The education nonprofit once run by Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker is on the verge of shutting down as the son of its major donor plans to move it to New York. Meanwhile, Community Teachers Institute, which failed to file several years of financial records until revealed this summer during Baker’s campaign for county executive, still has not submitted financial paperwork dating back to 2009. “It’s kind of up in limbo now,” Reginald Weaver, a Community Teachers Institute board member from Bowie, said of the organization.
Timothy Greeman, whose father, Peter, was a large donor to the nonprofit before he died in 2007, said he is the “main driving force” behind the organization now that Baker left and is shutting down the Lanham operation and moving it closer to home in New York.
The nonprofit has struggled with its finances since Peter Greeman’s death; Internal Revenue Service forms show that the nonprofit’s 2009 revenue was about $50,000 less than in 2008.
Baker earned $105,665 in 2009 as executive director of Community Teachers Institute, founded in 1989 to focus on educating inner-city youth, according to the IRS forms. An investigation by The Washington Examiner found that the nonprofit spent more on payroll than direct funding to students and teachers, and in 2010 had not held a summer seminar in four years.
Michael Schlein, charities investigator for the Maryland secretary of state, said Community Teachers Institute still has not submitted a copy of its 2009 financial review performed by an independent certified public accountant.
The nonprofit — one of 2,400 Maryland nonprofits considered delinquent — was supposed to file with the state in August. In January, the nonprofit turned in some forms for 2009, including its annual certification form, IRS Form 990 and updated board of directors list, Schlein said.
Scott Peterson, a spokesman for Baker, said the Prince George’s County executive left his role as executive director of the organization June 30 to run for office, before the 2009 forms were due.
Greeman declined to comment on the financial review. He said he plans to hire an executive director in New York soon and get the nonprofit running again.
“We’re still following our same path,” Greeman said. “We’re still actively going to be offering assistance to urban teachers.”
