Brody's Notes... Equality Maryland Facing Shutdown

By Mark Singer | WASHINGTON DC -- The Washington Blade is reporting accusations of financial malfeasance and in-fighting which is leaving the Baltimore, Maryland based Equality Maryland facing closure and lay-off of its staff.

In a letter via e-mail sent out yesterday signed by the Equality Maryland Board members, the board inferred that EQMD former director, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, was largely responsible for the organsation's current financial dilemma.

In part it read:

Since late 2010, when we assumed our leadership roles on the Board of Directors, we have become increasingly aware of deficiencies in the organization. We realized early on that we had to take action to rectify these problems. At the same time, we were focused on advancing the gender identity anti-discrimination and marriage equality bills, which had their first real opportunity for success in the 2011 General Assembly. We thus attempted to manage the organization's problems through internal controls without making any changes that could undermine the viability of either bill.

As you know, the gender identity and marriage bills did not pass. However, they progressed significantly further than ever before, and are positioned for a successful outcome in the near future. For this, we owe much gratitude to all who made this achievement possible, including Maryland's LGBT community, the staff of Equality Maryland, state and national partner organizations, Maryland's openly gay and lesbian legislators, and all our allied legislators and public officials.

Last month the board of Directors took a step that we had hoped to avoid, but was necessary to restore the organization's integrity and viability - we voted to remove the Executive Director. We took this action with regret, but because our duty as guardians of Equality Maryland compelled it. We also regret that the Executive Director resigned while we were in the process of negotiating an amicable separation.

We subsequently received assistance from the Equality Federation in obtaining an Interim Executive Director who could stabilize and assess the organization. Based on an analysis that revealed certain factors previously unknown to the Board of Directors, we now understand that Equality Maryland's financial status is in worse condition than we had realized.

According to the Blade's article published today, EQMD board president Chuck Butler claims that Sheets entered into contracts without the board's approval along with incurring other unapproved expenses and obligations. The Blade reports:

“The most serious of the harms that we’re facing now is the depleted financial conditions of the organization, which may require the termination of existing staff due to the financial commitments [Meneses-Sheets] made on the organization’s behalf,” Butler said.
He appealed to the LGBT community in Maryland to step up and save the organization with donations of money and volunteer time.
“Hopefully the LGBT community in Maryland will come together and support the organization financially because otherwise that will leave a void in the state,” he said.

Sheets disputes Butler's claims countering that she was unable to incur financial obligations without previous approval from Butler or other board members. The Blade reports:

Meneses-Sheets sharply disputed Butler’s accusations and in a candid interview took aim at Equality Maryland’s board and even the state’s eight-member LGBT Caucus.
“I wish he’d be a grown up and allow me to move on,” she said, describing her termination as “a groundless rash decision.”
She denied entering into contracts without the board’s knowledge and claimed she wasn’t authorized to sign anything in the last six months of her tenure without approval. Further, she said she could not pay any bill in excess of $1,000 without approval from the board treasurer.
“We produced monthly reports and there weren’t contracts or liabilities they weren’t aware of, it’s complete nonsense,” Meneses-Sheets said. “Maybe Chuck wasn’t paying attention to the reports but they were generated.

EQMD board president Chuck Butler says that unless the group collects between $20,000 to $27,000 in donations by the end of June to cover its operating expenses, the board will be forced to shut it down. The organisation's expenses include rent for its Baltimore office headquarters, as well as salaries for its  two full-time staff members. Equality Maryland Executive Director Lynne Bowman earns roughly $7,000 per month, engaged as an independent contractor to the EQMD board to run the daily operations.
Some of the part time staff were being paid by grants from national LGBTQ equality rights groups for this past year's legislative session and those grants run out also by the end of June.