Charity founder Rick Clark cleared of fraud allegations

A Spokane police investigation into a local charity founder cleared him of allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

Spokane police launched an investigation this summer into the financial dealings of Richard “Rick” Clark after Sarah Welliver, the board president of Giving Back Spokane, announced that the board of directors “uncovered clear evidence of financial impropriety by an individual in a leadership role.”

Welliver, wife of former boxer Chauncy Welliver, known as the Hillyard Hammer, declined to comment when contacted in July. At the time, she cited the ongoing investigation.

Spokane police Detective Tim Schwering said he investigated the finances of Giving Back Spokane and found nothing wrong. The allegations of misuse of donated funds were found to be without merit.

“Basically what it was, it was an accusation of embezzlement and potential money laundering,” Schwering said in an interview. “I’ve done a lot of these cases. It became very clear that wasn’t going to the prosecutor’s office.”

While the case has closed, the City of Spokane has yet to respond to two public records requests related to the matter submitted by The Spokesman-Review. While Schwering acknowledged that the investigation records are now open for public review, he said the records department would release those documents.

Clark said he has not yet seen the records. He referred a reporter to Schwering and declined an interview request citing the “trauma that this has caused me and my family.”

Asked the nature of the allegations, Schwering said the complaint by Giving Back Spokane’s board listed “questionable use of funds” and “confirmed instanced of fraud.” “Even the ‘confirmed instances of fraud’ were not.”

Asked if he expected to file charges against the board members for filing a false report, Schwering said no.

“It appeared that everyone acted with good faith,” he said. “Sometimes what people think is fraud, is not fraud.”

Efforts to reach Sara Welliver this week were not successful.

Clark posted a long statement on social media about how the allegations have affected him. He asked that the post serve as his official statement.

“As we were closing up our nonprofit, our board of directors collectively filed a police report against me,” Clark wrote. “And they posted these unfounded accusations on social media at the same time.”

The board also alerted the entire list of donors and tried to block Clark from the Facebook page he created for the charity.

“I had no say in any of it and was completely blindsided,” he wrote. “So the way this went down STILL leaves me with so many questions.”

Clark wrote that he spent weeks gathering all the financial documentation for Schwering’s investigation “still not really knowing or fully understanding why this was happening.”

Neighbors stopped waving back at him and others stopped talking.

“I fell into a very dark and lonely place, I’m not going to lie,” he wrote in part. “I just tried to focus on what was needed to clear my name and show our donors that we did exactly what we said we would do with donations.”

Clark said he then learned that he had been exonerated.

Investigators “made it clear to me during the course of the investigation they had never seen a case quite like this,” he wrote. “What was done to me was reckless at best, and more insidious at worst.”

Clark had become well-known for his giving that started in 2015 after putting a call out for assistance to replace a backpack and personal items reportedly stolen from a homeless man.

Within a day, Clark, who had also experienced homelessness, received enough supplies to fill 25 backpacks. By late 2017, he told The Spokesman-Review that he had donated 1,500 backpacks to area homeless people through his Giving Back Pack’s program.

In 2019, Clark’s charity work caught the attention of Mike Rowe, the host of the renowned TV show “Dirty Jobs.” Rowe featured Clark on his new charity-focused program “Returning the Favor.”

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark’s charity work morphed into seeking donations to purchase food from shuttered restaurants to feed anyone in need through a rebranded organization called Spokane Quaranteam. Those efforts raised more than $160,000 by the end of the year.

He rebranded that organization into Giving Back Spokane, which launched several initiatives such as Bite2Go, which provided meals to students on weekends during the school year.

The organization reported revenues of $240,000-$360,000 per year over the past five years. In 2024, the organization spent more than $110,000 on Bite2Go and more than $100,000 on other charitable programs, according to its tax filings.

Along with raising funds, Clark said those efforts included finding pilots to fly terminally ill kids home, buying new school clothes for underprivileged children and giving nine vehicles to single working mothers.

Then in June, Clark announced that Giving Back Spokane would be dissolving later that month so that he could focus on his family and other charitable projects. The organization’s remaining assets were set to be donated to Next Chapter, a recently formed organization dedicated to assisting homeless people.

In July, the social media post by the board then called for a police investigation. Clark said he learned last month of his exoneration.

“I still want to help others and will get back to that soon, though it will look a bit different,” Clark posted last month.

He noted that he has retained a lawyer.

“I spent so much time helping people that I never really protected myself and this was a tough lesson on that,” he wrote. Social media “can also destroy lives and this was a wake up call for sure.”

Clark, in the post, said he will take some time for family and friends before announcing his next move.

“Thank you for your patience and kindness as we went through this,” he wrote. “I want light in the world, I have no room for more darkness.”