The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, strapped for cash and lacking in fundraising and operational management, is cutting staff and shutting the doors of its seven regional offices.
Coming off one of its most successful conventions and national lobbying efforts to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the group’s President Bruce S. Gordon resigned in March after 19 months at the helm.
The group was counting on Mr. Gordon’s leadership to curb a decline in donations and keep it from falling into a well of red ink, a problem only exacerbated by his departure.
“We have to go through a selections process which is costly, and the timing is bad, and we have had to stop temporarily some of our fundraising initiatives,” said interim President Dennis C. Hayes, who has worked for the group for 22 years.
He said that the organization also has not had a chief development officer and fundraiser since January.
Mr. Hayes said fault cannot be laid at Mr. Gordon’s feet alone. The NAACP has missed revenue projections for the past three years. It made up for deficits with its reserve fund, something Mr. Hayes said, “We simply don’t want to do anymore.”
“I couldn’t guess as to what the past CEO — who left unexpectedly and in the middle of a fundraising campaign — could have done to make up the difference, but certainly there was an impact.”
The organization is currently operating on a $21 million annual budget, Mr. Hayes said. The cost-cutting measures are intended to meet that budget, he said, but explained, “Our bills are paid and there is money in the bank.”
Mr. Gordon said in January that his departure from the organization was largely because of disagreements with the 64-member NAACP board and its daily involvement with the group’s operations. He also stressed that the organization needed to modernize and streamline its operations so that it could expand activities to other areas of economic equality and development, to criminal justice and other initiatives.
Mr. Hayes said the group will close its regional offices in New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston to save on rent and some staff salaries.
He said the offices will close at different times and some will close sooner than others, as the Detroit office will have an integral role in organizing its national convention, which will be held there next month.
On hold is an effort to raise $100 million as a part of the group’s capital campaign commemorating its 100th anniversary and a $20 million initiative to move the group’s headquarters from Baltimore to the District and a few other initiatives, Mr. Hayes said.
Fundraising will likely become more of an Internet-focused operation requiring fewer staffers as will many of the group’s outreach efforts and membership drives.
Mr. Hayes said the organization’s first priority along with cutting expenditures will be to engage new donors and re-engage its current philanthropic partners.
“We have many supporters who support us as a matter of course, and if you are meeting your revenue objectives often funders feel that they don’t need to give more, and we need to stress with them that we do need a little more,” he said.
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