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Financial Mismanagement
Financial Mismanagement
The Board of Trustees has made a number of very bad decisions which threaten the ability of the station to survive financially. This is particularly ironic, since the trustees have claimed that they're good for the station because of the order they've brought to KOOP's finances. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Under the trustees' leadership, the station has been bled so dry that recently there wasn't enough money to pay KOOP's single part-time staffperson, nor to pay for the Community Board election mailout (Friends of KOOP donated money to the station to help pay for the mailout), nor to pay for crucial studio equipment (which resulted in a creditor repossessing that equipment and taking KOOP off the air for three days in March 1999.) Below are some examples of how the trustees are not good caretakers of your money.
Failure to secure the financial records. In late 1998, the trustees said they couldn't access the company's financial records, because someone had allegedly changed the password on the accounting software. (If that's true, then why did anyone besides the trustees and their bookkeeper have the password?) The trustees also said they couldn't restore the data from their backup disks, because they'd given the disks to one of their lawyers, but couldn't remember which one. (No, I'm not making this up.) Even assuming that the trustees were so incompetent that they couldn't even remember to whom they entrusted with the only backup copy of KOOP's financial records, one wonders why they simply couldn't ask each of the few different attorneys they'd worked with whether they had the disks or not.
Returning badly-needed grant money. In a move of political posturing, the trustees decided to give away a $5,000 grant we received from the Elton John Foundation. This made some of us wonder whether they were intentionally trying to bankrupt the station so that there would be no station left for us to take back. (Read more about that here.)
Raiding the equipment fund. In 1998, KOOP held a special mini-Pledge Drive in order to upgrade old and deteriorating equipment in the studio. We raised about $5,000 from members for that purpose. However, after the trustees gave away the $5,000 Elton John Foundation grant (see above), they raided the equipment fund raised by the special pledge drive, and spent the money on operating expenses. KOOP supporters gave money to the station during the special pledge drive specifically to help KOOP improve its problematic studio equipment and trusted KOOP to use the donated money for that purpose, but the trustees spent it on other things.
Confusing members about the pledge drive. The trustees send out a postcard to KOOP's entire membership, falsely accusing us of trying to solicit donations as though they were for the station and not for our recall effort. The postcard warned that "unknown persons" had "access[ed] the membership list" (legally, it's public information), and that they were using the KOOP name and logo. Around this same time, KOOP had also mailed out the pledge forms for the pledge drive. But the postcard missive caused several members to think the official pledge drive forms they received were, in fact, bogus, and not from KOOP! There's no telling how many members failed to return their pledge forms because the trustees' postcard made them think that the pledge forms were not legitimate.
Wasting station money on spin pieces. The postcard mentioned above, as well as other spin pieces the trustees have sent out, were paid for with station funds. That means YOUR money was used, if you're a member of KOOP. We feel that most members expected the money they gave to KOOP to go towards running the station, and not toward the trustees' efforts to defend their uncooperative actions. What's more, the trustees spent money on these mailings when at the same time the station couldn't afford to pay the rent for the transmitter, or the wages for the station's sole (and part-time) employee. Still further, in an apparent effort to waste as much money as possible, many of the postcards were mailed with 32-cent stamps. Though the station's operating budget in 1997 was only $75,000, the trustees have spent over $2,300 on spin pieces (so far).
Wasting station money defending themselves in court. The board has racked up over $20,000 in attorneys' fees defending themselves against our lawsuit -- rather than simply stepping down, which is what the members have demanded all along. (We opted for the lawsuit after the trustees continued to refuse to resign, even after the overwhelming vote of no-confidence in them by KOOP's membership.) Compare that figure to the station's entire 1997 budget of $75,000. And remember, if you're a KOOP member, then it's YOUR money they're wasting.
Destroying community support by destroying community trust. There is widespread distrust of the board of trustees. Many volunteers have left and refuse to help raise money for the station any more. If we don't succeed in recalling the trustees, it's very likely that the members will stop supporting KOOP financially, too. And when that happens, the station will cease to exist. Some observers think KOOP can't last another month at this rate.