Nonprofits, Power, and Money
Ted L Ramirez
Practicing Attorney/Author | Corporate Governance and Business Transactions | Counsel and Coach to Leaders, Business Owners and Boards of Directors Dayton, Ohio USA
GOVERNANCE 101 | Bite-sized Nuggets for Serious Fiduciaries
GOV 145: Nonprofits, Power, and Money
Thanksgiving Blessings to All! Today we digest football, parades, and family dinners – Yum! Then we hope to avoid sprained backs and ankles of the once-a-year touch football warrior. We may find ourselves chatting over the remarkable events of the last few days in the world of dubiously named “artificial intelligence.”
The OpenAI Sam Altman (ChatGPT) saga revisits the ancient Gordian Knot https://tinyurl.com/vp496evd among What’s Good for Mankind, Money, and Power. OpenAI Got Its CEO Back. What Happens Next?? - WSJ
When nonprofit fiduciary Boards confront collisions of values, mission and the lure of ultimate financial independence and power, few emerge unscathed. When the main gasket blows, they find themselves locked in complex Wallenda-style high-wire acts under the unrelenting microscope of 24/7 media coverage. Throw in a gaggle of ven-cappers and private equiteers, you get the deluxe package.
We relearn an axiom of fiduciary behavior:
Large nonprofits don’t get accountability exposure to shareholders and analysts as do for-profit, public companies. Their regulatory deeds and misdeeds rarely get reported without spin. We depend on the integrity of nonprofit Boards and administrators to tell us the truth and “do the right thing.” Those dated Forms 990 don’t really help much beyond retroactive handwringing, and wannabe big-shot marketing/communications staff struggle to play it straight to the media. “Marketing and communications” become an oxymoron; maybe it always was.
The OpenAI “investigations” may reveal more inner mechanics of the drama. As with the Boeing Board disaster where airliners fell out of the sky https://tinyurl.com/2rrdwzwr and the directors faced individual liability, courts might step in and untangle the wreckage.
A century ago, a Sam Altman-type innovator in healthcare and his governing board contended with “Doing Good, Vision, Money, and Power” issues. In his epic dual biography The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek: Markel, Howard: 9780307907271: Amazon.com: Books the author tells the Governance struggles of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the leaders of the fledgling Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Adventists went on, despite cyclical existential threats, to sponsor respected hospitals, healthful living, and an academic medical center. Dr. Kellogg was quirky and exasperating, but a globally recognized genius in medicine, surgery, and health. He and his brother Will invented breakfast cereal – before sugar took over – revolutionizing the American morning. Dr. Kellogg led the creation of Battle Creek Sanitarium. “The San” became the go-to place for America’s elite. National political officeholders, corporate titans, the wealthy, all came to the San. Its locations and influence reached several continents.
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The Adventist Church sacked Dr. Kellogg; unlike Altman, he did not experience reinstatement and bankrupted himself trying to save the San. “Good for Mankind, Money, and Power;” then throw in Religion. As a good friend and scholar of this column might say, “It’s complex!”
Yours for Better Governance, Ted L. Ramirez | Copyright 2023
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