Friends of Oceano Dunes says fundraising efforts were legal: ‘We’ve done nothing wrong’
Friends of Oceano Dunes responded Tuesday to allegations by the California Department of Justice that the off-road riding group had conducted an online raffle in violation of state law.
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” Jim Suty, the nonprofit organization’s president, said in a video shared on social media.
Suty posted the video to Friends of the Oceano Dunes’ Facebook and Instagram pages late Tuesday evening. He also shared the Department of Justice’s letter to the organization — and Friends of Oceano Dunes’ written response — on those sites.
Friends of Oceano Dunes advocates for the continuation and expansion of off-highway vehicle use at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area in southern San Luis Obispo County.
Suty’s video came a day after The Tribune reported about a Department of Justice letter alleging of the online raffle, which was sent to Friends of Oceano Dunes on July 19. Suty did not respond to multiple requests from The Tribune to comment on the letter.
The July 19 letter stated that Friends of Oceano Dunes “allowed the sale of raffle tickets over the internet during the 2022 raffle year.”
Online raffles are outlawed in California, save for a few exceptions.
In the video posted Tuesday, Suty said Friends of Oceano Dunes “takes the accusations in the ... DOJ letter very seriously.” He also mentioned The Tribune’s article about the state agency’s allegations.
“We met all the legal requirements required of us as a 501(c)3 nonprofit,” he said. “We did not conduct an online raffle.”
Instead, Suty said, Friends of Oceano Dunes worked with an outside company, BetterWorld, “to do a sweepstakes giveaway, not a raffle.”
In a document dated Aug. 31, Friends of Oceano Dunes submitted an application to register a nonprofit raffle program to the DOJ’s Registry of Charitable Trusts. The proposed date of the raffle was Oct. 23, according to the document.
The fundraising effort in question ran from Oct. 23 through July 3.
The winner of the fundraising effort purchased $100 worth of entries, each of which cost the person $1, according to Friends of Oceano Dunes social media posts.
In total, the fundraiser brought in about $46,000 for the organization, according to its social media posts.
In a frequently asked questions section on the Department of Justice’s website, the agency notes that “registration (for a raffle) is not required if all tickets for a drawing are free, solicitations of voluntary donations to the organization are in no way connected to distribution of tickets and this is made clear to all participants. If a ‘donation’ is required in return for a ticket, registration is required.’ ”
BetterWorld is an online fundraising platform and donation software. Also on July 19, the California Department of Justice sent a letter to the company requesting that BetterWorld provide information about all of its charitable fundraising campaigns since 2017.
In a letter sent Tuesday evening in response to the DOJ’s June 19 letter, Friends of Oceano Dunes said it believes it was conducting a legal fundraising effort because it was exempt from the California law dictating how raffles can be conducted.
That law appears to allow raffles to be exempt from the law if they involve “a general and indiscriminate distribution of the tickets,” the “tickets are offered on the same terms and conditions as the tickets for which a donation is given” and it “does not require any of the participants to pay for a chance to win,” according to the state penal code.
A sweepstakes under California law is “any procedure for the distribution of anything of value by lot or by chance that is not unlawful under other provisions of law.”
“There were a number of participants who entered into the sweepstakes giveaway who did not donate,” Friends of Oceano Dunes treasurer Cheryl Hunter wrote in Tuesday’s letter. “BetterWorld was responsible for tracking all the entries and their program randomly selected the winner from all the entries.”
In the video, Suty expressed his gratitude to supporters of Friends of Oceano Dunes in its fight against the California Coastal Commission’s March 2021 vote to permanently close most of Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area to vehicle use by 2023.
The nonprofit has filed numerous lawsuits against state and local entities to protect or expand vehicle use at the popular park in southern San Luis Obispo County, four of which were filed since the vote. The group uses most of its revenue to wage court battles against state and local government agencies to protect such use, according to its tax returns.
“This blatant attack really highlights what we’re up against,” Suty said in the video. “Our opposition realizes that we have some very strong legal positions. ... I think they’ve fully realized that our win rate in the court system has them nervous, so what better way to try to stop us than to attack our funding stream?”
“So folks, I’m asking you to continue to stand with us,” Suty said.
He said in the video that Friends of Oceano Dunes works to “protect what we have, and work hard to regain what we’ve lost” through its various court battles.
“I’m not worried (about the DOJ allegations). Hopefully you’re not,” Suty said. “We’re going to continue this battle. We’ll see the enemy in court.”
The state Attorney General Office had not responded to a request for comment as of early Wednesday afternoon.
