Chirlane McCray shows up to meeting of nonprofit board she chairs

Despite sluggish fundraising that is approaching record lows and recent criticism about the level of involvement of First Lady Chirlane McCray, chair of the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, leaders of the city-affiliated nonprofit opted to focus on other things at the June 20 meeting of its board of directors.

Two new members of the board received approval of their appointments at the meeting while controversy over her absences from the fund’s offices and meetings went undiscussed. McCray had missed over half of the meetings in her first four years serving as chair of the fund, which has experienced a decline in fundraising and programming compared to the prior mayoral administration.

Down playing of these concerns was well in keeping with McCray’s response to recent reports in The New York Times and other city media where she has defended herself by saying that she works remotely. However, her public schedules in 2017 show she spent less than 20 hours this past year on official board business.

The fund which was created over 20 years ago, raised about $32 million per year from donors during the Bloomberg Administration, but only about $22 million after that, the Times reported. Recent moves by the fund suggest that an effort is underway to show the fund is not in decline, despite being on pace for its lowest annual revenue in more than a decade, according to the Times.   

Nonetheless Executive Director Darren Bloch, said at the City Hall meeting that 2018 has been an encouraging year thus far for the nonprofit's work.

The formal appointment during the June 20 board meeting of Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson and Lincoln Restler, a former Brooklyn Democratic district leader, added two big names to what is now a six-person board of directors.

The fund announced the appointment of 19 new members to its advisory board after the Times contacted the nonprofit last month about the performance of McCray, who could not be reached for comment by NYN Media.

In an interview with New York Nonprofit Media after the meeting, Darren Bloch, executive director of the fund, played down donor reaction to the controversy by saying it has not had an effect on the work of the fund – or its relationship to donors.

“They haven’t brought it up in terms of concern,” he said. “They brought it up like ‘that seemed like an unsophisticated observation’ of the work we’re doing.”

That work includes a wide variety of initiatives that promote mental health, immigration, youth development and  criminal justice reform. Bloch discussed how the nonprofit also fosters public-private partnerships in a 2017 interview with New York Nonprofit Media.

Despite the decrease in donations, programs funded, and a 50 percent increase in the costs of operating the fund in the past two years, Gabrielle Fialkoff, vice chair of the board and director of the Mayor's Office of Strategic Partnerships told NYN Media after the June 20 meeting that she remains proud of the fund’s performance.

“To me, the numbers, the programs, the impacts were always transparent,” she said. “So let’s celebrate that work.”