You’ve probably seen Gottsche‘s frequent requests lately asking you to consider donating to them in this year’s WyoGives campaign. While we support altruism and charity, there are some facts that Gottsche is not forthcoming with that should be considered before you give up your hard earned money.
Gottsche is falsely advertising that your charitable proceeds will benefit the services they offer. While yes, they do request donations in the name of patient care, what CEO Cheryl Shero, who oversees all funding activities, has intentionally neglected to tell donors and the public, is that they also use your funds for personal gain. Between 2017-2019, Gottsche employees, Erin Hemann (Erin Dyok), Grant Basko, and former Gottsche employees, Ryan and Tess Williams (RYTE Rehabilitation) all used donated funds for their own legal fees. Not only did Cheryl Shero and Gottsche board member Gene Boehmke originally lie about the use of the funds, but also asserted to multiple sources, including government officials, that the legal issues the funds were used for were of ”personal“ nature, and not business related. Later, Cheryl Shero would change her tune and admit to the use of the funds, but additionally illegally and unethically failed to report the use of the funds for the intended purpose. By law, non-profits are required to publicly file tax reports and not a single tax report from 2017 to present day accurately represented the use of the funds for personal use.
If you have already donated on behalf of Gottsche, you can file a report to the IRS about Gottsche employees‘ illegal and unethical use of the funds. To see Gottsche filings for yourself and leave a review, you can visit guidestar.org , search Gottsche public filings via sos.wyo.gov, or contact us using the link in our bio and we will supply you with printed reports free of charge.
To file a complaint with the IRS, you can access Form 3949-A at irs.gov and file by mail or online.