Mother of bullied MS Coast teen says nonprofit is exploiting daughter’s suicide for money
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The death of Aubreigh Wyatt
The death by suicide of 13-year-old Aubreigh Wyatt has focused national attention on South Mississippi, with widespread calls for justice and anti-bullying enforcement.
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A group whose motives have been publicly questioned, Stand for the Silent Inc., is accused of soliciting donations outside Ocean Springs businesses, claiming the money will support an anti-bullying campaign and using the name of 13-year-old Aubreigh Wyatt, an Ocean Springs Middle School student who died by suicide after being bullied.
Wyatt’s mother, Ocean Springs teacher Heather Wyatt, confronted one of the fundraisers at a table in an Ocean Springs shopping center, where representatives were offering “Olympic Medal” status for top donations of $2,500, a poster showed.
Wyatt posted a video to the Facebook group Ocean Springs Talk of the Town while standing near the table, which held fund-raising materials and was covered by a black cloth printed with the Stand for the Silent logo.
A young man at the table went to another area of the shopping center after Wyatt questioned him, she said, leaving the table unattended.
“Anyone using Aubreigh’s name to raise money is doing so without her family’s permission and it’s certainly not her family or friends doing it,” Heather Wyatt said in the video.
“Maybe people will take it as a wider message that they maybe shouldn’t give money just because someone says they’re doing something noble.”
Kirk Smalley, president of Oklahoma-based Stand for the Silent, said representatives are trained on fundraising and should not mention any specific schools or children who have died by suicide. He said most of the money raised supports his trips around the country to talk with students about bullying and suicide.
His own son died by suicide at age 11, he said. “We are a legitimate organization,” Smalley said.
Unethical fundraising reported in other states
Wyatt said the fundraisers claimed to be raising money for a school but would not give the school’s name. The Ocean Springs School District knows nothing about fundraising by Stand for the Silent and has not received a donation from the group, communications director Trey Brennan said Tuesday.
Stand for the Silent has a website and is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit organization, which means donations are tax-exempt. A dozen or more newspaper articles have parroted information from the group’s website to write about Stand for the Silent’s anti-bullying and teen suicide prevention efforts.
But two newspapers, one in Colorado and another in Utah, have published articles about the group’s “unethical” or “fake fundraising.” Those articles also describe fundraisers, who claimed to represent Stand for the Silent, collecting donations at tables outside local businesses.
Fundraisers in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, claimed to be partnering with a local group that receives donations. They didn’t realize the woman confronting them was head of that local group, knew nothing about a partnership and had not received any donations from Stand for the Silent, the newspaper article said.
A national investigative news nonprofit, ProPublica, has parsed reports that charities must file with the IRS, including those submitted by Stand for the Silent. Those reports, called 990s, show a dramatic increase in donations.
The group’s fundraising efforts were generally bringing in low six figures before 2021, the last year for which 990s are available. In 2020, for example, the group raised $277,819 in contributions.
But in 2021, Stand for the Silent reported $11.9 million in contributions, their 990 says. The group also reported that about $9 million, or 76% of revenue, went to fundraising expenses.
Smalley said contributions increased significantly after his group hired a marketing firm so he could continue to speak out about bullying and suicide.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 2:53 PM.
