It pains my heart, but I genuinely feel as if I must publicly separate myself from the Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA).
I stepped down from the national group a few weeks ago due to some major leadership issues and internal communication failures. I had the intent of focusing on LOLA Austin and supporting LOLA National as an organization, while not directly engaging with the leadership. I didn’t make it public as I believe in trying to resolve issues in house. The actions of the leadership and supporting women within LOLA this past week have caused me to feel the need to make my distance public as I do not want to be associated with such disrespectful treatment of one of our movement’s most brave women, Brooke Kelley, nor do I want my name associated with such a blatant failure of leadership and accountability. In doing so, I also know people will want to know why I left. I am going to explain that here in this blog, and I ask that if any lady or party involved feels I have told an untruth, or misrepresented the situation in anyway that they address it with me, I will retract/correct any false information.
I want to clarify that anything I say herein is not a personal attack, it is a depiction of the situation from my perspective. It is my hope that once these issues are brought to life that a constructive solution can be found for all of the women involved.
For the full story on Brooke situation with LOLA, please see Todd’s blog here (its the most comprehensive piece I’ve seen): http://letlibertyring.blogspot.com/2010/02/ladies-of-lying-intelligent-tyrants.html
Last summer at PorcFest Allison Gibbs approached me about being in the LOLA Calendar and helping to create a community of libertarian (small “L”) women. I have to admit, I was both skeptical and excited as I have never had a strong community of women in my life.
My masters degree (well, I’m not done, but I”m 3 classes from completion and I will be focusing on that goal for December of 2010) is an MPA, Masters of Public Administration, with a major in Nonprofit Management and a minor in Crisis and Disaster Management. I am by no means an expert on nonprofit leadership, but I do have both experience and education under my belt.
In college I interned at the Central Missouri Humane Society doing volunteer coordination / event planning, my capstone project in my undergrad was conducting a public survey, creating a plan based on the results and presenting a proposal to the American Cancer Society (my team won an annual award from the Communications Department at Mizzou for that proposal! The ACS picked ours!), while working on my masters degree I interned for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners doing legal research, in Santa Barbara I worked for the United Way doing grant underwriting and reporting (for incoming grants) and distribution / report collection (for outgoing grants), in Kansas City I managed a 200+ volunteer thrift store from construction, to opening day, to an average of $2,000 in revenue per day, and finally, I co-founded and have managed the Liberty Restoration Project as the executive director for two years.
I am by no means perfect, nor an expert, but my in depth experience in the nonprofit sector has allowed me to make mistakes and learn firsthand how difficult it is to become a truly successful organization. In fact, one of the things I learned in college and through hands on experience is that an organization without a mission and vision statement, and without a strategic plan, will likely fail in less than 18 months.
I tried desperately to help LOLA develop a solid mission, vision and strategic plan. I actually offered to do this as an outside consultant who would give absolutely no personal opinion on the matter. After scheduling multiple con calls with the board, and subsequently being stood up (they didn’t come on the call, even though I had rearranged my MWLF planning calls for them!), I realized something was up. I later found out that Allison was so afraid of myself and Brooke “taking over” the organization that she deliberately pushed me out of the process and did not communicate her concerns with me, leaving me feeling frustrated and in the dark.
Ultimately, the lack of a cohesive mission and vision has become the downfall of this group. In fact, despite the list of other issues the org faces, this is, in my opinion, the single reason this organization has not gone ANYWHERE.
Issues.
1. Financial accountability – this speaks for itself, none of the women know where the money is going, except the ones who have the cash in hand. This is not OK. Questions have been asked and have remained unanswered for MONTHS.
- Tracy Ward had to beg for months to be refunded for the t-shirts her husband printed for LOLA, both batches. Also, she had to beg to be reimbursed for shipping costs as she is shipping out the calendars.
- There are many discrepancies about which calendar sponsors have actually paid.
- Thousands of dollars have come into the org, and it appears it has only gone to working booths and throwing parties. LOLA core was promised a financial break down for MONTHS and still it has not been provided.
