I think it very likely that FLI would have made a statement here if there were an innocent or merely negligent explanation (e.g., the document is a forgery, or they got duped somehow into believing the grantee was related to FLI’s stated charitable purposes and not pro-Nazi). So, unless there is a satisfactory explanation forthcoming, the stonewalling strongly points to a more sinister one.
On the other hand, U.S. state charity regulators and the Internal Revenue Service’s exempt-organizations staff are badly underfunded. Supporting neo-Nazis is constitutionally protected in the U.S. and poses no discernable legal risk. Using charitable resources to promote ends unrelated to the charity is, however, not protected. By making a case much easier to prove with minimal investigation, a written confession would significantly increase the odds of action against the organization and/or personal action against those responsible. In particular, the allegations here if true would support an inference that FLI used charitable resources to further the interests of a family member of the president and treasurer.
As far as PR strategy, do you think FLI could even survive a confession in anything close to its current form? I think the first rule of running a charity is not to embarass your megadonors by bringing them into public scorn by associating them in any way with neo-Nazis. FLI could have felt that this could blow over and remain mostly limited to a foreign publication, while an admission to supporting this organization would be a death knell for FLI.
I’m not attempting to justify their PR decisions as correct, of course. There are higher moral priorities than protecting one’s organization. But the PR decisions don’t seem irrational on their face if the main/only priority is protecting FLI.
I think it very likely that FLI would have made a statement here if there were an innocent or merely negligent explanation
I think this sort of reasoning is helpful and generally underutilized. But one thing to keep in mind is that organizations can take weirdly long times to make even super obvious public statements relative to the value of getting clarification public, mostly for silly internal reasons.
(Ex: not clear who needs to approve, someone who would normally look at it is traveling, someone misses that this is urgent, …)
Good point. Bureaucratic inertia just doesn’t seem likely at all in this case. A decision was made to send a response—that sounds vaguely threatening/intimidating to my ears—through FLI’s lawyer within days.
I think it very likely that FLI would have made a statement here if there were an innocent or merely negligent explanation (e.g., the document is a forgery, or they got duped somehow into believing the grantee was related to FLI’s stated charitable purposes and not pro-Nazi). So, unless there is a satisfactory explanation forthcoming, the stonewalling strongly points to a more sinister one.
On the other hand, U.S. state charity regulators and the Internal Revenue Service’s exempt-organizations staff are badly underfunded. Supporting neo-Nazis is constitutionally protected in the U.S. and poses no discernable legal risk. Using charitable resources to promote ends unrelated to the charity is, however, not protected. By making a case much easier to prove with minimal investigation, a written confession would significantly increase the odds of action against the organization and/or personal action against those responsible. In particular, the allegations here if true would support an inference that FLI used charitable resources to further the interests of a family member of the president and treasurer.
As far as PR strategy, do you think FLI could even survive a confession in anything close to its current form? I think the first rule of running a charity is not to embarass your megadonors by bringing them into public scorn by associating them in any way with neo-Nazis. FLI could have felt that this could blow over and remain mostly limited to a foreign publication, while an admission to supporting this organization would be a death knell for FLI.
I’m not attempting to justify their PR decisions as correct, of course. There are higher moral priorities than protecting one’s organization. But the PR decisions don’t seem irrational on their face if the main/only priority is protecting FLI.
I think this sort of reasoning is helpful and generally underutilized. But one thing to keep in mind is that organizations can take weirdly long times to make even super obvious public statements relative to the value of getting clarification public, mostly for silly internal reasons.
(Ex: not clear who needs to approve, someone who would normally look at it is traveling, someone misses that this is urgent, …)
Good point. Bureaucratic inertia just doesn’t seem likely at all in this case. A decision was made to send a response—that sounds vaguely threatening/intimidating to my ears—through FLI’s lawyer within days.
Jeff is right: I just returned from my mom’s memorial service, which delayed the just-posted FLI statement.
I’m very sorry for your loss and apologise for jumping to conclusions about why there wasn’t an immediate statement.
My sincere sympathies for your loss.