Deeply in Debt, NAACP Furloughs Bulk of Staff

In a sign that its finances are in critical condition, the NAACP temporarily laid off most of its 100 employees last weekend after outside auditors determined that the civil rights organization no longer can afford its staff and employees.

During a conference call on Saturday, the officers of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People reached agreement to order most of its employees to stay home for two weeks without pay, one source familiar with the decision said.

The decision affects nearly all of the NAACP’s activities, including operations at its national headquarters in Baltimore and its regional offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and St. Louis.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said that even membership and fund-raising programs necessary to generate income have come to a halt.

“This decision came about because the board finally, finally got the message: They don’t have any money to meet (the organization’s) payroll,” the source said. “Every month, they’ve been scraping up nickels to pay the staff and they just discovered--thanks to the auditors--that they were getting deeper and deeper in debt.”

Some staff members have agreed to work without pay, including some in the Washington office, where officials called a news conference Tuesday to announce an NAACP-sponsored hot line to monitor polls at next week’s midterm elections. The news conference occurred before reporters learned about the furloughs and proceeded without any mention that the group’s financial troubles had shut down its other activities.

The decision to furlough its staff is the latest financial setback for the beleaguered civil rights organization and is likely to fuel demands for greater changes in NAACP leadership, possibly including the ouster of Board Chairman William F. Gibson.

Last summer, a former employee’s charges of sexual harassment and discrimination against former Executive Director Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. led to his ouster after disclosures that he had promised to settle her claim with more than $332,000 in NAACP money. Since then, the NAACP has been buffeted by charges that Gibson, an early Chavis supporter, misused his corporate American Express card and attempted to “double dip” on his expense account, charging personal expenses both to his company and to the NAACP.

Recent investigations have pointed to $3 million in NAACP debt.

Gibson escaped a vote of no confidence at the board’s October meeting, but agreed to allow independent auditors to review all executive spending and to make recommendations for resolving the organization’s financial troubles. The review apparently spurred the layoff decision, the source said.

Calls last night to the NAACP’s national headquarters in Baltimore and to Gibson at his home in Greenville, S.C., were not answered.

However, Joseph Madison, a Washington board member who has been critical of Gibson and Chavis, called the temporary layoffs “a mess” and complained that board members had not been told that the financial situation would require such a Draconian move.

“Never, never was there any indication that there would be the necessity to take such a drastic step as this,” Madison said, adding that he learned about the layoffs early Sunday morning. “We don’t have a choice now but to call an emergency board meeting and to take a vote of no confidence on (Gibson). That’s the only way to restore confidence and credibility in the organization and to shore up our efforts to raise money.”