2. Planning – Despite my attempts to help create a strategic plan, despite the core women saying they wanted to create a plan and be a part of the process, despite surveying the grassroots and hearing exactly what they want in an org such as LOLA, the leadership has refused to allow any planning whatsoever and has engaged in a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants style of leadership. This has created a huge issue as every woman involved has their own vision of what LOLA should be and those visions differ – if women knew exactly what they were signing onto, if they weren’t personally in line with the vision, they could choose to participate in an org that moreso fits their needs. As of now its sounds like the board and executive director do not want to support street activists, although half of us are street activists and got involved thinking this was a group about promoting such action by strong women.
3. Communication – I have not met one core member of LOLA who feels they can openly and timely communicate with Allison about issues within LOLA. For 8 months I have heard comlaint after complaint about her refusal to answer questions, respond to emails, return phone calls, or even update the group on what is happening. In fact, when we had a con call last month that was supposed to be an opportunity for woment to speak directly to the leadership, Allison was prevented from speaking by the board and the board refused to address our issues stating they were taking a 3 month break. Communications from Angela Keaton have been hostile and very unprofessional.
4. Leadership – the organization has a complete and utter lack of effective leadership. Issues that could have been resolved with a simple conversation, or the creation of a simple plan have been pushed to the side and the will of the women involved completely shut out. A true leader can identify flaws in themselves and work accordingly to correct any issues. In LOLA, dissenters and question askers, as polite as they may be, are demonized, margionalized, and shut down. Sound familiar? This is not leadership, this is fear mongering. Real leaders don’t hide, they look you in the eye and address the issue. Closing your eyes doesn’t mean the entire world has gone dark – pushing problems aside doesn’t mean they have been resolved.
5. Lack of professional behavior. Calling names, talking behind backs, being snyde, making threats, spreading rumors are all behavior that indicate a lack of respect and love for the other. It is also the reason I didn’t join a sorority in college.
In Phoenix, AZ I was able to express my concerns about the organization to Angela and Allison. When nothing changed we were told we’d have a “come to Jesus meeting” in Atlanta. We had a meeting, no concerns were addressed so the board said we’d have a con call to address all concerns. We had the call and not only were concerns not addressed (to this date the women have not received questions about where the money has been spent, or any of their other concerns), but I was treated so poorly by the board that I decided to resign.
Again, I’m not going to claim perfection, nor claim that I handled things perfectly, but I am being honest and open and I really have nothing to hide, even my flaws. All of these concerns would be easily addressed and all of this drama avoided if we simply engaged in open communication. The board and the executive director have actively worked to stifle communication and refuse to answer questions from their members, supporters and donors. This is not fair. If an org leadership, which is funded by the grassroots and is the recipient of much time and energy by members of the grassroots, is not going to be held internally accountable, I think its high-time the movement starts holding them accountable. I would expect the same for LRP.
Here is my proposed solution. A third party to conduct a PUBLIC conference call – have the board and the executive director available to answer questions to the lola core members, donors, supporters, and curious onlookers. Only through a process of openly communicating and honestly answering the concerns of those involved can we find a solution. Maybe the solution is multiple women’s orgs, maybe the solution is new leadership within LOLA, maybe the solution is a decentralized model instead of a national level org. We’ll only know if we explore the options together as a family.
I want to be involved with a community of loving, active and supportive women. If you want that too, let me know, maybe we can be friends and work to support and uplift eachother 
LOLA, it was a good learning experience and I wish you the best. Create a mission, create a vision, answer the unanswered questions and focus on your goals – you’ll do great, if you decide exactly what it is you want to do. If its throw parties at c4l conferences and work booths, then by all means, set that as your goal – but be honest about it so people like myself can make the choice to create a community in which we desire.
If any bloggers or alternative media wants to learn more, I’ll gladly share with you my email correspondence with the lolacore group and any responses from the board and the executive director. I will keep emails authored by non leaders within the org confidential unless they ask me otherwise. Remember, if you’re going to be a nonprofit, you’re accountable to the community, so this is NOTHING personal.
I will not engage in active bashing of any women in this group, nor will I work to unfairly smear the name. I am simply expressing the truth as I see it in an attempt to find closure and moveon.
I ask that the ladies who ARE actively engaged in saying hateful things about me to consider speaking directly with me – I would do you the justice of treating you like a real woman and speaking to your face.
If you are interested in joining our mailing list, please submit your email below. 
Recent Comments