Controversial Nonprofit Removes Board Names From Website. Find Them Here.

A controversial charity-leadership group that has blanketed nonprofit workers nationwide with emails soliciting membership for its Board of Governors recently removed the list of governors from its website and suggested it would take legal action against The Chronicle if it published a saved version of the list.

The list is available below.

As recently as a week ago, the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations & Executives was touting its governors. In a tweet on March 30, board member Jimmy LaRose asked, “Have you actually seen who’s serving on #NANOE2017 Board of Governors? Find out for yourself at NANOE.org.”

The names of the governors, however, are not on the website — although they did appear online as late as February 28. The group declined to say when or why the list was removed.

From last July to the end of 2016, the group sent emails to thousands of people at nonprofits and other organizations telling them they had been nominated to serve as governors.

Mr. LaRose says the organization carefully vetted the people it nominated and appointed. But several people who received the emails question that claim, saying they were quickly accepted with seemingly no vetting after responding to the organization’s email.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals forwarded The Chronicle a nomination email sent to “afpawards@afpnet.org,” an inbox for AFP award nominations. The email states, “I have exciting news. Afp, you’ve been nominated to NANOE’s prestigious Board of Governors!”

The Chronicle saved a version of the list of governors as it appeared online on February 28 and is publishing it for those who would like to be removed from the list or are curious as to who is on it. Two people The Chronicle contacted from the list said they would like to be removed and said they had no contact with Nanoe after they accepted their nominations.

Mr. LaRose reacted angrily to The Chronicle’s decision to publish the list, as did the organization’s board chairman, Bishop Redfern II, presiding bishop of the Ecumenical Church of Christ Worldwide in Columbia, S.C. H

On March 30, The Chronicle published a story about the association that Mr. LaRose said resulted in harassing phone calls, emails, and social-media posts aimed at people affiliated with the group.

Mr. LaRose and Mr. Redfern both suggested on Monday that Nanoe may take legal action against The Chronicle for publishing the list.

Money vs. Mission

The group has drawn criticism over its views on nonprofit governance. It says it “is for nonprofit executives who know money is more important than mission.” Dan Pallotta, the head of the Charity Defense Council known for his vocal support of nonprofits’ spending on overhead, was the keynote speaker at Nanoe’s first conference in March.

Mr. Redfern questioned why so much attention was being paid to how the Board of Governors was selected rather than to the group’s advice and guidelines. He also questioned why The Chronicle wasn’t looking into the operations of other nonprofit groups like CFRE International, which runs professional-credentials program for fundraisers.

“When you ask me frivolous questions about how our Board of Governors was selected, quite frankly, I don’t give a damn,” Mr. Redfern said on Monday.

Here’s the list of the group’s 2,200 members of its Board of Governors as it appeared on Nanoe’s website on February 28: