A new CEO is expected to lead Yellowstone Forever on a course to success/NPS file, Jacob W. Frank
A new CEO is to take the helm at Yellowstone Forever next week, a move expected to begin a transition for the troubled nonprofit organization that the National Park Service seriously had considered jettisoning from its role as the main fundraiser for Yellowstone National Park.
The appointment of the CEO, an individual well-versed in nonprofits and fundraising on a national basis who also is very familiar with Yellowstone, is seen as way to pull Yellowstone Forever from the flames of self-immolation spurred largely by a lack of financial oversight.
Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly for weeks had been debating whether it made sense to sever the Park Service's operating agreement with Yellowstone Forever. In the end he decided that would create untenable risks, including the loss of key assets used by the Yellowstone Institute.
"I think if you want to look at the fastest way to get the institute restarted, it’s to stay under the umbrella of YF," Sholly said Saturday. "If you pull it out it's very vulnerable. All the assets and things don’t come with it.”
When Yellowstone Forever arose in 2016 from the merger of the Yellowstone Association and the Yellowstone Park Foundation, its proponents believed it would become a giant in nonprofit fundraising for the park. But rapid spending, frictions between the board members brought together from the two predecessor organizations, and questionable accounting hamstrung the organization.
Earlier this year Yellowstone Forever's leadership shut down the venerable Yellowstone Institute and terminated a great number of staff, including its vice president of operations and the teams that worked under him. The organization also invited real estate agents to look at some of its properties, decided it couldn't afford to run institute programs even on a limited basis this summer due to Covid-19 and the associated costs, and has been continuing to explore further cost-cutting.
"This is a way for us to get the institute restarted as quickly as possible," Sholly said Saturday, pointing to the incoming CEO and some transitions on the current YF board. "I think we can make some adjustments to that business plan that the team worked on already that can be implemented."
There have been calls for Sholly to sever the park's relationship with YF. In a Facebook post to the superintendent, Gardiner, Montana, resident George Bumann said the organiziation's board was unredeemable.
"Ample proof has shown that the requisite change will not come from within; therefore it must come from without. If a dissolution of the YF/YNP cooperating agreement is not possible, shall we call upon all individuals and resources at our disposal to enact maximum legal, financial, media and political pressure to bring this organization to order or an end?" wrote Bumann. "Wasting further energy on this current board is a non-starter and it needs to be refocused on what’s next."
While Sholly said he appreciates the passion, the emotions, and the concerns of those who want the board out and the Yellowstone Institute restarted as soon as possible, even possibly as a free-standing entity, he said that's more complicated than it sounds. There's the matter of untangling assets and liabilities, organizing a new 501(c)(3), getting funding and personnel, having to purchase vehicles to conduct programming in the park, and finding housing for staff, since a severing of the current agreement likely would send YF into bankrupcty and force it to sell the assets used by the institute.
"I don’t think they understand the consequences to the institute. It’s not as easy as, 'Let’s separate and go it on our own.' There’s a lot more to it," the superintendent said.
The Yellowstone Association brought assets of $13.6 million to the 2016 merger; among them the "Arch House," which was designed by Robert Reamer, the same architect who designed the Old Faithful Inn, near the north entrance of the park in Gardiner; the "NEC," or Northeast Education Center that accommodated Yellowstone Association staff, and; the 80-acre Yellowstone Overlook Field Campus, which the association acquired in 2010 for $2.25 million.
If Yellowstone Forever were to default on the $3.6 million taken out from its lines of credit, those facilities could be lost, said Sholly.
During the past two months the superintendent has been in discussions with National Park Service leadership in Washington, D.C., about how best to handle the situation, and has searched for possible donors who could save the institute's assets if YF headed towards bankruptcy. He even reached out to NatureBridge, a nonprofit organization that runs interpretive and educational programs in Yosemite and Olympic national parks, to see if it could operate the institute programs, but that organization has largely reined in its operations due to Covid-19.
The current approach seemed to make the most sense to Sholly.
"I have a lot of confidence in the CEO they’re bringing in. To me, if we didn’t have a high-quality CEO candidate, I think it would be a more difficult decision," the superintendent said. "But we do, and I think people are really going to like her. I think the liabilities are clearly something that are hanging over the organization’s head, and those have accumulated over years at different times for different reasons, but it’s a large amount of money."
In addition to the $3.6 million owed against the lines of credit, Yellowstone Forever earlier this year received a $1.5 million PPP loan from the federal government, though Sholly was fairly confident the bulk of the loan would be forgiven under the PPP guidelines.
A strong month of fundraising in June helped YF get its operating overhead under control, aided the search for a CEO, and if the trend continues could relatively quickly get the organization back on its feet, said Sholly.
"The credit line I feel like we’re going to be able to pay down pretty quickly. I believe in 12 months, 12-18 months, we won’t have everything paid off, but we will have substantial progress in the right direction, including the Institute back up and running," said the superintendent.
