“Yes,” I said and remembered back to the week before the attack. “I went to my supervisor the week before and told him I had to withdraw from the program because of Lisa. That she was acting inappropriately and I didn’t want to jeopardize my position. They decided to expel her instead. That must have driven her over the edge.”
Dave grimaced. “You think so?”
I nodded, feeling guilty for it. “So this might actually be my fault. If I hadn’t insisted that I’d quit because of her, Kate might have still been able to have more children.”
“Nah,” Dave said, shaking his head firmly. “With someone like her, she probably would have done it anyway and Kate might have died. You can’t know the future, and you can’t know what might have happened if you didn’t go to the head of your program. Don’t think that way. Deal with reality.”
I sighed heavily, wishing all of this would go away so that Kate and I could focus on what mattered – Sophia and each other. Sadly, that would not be the case.
Just then, the phone rang and Dave picked up the receiver.
“Hello, Dave Mills speaking,” he said and then covered the receiver with a hand. “It’s Michael from the Board.”
Then he listened and took out his pen and began to write on his desk pad.
“Do you think that’s necessary?” Dave listened some more and then he frowned. “Well, I have him here right now, if you want to speak to him.”
Dave glanced up at me and I could see he was getting upset, his face flushing.
“I don’t think--.”
I held out my hand. “Tell me,” I said, bracing myself for the worst.
“Just a minute, Michael.” Dave put his hand over the receiver again. “Michael says they had an informal meeting of the rest of the Board and they want you out. Vote was 9-1 in favor.”
I sighed. “Who was the lone holdout?”
“Michael. He’s sorry, but there was nothing he could do.”
I nodded and loosened my tie, which felt like a noose around my neck suddenly.
“All right,” Dave said on the phone. “I’ll make the arrangements. I want to voice my disapproval of this. You can tell the Board that I think they’re being short-sighted and that this will all blow over.”
Obviously frustrated, Dave continued to listen to Michael’s instructions.
“Okay, I’ll tell him. Goodbye.”
Dave hung up the receiver and leaned back in his chair.
“I take it you get the gist of my conversation with Michael?”
I nodded. “Let me guess. They want me off the board or they’ll withdraw from it.”
“More or less,” Dave said. “Just until all of this does blow over. They don’t want to leave the board, but they want you off. They think it’s best if you take yourself off for the interim. Don’t attend any Board meetings or events.”
“It’s my foundation,” I said, but that sounded whiny. I understood completely how my name would negatively affect the willingness of donors to hand over checks. Most organizations and corporations made donations in part as a good tax write off and in part as publicity. It looked good on corporate promotional material to list the various charities that benefitted from your organization’s donations. It raised the brand identity and social proof.
If the foundation developed a bad name over my involvement in this case and the information about my past in the BDSM community, it would prevent donors from feeling free to give it money. It didn’t matter how good the projects were or how beneficial to people in third world countries -- or as I later found out – in the poorer areas in the US. It only mattered how being a donor looked on corporate materials and for the bottom line.
“I knew this was coming.” I said and rubbed my forehead. “I expected that they’d want to take my name off promotional materials, but I didn’t think they’d want me to completely recuse myself from any involvement in the Foundation. Do I have to temporarily turn over the director position to someone else?”
Dave moved some papers around on his desk. “You leave it to Michael to check into it for you. Michael wants to meet with you later this week, when you’re available, and he’ll have everything ready. He’s upset and thinks this isn’t necessary, but he’s willing to go along with the majority. You could let them all go and appoint a new board, but then that would be a scandal in and of itself. What you want to do is make a move, do it fast, do it quietly, and then have talking points ready if anyone asks.”
“That’s sound like a good idea. A quick surgical removal of the founder should clear things up.”
“I know this stings, but it’s only temporary.”
I stood, buttoning up my jacket, my face still hot from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “I better go. I don’t want to leave Kate alone for too long.”