Reputational Crises Profiled - Part 3
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now ACORN
- The nature of the crisis.
This grassroots nonprofit organization has been plagued by allegations of voter registration fraud, embezzlement. In the summer of 2009 two filmmakers posing as a pimp and prostitute secretly videotaped ACORN employees in four of the agency's offices suggesting or condoning a series of illicit actions as the couple sought advice on setting up a brothel with underage women.
- The quality of the response.
Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN, responded with a stunning mixture of hubris, denial and refusal to take responsibility for the actions of her organization. Ms. Lewis's default position was that the videos were a political dirty trick. If the ACORN employees refused to assist the alleged pimp and prostitute, there would be no story.
- What were the results?
Once the video was released via the web, federal funding as well as private funding from foundations and Bank of America was withdrawn. The U.S. Census Bureau dropped ACORN as a partner for the 2010 Census. The Louisiana Attorney General launched an investigation into allegations of tax violation and obstruction of justice in October 2009. The preliminary results of the investigation show that Dale Rathke, brother of the founder of ACORN, embezzled somewhere between $1million to $5 million from the organization. The exact figure is in dispute as the investigation is ongoing.
If the ACORN employees and volunteers had used common sense, they never would have counseled anyone to engage in illegal activity. The individuals posing as a pimp and prostitute went to several ACORN offices and were removed in at least one instance. The staff in another ACORN office called the police because the couple wanted advice on how to bring underage children into the United States for prostitution. Clearly not every ACORN chapter is managed as poorly as the corporate headquarters. However, the organization now appears to be in a serious reputational crisis.
- What were some of the underlying issues that triggered the crisis?
As the ACORN crisis unravels it appears that a number of issues contributed to the triggering of the crisis. The organizational structure appears to be something of a patchwork of sub-organizations and the organizational culture appears to be highly dysfunctional at best. ACORN has had significant management and governance problems in recent years. The founder, Wade Rathke, was forced out of leadership and replaced by Ms. Lewis whose background, ironically, is in the theater industry.
Although the organization appears to be a lightning rod for political controversy, it appears that many of their problems are self-inflicted. The staff does not appear to be well-trained, nor does the corporate headquarters appear to understand the significance of having and executing an effective crisis communication plan.
- What can your organization learn from this reputational crisis?
Although at this point there is no resolution to the ACORN crisis, some preliminary lessons can be considered.
Select people to lead your organization whose experience and background are appropriate to the needs of the position. Your organization's reputation will be ill-served by a spokesperson that is neither trained in media relations, nor trained to serve in executive management.
Establish guidelines for the delivery of goods and services. Train employees to understand that the quality of their service and customer relations directly impact the organization's bottom line. If your company, nonprofit or academic institution offers counseling or services of that nature, the employees need to be carefully trained and vigorously supervised.
Prepare and practice an effective crisis communication plan. Your organization's Designated Spokesperson needs to be an intelligent, articulate and credible individual who has received training in media relations.
Copyright (c) 2010 Peg Jackson
by: Peg Jackson
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