Ever since my Minnesota Orchestral Association Scam Alert entry, I’ve been hearing from more and more people who have been getting phone-calls from the Minnesota Orchestral Association rife with misleading statements and/or outright lies. The latest statistic I’ve heard from a reader is that MOA management has taken a forty percent pay cut. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it contradicts what has been said on the MOA’s website, as well as what Mr. Henson said in his recent MPR interview and in his testimony before state legislators...not to mention the information that’s available in the 1998-2011 990s.
To any individuals who have been receiving calls from 612-373-9236 (aka “THE FUTURE”), and feel you were misled and/or lied to, I ask that you please contact the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. (Although I think the State Attorney General’s office might be more effective…)
To make it easier for you, here is a link to the (very short!) form you need to fill out.
State Attorney General form… http://www.ag.state.mn.us/Consumer/Complaint.asp
As one of my readers wrote to me, “I’m wondering if any of the past people who contacted you about their experiences would consider following up with a complaint. I think many are concerned about accuracy because they were so shocked, but if they can remember even one thing that they know is absolutely not true, they could file.”
One thing, guys. One thing. So if you or your family or your friends were told one thing that you think was a lie – or even misleading – then please fill out that form. It’s short and easy to do. They need to stop telling these lies, and I can’t think of another enforcement mechanism to use to get them to STOP. IT.
Heck, even if you haven’t been called recently…if you donated to the Building for the Future fund within the last few years, you could probably file a complaint, saying that the Orchestra misled you about the state of its finances, giving you the impression that things were going along swimmingly, when in reality they were floundering. You really kinda deserved to know that when you made your donation, don’t you think?
If you remember one thing from your phone call, and you’re not sure if it was true or not, please mention it in the comment section. Because I am a nerd and am a bit of a human encyclopedia about this issue, I will be happy to provide documentation to help you decide if a complaint is necessary.
Let me know your thoughts.
I received a missed call from Minnesota Orchestra today. I had previously received two missed calls from The Future. I am sorry I did not get a chance to speak with them and they left no message.
SoL is there a way to contact you anonymously, outside this blog? I’ve found some businesses identifications on the robo-calls you might be interested in but which I don’t feel comfortable posting publicly, even though it’s publicly available information. (I have issues with posting people’s names, specifically, which is more of a personal thing than a legal one).
One company MO uses for example is RuffaloCody (ruffalocody.com) and their current Program Director claims in her LinkedIn profile, through her efforts, to have successfully raised US $2,000,000 for the past fiscal year for the Minnesota Orchestra. I thought that was interesting.
Also interesting is SD&A’s (sdats.com) use of Enertex Marketing’s (enertexmarketing.com) “Patron tenure and migration analysis system” database software to “Easily identify [their] most valuable and productive patrons”; “Further develop closer relationships with [those] patrons”; and “Target infrequent patrons for upgrading to become a more consistent buyer, subscriber or contributor”. Yikes!
I’ll email you.