Richard Prince reported yesterday that the board of directors of NAHJ had approved a measure to borrow $50,000 from its endowment fund to cover payroll and expenses. This had become a necessary action because some convention sponsors had not yet paid pledges totaling near $100,000. He wrote that the organization’s president, Michele Salcedo, and executive director Ivan Román did not respond to requests for comment, but that they allegedly scolded board members over the “public sharing of internal information.”
As a response to that report, members of the organization received an email from the president, assuring us that things were not as bad as initially reported during the NAHJ convention in Denver:
“Published reports about sponsors not coming through and that our finances are in worse shape than other journalism organizations are flat out not true. For those who doubt that statement, there is this: We are not in debt. Not all journalism organizations can make that claim.”
The letter states that a sponsor payment arrived on Friday, “making it unnecessary to activate the bridge loan.” In addition, the president writes that NAHJ will undergo a financial audit at the end of the year to ensure accountability to its members, sponsors and donors.