Pulled down by an embezzlement scandal and a lightning rod for right-wing attacks, the deeper tragedy at Acorn is how Wade Rathke turned community organizing into a personality cult that prevented the emergence of a new generation of leadership.
Product placement in a comic strip puts the focus on a well-promoted online charity venture. But a look at the financial statements suggests that there may be bottlenecks ahead as the organization tries to scale up.
Alan Fabian is charged with using some of the $32 million gains from a phony computer leasing scheme to start the Centre for Management and Technology, a high-profile Baltimore organization using technology to help nonprofits. (But the Daily Kos may have it wrong: he's not necessarily the same guy listed as a supporter of a certain GOP presidential candidate.) And the Mitt Romney campaign confirms that he's resigned as co-chair of his national fundraising committee.
Restructuring after the dismissal of founder Millard Fuller has some affiliates longing for a more grassroots approach, but a glance at form 990s and trends in U.S. housing reveals more fundamental perils facing the organization's mission and methods in its home country.
Belated action by an accrediting body triggered the oafish outburst by the board chair that attracted media attention, but major governance flaws sat in plain sight for much longer.
The board member for forty years, chair of eighteen years (and major donor to the school) has resigned, claiming it was because of his age (80), but others on and off campus are agitating for a complete board shake up and removal of his name from the law school.
The Autism Speaks organization has merged several advocacy organizations under its umbrella to become a dominant fundraiser in a crowded field. But controversial theories about the cause of the condition present a challenge to the founders even from their own daughter.
