Q. Can I make a request about the disbursement of monies donated to my church in New York? I suspect a cover up of waste, fraud, and financial abuse of a widow’s endowment.
A. New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) applies to government agencies, not to private entities.. Thus, your church would not be legally obligated to respond to your FOIL request. And unlike most tax-exempt organizations, churches generally are not required to file tax returns. So it is unclear to me how you would be able to access any of the church’s financial information from a government agency.