Second donor raises concerns about missing contribution to Diabetes Canada

UPDATE, March 12, 2019:  Diabetes Canada contacted CBC News to say that the organization has tracked down Robert McMillan's canvassing kit, including the cheque he wrote. The cheque was cashed by Diabetes Canada in June 2017, shortly after McMillan made the donation.

McMillan double-checked his bank records and did confirm that the money was withdrawn from his account in June 2017. Diabetes Canada has apologized to McMillan for not responding to his inquiries about the status of the kit and his cheque in 2018 and 2019. 

A second Diabetes Canada donor has come forward to express concern about a cheque donation that went missing in 2017 and the charity's lack of answers around the situation.

Once CBC brought this to the charity's attention, it said it would investigate immediately and contact the donor to apologize.

Robert McMillan of Alma, N.S., contacted CBC News after he heard something on the radio that sounded familiar.

On that day, CBC aired a story about Garth Mallett, a Dartmouth man who had been canvassing for the charity for 13 years. In 2017, a kit containing the donations he'd collected, including his own cheque, went missing.

McMillan made a cheque donation in May 2017 in a different area of the province.

When the cheque had not been cashed by April 2018, he emailed Christine Spears, community engagement co-ordinator in Diabetes Canada's Nova Scotia office, to alert her to the problem.

Spears asked for a copy of his receipt, but he responded by saying the carbon was very light and could not be scanned. The receipt did not contain the canvasser's name.

McMillan said it was the same person who has canvassed his area for a number of years, but he did not know the canvasser's name. He is not suggesting the canvasser had anything to do with his missing cheque.

Charity's claim of only missing kit not true

McMillan doesn't know if Diabetes Canada ever acted on his complaint because he never heard anything further.

In Mallett's case, Diabetes Canada never did find his missing kit or the money and cheques. At the time, the charity said it wasn't aware of any other missing kits.

However, Mallett was told in emails it did happen "on occasion" and "in our past experience we would locate missing kits to find that donations made by cheque or credit card were intact, but cash envelopes were opened or missing."

The charity subsequently changed the way it collected the kits. Instead of having them dropped off at a designated location to be collected later, they are now taken directly to the bank.

No response to concerns

McMillan emailed Spears, along with the president and chief operating officer of Diabetes Canada, on Feb. 14 to inquire again about his donation. No one had even acknowledged his inquiry as of Friday.

"The lack of Diabetes Canada response is puzzling and disappointing," he told CBC in an email, adding he refused to donate to the 2018 campaign.

He said the issue is not his uncashed cheque. "My interest in this was in assisting in identifying a possible missing cash situation," he said, noting door-to-door campaigns tend to generate cash donations.

"Missing cash is another matter and always should be of interest to Diabetes Canada," he said.

Diabetes Canada investigating

In an email to CBC, Diabetes Canada spokesperson Kathleen Powderley acknowledged that McMillan had contacted the organization, but said the staff member involved in the communication was no longer with the organization.

As for McMillan's most recent email, Powderley said those who received it thought someone else was doing the followup.

"We greatly appreciate that Mr. McMillan and CBC have brought this matter to our attention and are investigating this matter and our processes generally to ensure efficiencies and that all donor dollars are received," Powderley said.

She said the charity values the work of donors and volunteers.

"When we do become aware of incidents of concern to donors we do our best to address the situation immediately," she said, adding they are continually making changes to follow best practices.