The Southern Poverty Law Center Still Doesn’t Get It.
Tags: Racism, Nonprofit, Workplace Culture, Women, Sexism

When I opened my mail on Monday, April 15th, I found two letters from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The first letter, a one-pager dated April 10th, said that the SPLC had honored my request to cancel my monthly Friends of the Center pledge, which I submitted after reading about the staff’s accusations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.

The second letter, dated April 5th, was from the Chair of SPLC’s Board of Directors, Bryan Fair. (This letter also appears on the SPLC website). It began with an introduction:

“Dear Elizabeth Arend,

My name is Bryan Fair. I am an African-American professor of constitutional law. I’m also the chair of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s board of directors, and, like my fellow board members, I serve without compensation. I serve for one reason and one reason alone: I believe in the SPLC’s work.”

Then, Mr. Fair listed 13 bullet points of all of the things the SPLC is doing now, including suing an abusive, for-profit prison company, fighting to ban conversion therapy, and launching a campaign to remove Confederate monuments on public grounds and educate students about the legacy of Jim Crow.

These are 13 of the many reasons that I had donated to the SPLC on a monthly basis, as so many people did, especially after the 2016 election. As an individual, I couldn’t fight for everyone who would be harmed by our country’s intensifying climate of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and religious intolerance, but I trusted that the SPLC would. As Mr. Fair noted next, “we’re doing this work because countless people continue to face discrimination and exploitation. They deserve justice.”

This is Bryan Fair. You may have heard that he and his colleagues are experiencing “workplace challenges.” (Photo credit: University of Alabama)

This is the point where Mr. Fair could have explicitly recognized that some of those exploited and mistreated people — particularly women and people of color — work for the SPLC. He could have condemned the culture and leadership that enabled the abuse to take place for so long, and apologized. He could have acknowledged that many SPLC donors, myself included, felt betrayed and lost trust in the organization.

Instead, Mr. Fair went on to say…

“We’re excellent stewards of our funds and are committed to transparency. That’s one of the reasons why GuideStar gives us its “Platinum” ranking.”

GuideStar Platinum allows you to come up with your own metrics, so that’s convenient. Unfortunately, when I go to the SPLC’s GuideStar profile, it says I have to pay $125 to download detailed information in the “GuideStar Pro” report, like the SPLC’s financial trends metrics, financial statements, and employee and board of director data.

“Our audited financial statements are on our website for everyone to see.”

This is not impressive because everyone does this. When you ask people like me for money, we expect you to provide this information. This is Nonprofit 101.

“The salaries of our lawyers and senior staff are far lower than what they could command in the private sector.”

They’re also lower than what they could earn in the nonprofit sector. According to the SPLC’s 2017 990 form, Morris Dees earned $375,181. CEO Richard Cohen earned $364,799. For comparison, Save the Children CEO Carolyn S. Miles earned $472,381 in 2017, and Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern earned $603,564. In 2016, Linda Rosenberg, the CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health, earned a grand total of $770,610. (I had to set up a login on Charity Navigator to find that one).

These salaries are outrageous, but that’s the reality. “Nonprofit” has never meant low pay — at least for “C-suite.” What I’m more concerned about when it comes to Dees’ and Cohen’s six figure compensation is the difference between their salaries and the next highest paid staff. In 2017, Wendy Via, the SPLC’s Chief Development & Communications Officer, earned $244,922 — $119,877 less than the top two highest paid staff, both of whom are men. Legal Director Rhonda Brownstein comes in fourth at $222,606. And that pisses me off.

“Right now, as you may have read, we’re facing some internal workplace challenges…”

This is the point where my head exploded.

Yes, Mr. Fair, I read about your “internal workplace challenges.” The fact that you refer to them that way shows you are either not taking this seriously, or you have no idea what you’re talking about. A “workplace challenge” happens when your colleague sets fire to toilet paper in the bathroom, or when your coworkers hide your communal candy dish. This is not what seems to be happening at SPLC.

“…but we’re meeting them in the same way that we’re meeting every other challenge that we face — with a fierce commitment to do justice. We’ve just launched an initiative with Tina Tchen — a former chief of staff for Michelle Obama and one of the leading voices behind the Times UP Legal Defense Fund — to advise us on workplace culture issues.”

I’m not sure why you felt the need to associate Tchen with the former First Lady to give her credibility. (Actually, I do know why. We all do). But don’t worry, I’m sure Ms. Tchen is accustomed to her work not being enough to stand on its own.

For the record, Tchen was a total badass long before she met the Obamas. She practiced corporate litigation for over two decades. She formed the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. She serves as the chair of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. The woman has 30 years of experience and has won numerous awards. But she’s there to “advise [you] on workplace culture issues.”

If we’re lucky, Tchen won’t just advise you. She’ll tear SPLC apart. She’ll make you stare at yourself in the mirror until you own your hypocrisy. She’ll make sure that senior leadership works as hard to respect and value its staff as it claims to work for “the most marginalized people in our country.” She’ll make you realize that nothing in your letter — including the decision to hire her — exonerates the SPLC from how it has treated its own people.

I know Tchen is up for the challenge. But there is only so much she’ll be able to do if leaders like Mr. Fair seem immune from understanding what is really happening within the SPLC, and the enormous work they have ahead of them to change the culture and earn their supporters’ trust again.

In the meantime, I have found several local organizations that are doing good work on important issues — and they do it without discriminating against their employees. As long as they practice what they preach, they’ll receive my my steadfast support.