The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

IF there are public concerns about the operations of non-profit organisation HeadKnowles, the matter will be sent to senior legal officials of the government for advice.

This was the position of Attorney General Carl Bethel yesterday who said he was in the process of gathering facts related to the charity group.

As non-profits fall within the purview of Mr Bethel, it is a situation that he is monitoring.

"...I am seeking to find out what the facts are. Once I have information, the same will be forwarded to senior legal officials for advice, if there are any public concerns," Mr Bethel said, when contacted for comment yesterday.

He was contacted after the group's co-founders - Gina Knowles and Lia Head-Rigby - announced they were splitting.

This came after GoFundMe's suspension of their account for Hurricane Dorian relief earlier this month. The account was later unfrozen, with both co-founders maintaining the crowd funding site temporarily halted activity due to the large sum of money that was raised in a short time.

Up to press time yesterday more than $1.4m had been raised by 11,400 donors.

Yesterday in an interview with Our News, Mrs Knowles called the separation "unfortunate", but said it made sense.

"What people don't realise is that Lia doesn't live here. She lives in Orlando, so it only makes sense with her saying 'Okay Gina handle it' because of the fact that we're all here. The two teams is very difficult because you can't have too much cooks in the kitchen.

"So we told her 'we got this' and she decided she'll take her charitable expertise elsewhere and we said okay."

On Monday, Mrs Knowles said despite the situation, the group would continue to be agents of change.

"It is with heavy heart and with an even greater determination that we announced a separation of our two founding partners of HeadKnowles," Mrs Knowles wrote in a brief statement issued on Monday.

"We will continue to champion the efforts of the HeadKnowles Foundation and remain committed to its mission of being agents of change for the transformation of a country and its people. We will not waiver in our efforts to help restore and rebuild our beautiful country, The Bahamas.

"We thank all of you who have walked in the trenches with us and look forward to your continued support as we work together to make The Bahamas and its islands better than it has ever been."

Simultaneously, Ms Head-Rigby released an open letter revealing she was stepping back from the foundation "with a heavy heart".

She said she has been "disheartened" by certain measures to defame her character, adding GoFundMe requested the group be IRS compliant and also that it complete required paperwork.

She wrote: "I would like to personally thank everyone that has recently donated to the GoFundMe (GFMe) account, you have helped HeadKnowles to make incredible strides with assisting those devastated by Hurricane Dorian. As a Bahamian living in Orlando, Florida, it has been my position to secure donations and partnerships, global communications and coordinating logistics for HeadKnowles from this end, ensuring that our efforts remain consistent and funded. Recently, due to the influx of donations breaking records at GFMe, the largest collected by HeadKnowles to date, I was asked by GFMe to satisfy paperwork as to why these funds were raised and also to be IRS-compliant with these donations. I can say factually, these items were satisfied.

"Having said that, I would like to publicly announce that funding collected through Go Fund Me has been, and will continue to be released and turned over to the local branch of HeadKnowles headed by Mrs Gina Knowles. Additionally, as agreed by the original founders of HeadKnowles (Gina & Lia), as of today the request to close the GoFundMe HeadKnowles emergency account has been submitted," she continued.

"Over the last week, I have been disheartened by certain measures to defame my name and reputation as a Bahamian whose only goal has been to assist those devastated from natural disasters. I've tried very hard over this time to ensure that I satisfied all requests made of me and I am really disappointed that we are on different paths now.

"My goal remains the same since day one, which is loyalty and assistance to any and all Bahamians and residents affected by Hurricane Dorian or any other natural disaster. After much deliberation with my team, it has become our decision to focus our efforts on building global relations, bringing much needed awareness and assistance to The Bahamas to ensure the rebuilding and restoration of our beautiful country. My network continues to reach out to me and I am grateful for their support."

Mrs Head-Rigby said she remains committed to Bahamians and has refused to lower her standards and get in the mud with those who question her integrity.

Instead, she said she will be using all of her energy and efforts to support organisations such as BAARK Bahamas, Our Grand Bahama, Abaco - The Rebuild Fund and others.