Depending on how things go with the organization and with the Covid-19 situation, the institute might be able to offer some of its winter programs later this year, he said.
"There’s a lot of work that has to be done there, a lot of relationship mending that needs to be worked on." Sholly said. "I feel good that the new CEO is going to make that happen. What I need is an open mind from those who understandably have the emotions that they do and perhaps wanted to see a completely different type of setup. That’s not going to happen.
"The faster than people kind of get their head around that and start rowing in the right direction with us, the better that it’s going to be for the institute."
Along with a new CEO coming aboard, the board's chair, Kay Yeager, left the board this week, and "several other board members have transitioned off over the past months, and additional transitions will be forthcoming once the CEO is in place," according to Sholly.
At the end of the day, the superintendent acknowledged the faith he's putting into the current approach to saving YF.
“We’ve been talking to a lot of people, and a lot of people wanted to help," he said. "They did want to see some changes and some restructuring. I feel like this is going to go faster than you think and it’s going to be different.
"If it’s not, it’s on me.”
Looking around the National Park System, Sholly said there are a lot of great cooperating associations that Yellowstone Forever can learn from.
“There are some good things that we can take from some other park partner success stories and bring them in,” he said.
Still to be resolved is an intensive review of YF's accounting.
"I think that’s a good thing, for us to make sure that we know where money went, where it was allocated," Sholly replied when asked if there still needs to be a forensic accounting of the books. "I think there’s some truth to some issues with financial accounting, and I think there’s some hyperbole around it as well. I think it’s important to kind of separate those two.”
Comments
Thank you, Park Superintendent Sholly, for the time and attention you have devoted to this matter and for respecting and understanding my frustrations and the similar frustrations of so many others who are deeply concerned about this situation. I especially appreciated you inviting to me to submit my over seventy pages of accumulated documents and case materials to Tim Cox and Mark Greenblatt for "review" less than 100 days before an election. You know the problem isn't really just the current adminstration; the twisted party behind it is driving the show.
But, you bring up some good points; I was already typing away on page five of my response; and I would have loved to have continued the conversation. However, given recent announcements, I need to pause for a short while and give everyone a fair chance to show their colors. As parting shots, I would leave you, as well as your new friend, with some things to think about regarding how deep the housecleaning at Yellowstone Forever needs to go.
This very article does some pretty clear reporting on how famed wildlife artist, naturalist, former Yellowstone Institute instructor, longtime park supporter, and Gardiner resident George Bumann views YF's current leadership. George sees the current YF Board of Directors as irredeemable and, in recent comments posted to you, George correctly noted that, "Ample proof has shown that the requisite change will not come from within; therefore it must come from without." George further pondered, "If a dissolution of the YF/YNP cooperating agreement is not possible, shall we call upon all individuals and resources at our disposal to enact maximum legal, financial, media and political pressure to bring this organization to order or an end?" George concluded that "Wasting further energy on this current board is a non-starter and it needs to be refocused on what's next."
And, George Bumann is certainly not the first to come to these conclusions. Even in the immediate wake (no pun intended) of the merger, longtime associates of the old Yellowstone Association (YA) claimed surprise and disappointment that YA had not asked its members for input, firmly asserting that most members had been strongly opposed. Other longtime associates of YA reported that six of their people resigned from the newly combined board at the time of the merger in protest of how the YF Board Chair and other incoming board members had "stonewalled" efforts to ensure good governance, "eschewed" transparency and full disclosure, and hired a consultant at an "exorbitant" rate who demonstrated "scant" skills in nonprofit operations. Many of these issues were bluntly reported and debated quite publicly on this very NPT website.
Longtime supporters and associates of YA have since remained firm in their disapproval of YF spending over $1 million annually on salaries for a few "key" associates and in their belief that the YF Board has, at the very least, failed to provide proper oversight since the merger. And, there remains great irritation over the "apparent unwillingness" of YF's Board to clean out the board's membership, arguing it is "incomprehensible that the current board would think it is qualified" to move the organization forward in view of the financial and staffing fiascos. Although another very well informed source admitted that YF's first CEO, Heather White, had "abused" her office, he also concluded that such abuse would not have been possible without the "implicit acquiescence" of YF's Board. Yet, after years of disastrously poor performance at best and outright duplicitous corruption at worst, former interim CEO John Walda remained adamant, as late as this past spring, that there was no reason to make changes in YF's Board, rekindling memories of earlier accusations of "stonewalling" good governance.
Yellowstone Forever needs a complete fresh start with a completely fresh Board of Directors, a completely fresh Advisory Council, and a completely fresh management team. Yes, folks who can do the job can be found, if doing the job is the primary criterion. I'm hopeful you and your new friend will use the time wisely because this is only a short courtesy pause. As one of my distant ancestors once said, virtue is not always amiable and I'm well known for being relentless.
