Governance Reforms of the Bernie Mac Foundation

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Bernie Mac Foundation (“BMF”) has adopted numerous reforms to improve its governance following an audit by the Illinois Attorney General prompted by a journalistic probe by the Tribune. The need for change is perhaps best captured by the following fact reported by the Tribune: Only $152,000 of $900,000 worth of the BMF’s expenditures from 2009 to 2013 “went to charitable programs.”

The late comedian Bernie Mac created the BMF to combat sarcoidosis, a disease that afflicted Mac. After his death, the BMF’s board at one point reportedly dwindled to three people consisting of two family members and a long-time associate of Mac.  The BMF received several hundred thousand dollars of charitable contributions after Mac’s death, but problems soon surfaced.  According to the story, much of the donated money “ended up going to salaries and contracts that benefited board members, and the foundation fell far short of recognized benchmarks for charitable spending.” 

But all of that now appears to have changed.  The BMF is reported to have increased its board membership to eight people, giving the board “a range of community leaders and professionals.” The Tribune further reports:

[T]he Bernie Mac Foundation’s charitable spending is expected to increase this year.

 

The organization also will stop contracting with two companies controlled by Mac’s longtime associate, board Treasurer Edward Williams, according to new board member Manotti L. Jenkins, who is serving as a spokesman for the group. Several experts told the Tribune that the sums paid out to one of Williams’ companies seemed large for the financial consulting and investment management services it was listed as providing.

In addition, says the piece, the BMF’s bylaws now prohibit board members from receiving salaries from the charity and from voting on transactions in which they are financially interested. Other reforms include (1) formalizing the BMF’s support of its primary charitable beneficiary, the Bernie Mac Sarcoidosis Translational Advanced Research (STAR) Center, established at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, and (2) requiring modest participation in fundraising by board members.

JRB