Natural Heritage Trust

Controls Over Gifts and Contributions

Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) is a public benefit corporation that was created to receive and administer gifts, grants and contributions to further public programs of parks, recreation, conservation and historic preservation. NHT receives funds from public and private organizations, invests the funds, and disburses the funds at the direction of the organizations providing the funds.

We examined whether NHT deposited its gifts and contributions in a timely manner and whether it used the funds for their intended purposes. We found that the funds were used for their intended purposes. However, the funds were not always deposited in a timely manner and were not always adequately accounted for. In fact, we identified a number of control weaknesses that made the funds more susceptible to loss or misuse, such as frequent unexplained overdrafts, significant amounts of unaccounted for funds, and inadequate oversight and supervision of individual accounts. We recommended that a number of actions be taken to strengthen NHT’s controls over its funds.

For a complete copy of Report 2007-S-28 click here.