Charity Governance

ACORN: “THIS IS ANOTHER FINE MESS YOU’VE GOTTEN US INTO, OLLIE”

DATELINE: November 16, 2008, Chicago

Last week, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the national anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, cut off its funding for ACORN, the controversial organization that was in the news during this just-completed election season because of allegations over voter registration fraud.  According to a November 13, 2008 press release CCHD cut off funding because of a major case of embezzlement which “raised serious concerns over ACORN’s financial accountability, transparency, governance, and organizational integrity.”  The press release then indicates that the allegations over voter registration fraud intensified CCHD’s concerns over ACORN's activities.  CCHD therefore extended its funding cut-off to any ACORN organizations.  We are not sure what the second cut-off adds to the first.  Maybe the first cut-off was similar to...

A VERY PRIVATE COLLECTION IS CORRECT: SO WHY WRITE THE ARTICLE?

DATELINE: June 12, 2008, Chicago

Angela Valdez's article on Mitchell Rales' private museum is fascinating, seemingly well-written, and completely misguided. A Very Private Collection: Billionaire Mitchell Rales Runs the Best Modern Museum You Can't Get Into, Washington City Paper, June 4, 2008. It aptly demonstrates one of the problems about how some members of the media...

ALL STYLE, NO SUBSTANCE: THE SMITHSONIAN’S BOARD OFFERS LESSON IN WHAT NOT TO DO

DATELINE: April 15, 2008, Chicago

Much will be made of the today's article by Washington Post reporters James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott regarding the February 2008 resignation of Pilar O'Leary, the head of the Smithsonian's Latino Center. Smithsonian Official Resigns After Ethics Violations. The story is tailor-made for critics of big-spending nonprofit executives. According to Grimaldi and Trescott, O'Leary was taking down about $200,000 in salary from the Smithsonian in 2005 and 2006.

Apparently wondering why O'Leary stepped down, the Post filed a FOIA request for the Smithsonian Inspector General's report covering his investigation of O'Leary. The Inspector General concluded that O'Leary "had...

THE DRUDGE REPORT REVEALS SOMETHING ABOUT ITSELF AND THE PUBLIC BY HYPING A NONEXISTENT CHARITY SCANDAL

DATELINE: April 7, 2008, Chicago

While perusing the Drudge Report this morning, we were immediately drawn to the following headline: "Details of 'American Idol' Charity Unclear…" We have never been fans of American Idol, but we know that it is a major pop culture phenomenon. Consequently, we were all too willing to click through to the story.

What we encountered was a rather matter-of-fact story from the New York Times. Where' 'Idol's' Charitable Arm Reaches.  Their reporter, Ed Wyatt, obviously knew that a scandal involving American Idol's charity program—dubbed American Idol Gives Back—would make for a headline grabber. With that apparentlly in mind, Wyatt decided to take a closer look at American Idol Gives Back. As his story makes clear, there is no fire here. Wyatt reports that American Idol Gives Back appears to be a well-run celebrity charity. That perspective is very much to his credit. 

Last year American Idol Gives Back raised $76 million. Wednesday night the program will once again make an appeal to its viewers for contributions to charities. What apparently precipitated the Drudge Report's repositioning of the story...

WHERE IS ARCHIBALD COX WHEN YOU NEED HIM? ACLU OFFERS A LESSON IN HOW NOT TO MEMORALIZE BOARD MEETINGS

DATELINE: April 2, 2008, Chicago

The all-hearing Stephanie Strom is at it again. She reports in today's New York Times that ACLU national is in a dispute with its South Carolina affiliate over access to recordings that were made of ACLU national's February 23, 2008 executive committee meeting. A.C.L.U. and State Branch Spar, Apr. 2, 2008. At that meeting, the 14-member executive committee was discussing the takeover by national of the South Carolina chapter.

David F. Kennison, the South Carolina chapter's representative on the national board, was unable to attend the executive committee meeting due to...

TIME FOR THE OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE IRS TO INTERVENE: THE CRAZY EVENTS UNFOLDING AT ORU

Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand
          W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming (1920)

DATELINE, November 4, 2007, Chicago

We suspect that the IRS would love to jump into the controversy at Oral Roberts University, but is being efficient, waiting for the lawsuit and the Miller and Chevalier investigation to surface the critical facts. It is unclear to us why the Oklahoma Attorney General has not already intervened. ORU may have its roots in religion, but it is still a tax-exempt charitable entity, meaning that the regulators must be prepared to protect ORU's assets. The school's Web site proclaims that it has over 4,000 for-credit students. That is a significant charitable class.  It deserves the protection that only the regulators can provide.

Why the need for immediate action on the part of the regulators? This past Friday, ORU, Richard Roberts, and three administrator-defendants filed a...

SEE NOTHING, SAY NOTHING, HEAR NOTHING: A MESSAGE FROM NINE ORU VICE-PRESIDENTS

DATELINE: October 31, 2007, Chicago

The developments are coming out of Tulsa, Oklahoma faster than we can keep up with them. What is becoming quite clear is that ORU is not handling the crisis well, leading to the strong possibility that that it will not end well. If nothing else, this story is a study in crisis management.

Of course, how the crisis ends will be largely dependent on the facts. Each day's developments make us more suspicious and skeptical. Today there were two notable developments. First, Tulsa World made available an October 29, 2007 letter from nine...

LET IT BLEED: ORU SHOULD LET THE MEDIA CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY

DATELINE: October 30, 2007, Chicago

The business press was awash in rumors over the weekend that Merrill Lynch's CEO Stanley O'Neal was on his way out the door. Although all reports treated this as fact, there was no firm confirmation that O'Neal was gone even by yesterday morning.

The news accounts point to a board that could no longer take the heat from massive third-quarter losses largely attributable to Merrill's mortgage-security portfolio. At first, the board was told that the losses were in the neighborhood of $4.5 billion. Heads rolled, but not O'Neal's. Then the number inexplicably jumped to...

DON IMUS: THE BACKSTORY

Dateline, April 11, 2007, Chicago

We wrote three articles about Don Imus and his ranch for children two years ago.  These have always been popular stories, receiving hits daily.  We can usually tell when he is fundraising because the hits spike.  You  might be surprised by the number of large corporations that check out our posts on Imus and his ranch.

That said, we have been absolutely astonished by the hits that we have been receiving in the wake of the recent Imus scandal.  Our daily site volume has increased fourfold this week.  So here is our backstory on Don Imus and the ranch he runs for children.

Appropriately, it's a TRIPLE SPIN, SPIN, SPIN......

SEE MARCH 28, 2005, IMUS RANCH: THE LARGER LESSONS

SEE MARCH 25, 2005 IMUS IN THE MORNING: THERE SHOULD BE GREATER COORDINATION BETWEEN STATE AND FEDERAL REGULATION

MARCH 24, 2005, IMUS IN THE MORNING: NOT WITH MY MONEY YOU DON'T
 

TRANSPARENCY AT NEW YORK’S UNITED WAY?: YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING

Dateline:  January 26, 2007, Chicago

New York Times reporter Stephanie Strom revealed today that there may be more behind the announced retirement of the Lawrence Mandell, the president and chief executive officer of United Way of New York City, than meets the ear.  Stephanie Strom, United Way's Top Executive Says He Will Retire in the Summer, New York Times, January 26, 2007.  According to Strom, Mandell told the staff in a letter that he had successfully guided the organization, raising $100 million in for the June 30, 2005 fiscal year.  He indicated that the United Way was about to begin a new phase in its transformation, making this summer a good time to pass the baton. 

A staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Strom...