As a former staff member who resigned in protest (my resignation letter was posted here, in the comments on the article about YF incompetence and fraud), I have to say that I find the comments from Humphrey Ploughjogger to be dead on target.
YF has lost its way, and is irredeemable until the entire board and "leadership team" are replaced.
If you're going to be sticking to your guns and speaking with the courage of your convictions, you might need to think about a different nom de plume as they say. Perhaps "Crossbow" suits you better than "Crosscheck" nowadays.
Time to step up folks. Everyone talks a good game when they are spending someone elses money but when it comes to supporting groups like YF or NPT with your own money, everyone runs for the hills. I posted a suggestion on the NPT Facebook page that everyone that had liked the page (225k) donate $75 to YF to help them get back on their feet and $10 to NPT to keep this fine effort afloat. I didn't get a single comment, much less endorsement of the idea. These types of organizations don't survive on hot air. They need your financial support. Pitch in. At the end of every quarter count your posts and send Kurt $.25, $.50 or even $1.00 for every post you made. Send at least as much to YF or some other friends or assoicated group you prefer. These things aren't going to last without your dollars no matter how much you talk.
Thanks, ecbuck, I sincerely appreciate your intent to help remedy this problem at Yellowstone. I would have responded with this kind of message if I had seen your Facebook post; but, because of some cybersecurity issues, I can't visit Facebook and didn't see your laudable call.
However, just so you know, not so very long ago I contributed thousands of dollars, both directly and indirectly, to Yellowstone Forever (YF) in a relatively short amount of time. I made those contributions shortly after being one of a relatively large group of individuals on whom YF's leadership at that time sicced their smiling to your face and vicious behind your back hatchet man because we, collectively, were deemed to know too much and ask too many questions about the obvious financial improprieties that, at that time, were rapidly leading toward what became this major financial fiasco and ultimately the closure of the Yellowstone Institute. None of us ran "for the hills" as you say. We were contributing, very substantially in my case and a few others, right up to the time we were targeted, again collectively, as potential whistleblowers and subjected to intimidation, retaliation, and discriminatory employment practices that were some of the most amateurishly obvious I have ever seen.
The irony is that the vast majority of us who were treated so badly remained fully willing and able to accept and tolerate that abuse, work to overcome and correct the problems in the nonprofit, and do our best to set the organization right, if YF's leadership had just demonstrated honorable intentions, engaged in transparent disclosure, and followed even the most basic good governance principles. But, noooooo. YF's Board of Directors and management leadership chose not to take that road, choosing instead to, again, sic their smiling to your face and vicious behind your back hatchet man on the whole lot of us in not one but two separate consecutive waves of purges.
A further irony is that most, if not all, of us would return to enthusiastically supporting the nonprofit and the park; but, we need to first see convincing evidence that this new CEO will be able, will be allowed, to genuinely reform the organization, including the Board of Directors. Indeed, one of the victims of the first purge in the spring of 2019 would contribute again if the board was fully reconstituted with new members. Another, a highly skilled retail manager with close to twenty years of highly successful work experience in Yellowstone would jump at the chance to return; but, the smiling hatchet man is apparently still on staff and that's a nonstarter. None of us are peddling "hot air" as you, once again, so crudely and pompously allege.
I could easily go back to dumping thousands of dollars a year in donations for the park, as I did with both YF and its predecessor organizations. But, I don't want to help YF "get back on their feet" if all the same miscreants will just resume pulling all the same mischief and mayhem. I first want to see real change and real reform and apparently so does George Bumann. No, I don't demand that every penny of my money be spent with perfect efficiency. But, I do insist that, in hindsight, it not turn out to have been loot extorted through predatory and parasitic larceny and fraud. Yes, I am very fully trained and qualified to ferret out and recognize larceny and fraud. And, as far as contributing to NPT, ask Kurt whether he thinks I'm just "hot air" kind of guy.
Humphrey - I am not asking you to dump thousands of dollars into YF. I am asking the 255k people that have liked the NPT page to contribute $75. And put $10 to Kurt as well. The people that talk the big talk of saving the parks but don't fork up a dime are in fact peddling hot air. Nothing crude, pompous or verbose about stating that fact.
Sorry, ecbuck, I guess we're both in agreement. I just got a bit touchy about the "hot air" and run "for the hills" parts. A lot of us opened our wallets and there was more than just "hot air" in many of those wallets. Many of us put in a lot of backbreaking volunteer hours for the park, in addition to working our rears off for YF. Nobody I knew ran for any hills. Yes, any amount of time spent in the park, doing anything is worth it; but, many folks were still treated badly and not just as a result of any financial accidents.
Unfortunately Humphrey, the "many" you speak of are far too few. Ask Kurt about his ratio of donors to subscribers.
Sorry you are "touchy about the "hot air" and run "for the hills" parts." But then I would guess some are touchy about being called looters, larcenists and frauds. But happy you were able to put your comments in to a single paragrapth rather than once again emulating "War and Peace"