Missing the Mission | Board Members Should Never Be Shocked — Shocked! — at What Their Organizations Are Doing
Take a look at the advisers and directors of the nonprofit Foundation for Defense of Democracies and you’ll notice a lot of names with a similar political bent: Steve Forbes. Newt Gingrich. Jeane Kirkpatrick. Bill Kristol. Gary Bauer. Richard Perle. Charles Krauthammer. Even FDD’s Democrats — Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller — are known for their conservative leanings.
So why, exactly, were Donna Brazile, the campaign manager of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential bid, and three of her partymates — New York Senator Charles Schumer and Congressmen Jim Marshall of Georgia and Eliot Engel of New York — so surprised that the nonprofit of which they, too, were advisers was running ads trashing Democratic representatives for their opposition to President Bush’s proposed surveillance legislation?
Because they were lousy advisers, that’s why.
“I strongly condemn their misleading and reckless ad campaign,” said Brazile … . “The organization is using fearmongering for political purposes, and worse, their scare tactics have the effect of emboldening terrorists and our enemies abroad by asserting our intelligence agencies are failing to do their job. I am deeply disappointed they would use my name, since no one has consulted me about the activities of the group in years.” [Emphasis mine]
Um, excuse me?
You lend your name and reputation to a nonprofit and don’t even bother to check in once in a while to see what it’s doing? Or to find out who else might be whispering in its ear?
Don’t let the political angle of this story obscure its true lesson. How one feels about warrantless wiretapping is, in this case, beside the point. This is about the people nonprofits choose to lead them, and the nonprofits leaders choose to commit to. And in this case, there was a hell of a breakdown.
Donna Brazile’s and Chuck Schumer’s CVs might look good with a few extra nonprofit board memberships on it, but if they’re not going to bother investing in the mission of those organizations, they shouldn’t waste everyone’s time by coming on board. Nonprofits need board leadership that is involved and committed, not resume padders who can’t be bothered because they’re too busy having makeup applied for their next MSNBC appearance. | 501(c)
Tags: Charles Schumer, Donna Brazile, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, nonprofit boards
0 opinions for Missing the Mission | Board Members Should Never Be Shocked — Shocked! — at What Their Organizations Are Doing
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: