's reports to the board of directors and close review of conflict of interest transactions.

Attorney General Foster urged directors of charitable organizations to take advantage of resources available to help them fulfill their responsibilities. Those resources include materials available from the Charitable Trusts Unit, which may be found at www.doj.nh.gov/charitable-trusts or by telephone at 271-3591.