On April 20th, the South Carolina Secretary of State's office sent the Veterans Support Organization a notice of five violations the non-profit group was committing and gave them 15 days to comply.

On May 6th, Secretary of State, Mark Hammond, received an official response from the VSO through its attorney stating the group has taken the steps to comply with the Secretary's office as a charitable organization.

Hammond advised the VSO that if these violations were committed again the group would pay $2000 for each violation in the future.

The Secretary's office works the entire state with only one investigator and relies on public input about complaints or enquiries.

But as of now, the state recognizes the VSO as a legitimate non-profit organization under Solicitation of Charitable Funds Act.

Two of the violations Hammond says the VSO committed were failing to register those collecting donations as "professional solicitors" with the Secretary's office and failing to file written contracts or agreements with those collecting donations and the Secretary's office.

In the VSO's letter of response to the Secretary's office, it states, "VSO acknowledges that, on or about March 29, 2011, a VSO representative indicated that the individuals listed in the notice (to the secretary's office) were contract employees. However, since that date, VSO has taken the appropriate steps to make each solicitor a VSO employee. As of April 29, 2011, the individuals listed in the Notice are on VSO's payroll."

The Secretary also claimed the VSO was misrepresenting the percentage of contributions used for the VSO's respondent's program services twice, each time being a new violation.

This misrepresentation comes from VSO officials stating 86 percent of funds collected went to program services for veterans. But 30 percent of the funds collected go directly to those collecting on the streets, meaning the people on the side of the highway take 30 percent off the top of what they collect.

In the letter to the Secretary, VSO responded to the misrepresentation. "VSO's most recent internal audit indicated that 86% of contributions collected went back to veteran related sources," the letter says. "However, VSO understands that this number is often misunderstood, because compensation received by veterans doing work on behalf of VSO is included in the final tabulation. VSO aims to provide a clearer nexus between its financial statements and internal audit numbers in the near future."

The VSO appointed a new chief financial officer after these violations were committed. Acting and new CFO Kimberly Silva said, "I can absolutely see us taking that model and shifting it and bring that percentage (the 30 percent to collectors) down, and instead of funding programs that help one person, the collective dollar with that percentage would help a great deal more people."

The last violation the Secretary hit the VSO with is falsely printing matter belonging to Veterans Welcome Home and Resource Center for the purpose of soliciting or inducing contributions from the public.

In their letter to the Secretary, the VSO states they never allowed their employees to pass out business cards to induce contributions. The VSO says when this employee was found out to be doing so, that employee was let go.

"VSO acknowledges that it is not authorized to use the business cards of other organizations in order to entice the public into contributing to VSO," the organization states. "Further, VSO is aware that a former VSO solicitor utilized these methods to solicit contributions. Upon discovering that the former solicitor used another entity's business card to solicit funds, VSO let the former solicitor go."

The letter also claims another group, South Carolina Veterans Support Organization, is soliciting donations in the same locations as VSO.

VSO says they are not related to this group and does not approve of its tactics.

The Secretary's office sent a Notice of Violation for failure to register to the South Carolina Veterans Support Organization, Inc. but have not received the certified mail return receipt back.

On the Secretary's website, there is no record of there ever being a South Carolina Veterans Organization.

Are you satisfied with the steps the VSO has taken to become in compliance with the Secretary's office?