March 5, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, places the blame squarely on the NAACP’s board of directors for the announcement on Sunday that the organization’s president, Bruce Gordon, is resigning after 19 months.
On his blog, Mr. Stamp says the 64-member board is too big and unwieldy and gave mixed messages to Mr. Gordon about his role.
Mr. Gordon was hired because of his business background, though the board was unhappy with the NAACP’s progress as an advocacy organization during his tenure, Mr. Stamp reports.
“The things he focused on are, quite frankly, the kinds of things that an effective business leader would do, if given the reins of the NAACP. But this is apparently not what they wanted. They hired a business leader because he was well-connected and good at business, and then when he played to his strengths, they decided he was a lousy fit,” Mr. Stamp writes.
“I don’t know who was at fault here, but someone is to blame. Either Mr. Gordon thought he could change the culture of this organization and make it more business-like, or the NAACP thought that they could change Mr. Gordon, but in hindsight, since neither had any interest in changing, this was a ridiculous hire.”
The NAACP issued a short statement from its chairman, Julian Bond, about Mr. Gordon’s decision.
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