I get RP’s concerns that an individual researcher’s opinions not come across as RP’s organizational position. However, equal care needs to be given to the flipside—that the donor does not get the impression that a response fully reflects the researcher’s opinion when it has been materially affected by the donor-communication policy.
I’m not suggesting that management interference is inappropriate . . . but the donor has the right to know when it is occurring. Otherwise, if I were a donor/funder, I would have to assume that all communications from RP researchers reflected management influence, and would adjust each response in an attempt to filter out any management influence and “recover” the researcher’s original intent. For example, I would not update much on the omission of any statement that would have potential negative institutional effect on RP.
As an analogy, imagine that every statement by a professor in an academic department had to be filtered through a process to make sure there was no material adverse effect on the university’s interests. I would view any professorial statement coming out of that university with a jaundiced eye, and I think most people would do. In contrast, as a practicing lawyer, everyone assumes that my statements at work are not really truth-seeking and are heavily influenced by my client’s institutional interests. I submit that it is important for RP’s effectiveness that donors/funders see RP researchers as closer to academics than the functional equivalent of RP’s lawyers.
All of this is fairly process-heavy, but that may be OK given the representation that these sorts of situations are infrequent.
(1) The donor-engagement policy should be publicly posted, so that donors/funders are aware when communications they receive may have been impacted by it. As @Habryka explains, donors/funders may not expect “information to be filtered this way” and could affirmatively expect an absence of such filtering.
(2) An employee should be able to respond to a request from a major donor simply with: “Based on RP’s donor-communication policy, I am forwarding your communication to management for their response” without any negative repercussions from RP. If this happens, the employee should not be expected to sign any response unless they agree that it 100% fairly reflects their thinking on the topic. This practice would mitigate against employees feeling pressured to present representations of the RP party as their own views. It should also signal to the donor that the response they receive may have been influenced by management consideration of RP’s institutional interests.
(3) Ordinarily, an employee should be allowed to include an appendix setting forth their own views to the donor, without any negative consequences from RP. While management should have a few days’ advance notice of the contents of this appendix, they should not have the power to change it. In rare cases, it may be appropriate for management to disapprove the appendix entirely—but in those cases, the policy should commit to a prominent note that the employee’s request to file an appendix was denied.
I get RP’s concerns that an individual researcher’s opinions not come across as RP’s organizational position. However, equal care needs to be given to the flipside—that the donor does not get the impression that a response fully reflects the researcher’s opinion when it has been materially affected by the donor-communication policy.
I’m not suggesting that management interference is inappropriate . . . but the donor has the right to know when it is occurring. Otherwise, if I were a donor/funder, I would have to assume that all communications from RP researchers reflected management influence, and would adjust each response in an attempt to filter out any management influence and “recover” the researcher’s original intent. For example, I would not update much on the omission of any statement that would have potential negative institutional effect on RP.
As an analogy, imagine that every statement by a professor in an academic department had to be filtered through a process to make sure there was no material adverse effect on the university’s interests. I would view any professorial statement coming out of that university with a jaundiced eye, and I think most people would do. In contrast, as a practicing lawyer, everyone assumes that my statements at work are not really truth-seeking and are heavily influenced by my client’s institutional interests. I submit that it is important for RP’s effectiveness that donors/funders see RP researchers as closer to academics than the functional equivalent of RP’s lawyers.
All of this is fairly process-heavy, but that may be OK given the representation that these sorts of situations are infrequent.
(1) The donor-engagement policy should be publicly posted, so that donors/funders are aware when communications they receive may have been impacted by it. As @Habryka explains, donors/funders may not expect “information to be filtered this way” and could affirmatively expect an absence of such filtering.
(2) An employee should be able to respond to a request from a major donor simply with: “Based on RP’s donor-communication policy, I am forwarding your communication to management for their response” without any negative repercussions from RP. If this happens, the employee should not be expected to sign any response unless they agree that it 100% fairly reflects their thinking on the topic. This practice would mitigate against employees feeling pressured to present representations of the RP party as their own views. It should also signal to the donor that the response they receive may have been influenced by management consideration of RP’s institutional interests.
(3) Ordinarily, an employee should be allowed to include an appendix setting forth their own views to the donor, without any negative consequences from RP. While management should have a few days’ advance notice of the contents of this appendix, they should not have the power to change it. In rare cases, it may be appropriate for management to disapprove the appendix entirely—but in those cases, the policy should commit to a prominent note that the employee’s request to file an appendix was denied.