Why Is the NAACP in Trouble?

The NAACP’s decision to cut 40 percent of the staff at its national headquarters in Baltimore and shut down its seven regional offices has drawn a range of views about how and whether the NAACP can rebound from its financial troubles.

The organization pointed to rising gas prices, fund-raising, and declining membership for its decision to trim its staff size. But the anonymous fund raiser who writes the blog Don’t Tell The Donor says the NAACP’s financial problems could have been avoided if it had been more effective at soliciting donations.

“Something makes me think increases in gas prices weren’t nearly as important as not having a chief development officer,” the fund raiser wrote.

Among other views:

• Trent Stamp, president of the watchdog group Charity Navigator, writes on his blog that the organization has been “hemorrhaging money for at least three years.” He adds: “It’s vindication for those of us who have cautioned for a long time that the sky was falling at the NAACP, due not to its mission or relevance in today’s times, but to a maelstrom of mismanagement, lack of vision, lazy marketing, a refusal to self-reflect, and a board constantly at odds with senior staff leadership over not just the direction of the group, but the path to get there.”

• Rosetta Thurman, director of development and finance at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, says the NAACP needs to move quickly to right its ship. Ms. Thurman, who is black, writes on Perspectives From the Pipeline that people of color — and all Americans — need the organization to survive. “I really hope that it’s not too late for the NAACP and that the board steps up and fixes this with a plan quick, fast, and in a hurry,” Ms. Thurman writes. “Otherwise, they likely won’t even make it to their centennial in 2009. And what a sad thought that is.”

Will the NAACP be able improve its bottom line and reestablish its presence as a leader in civil-rights? Click on the comments link below this posting to share your thoughts.