Fitzwilliam Historical Society Discovers $58K Missing

CONCORD, NH — Attorney General Joseph A. Foster announced on Sept. 26, 2016, the Fitzwilliam Historical Society, a nonprofit organization, suffered a theft of $58,421.08 taken by its late treasurer, Thomas Morton, according to a press statement. Morton took the money from the Society’s bank account in a series of withdrawals from 2013 to 2016. As treasurer, Morton had access to the funds, investigators announced.

The theft was uncovered in March of this year 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, according to Thomas Donovan, the director of Charitable Trusts division of the AG's Office.

The other director obtained bank records and discovered that Morton had written checks to himself from the Society’s account and the Fitzwilliam Police Department were notified.

On April 5, 2016, Morton admitted to the police that he had signed checks to himself from the organization’s bank account. The next day, Morton died, Donovan said.

"The Society has recovered only $10,000 in insurance proceeds," he said. "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."

In the statement, Attorney General Joe Foster said that the trust unit will conduct a mandatory training session with the board of directors of the Fitzwilliam Historical Society.

“New Hampshire charitable organizations play an important role in our communities," he noted. "Non-profit leaders have a duty to implement effective controls over the finances of their institution.”

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 online, or by telephone at 603-271-3591.