LO/37/2004 02:06 F'AX
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HARMON, CURRAN, SPIELBERG ,- EISENBERG LLP
1720 f'l $est, Nw. suito6{x' Itja!fihgtm, Dc e0030
(2@) 92&3500 (202) 328{916 fEr
To: ACORNBenefidialAssociation
ACORN Housing Corporation
ACORN Institute
ACORN Votcs
American Institute f,or Social Justice
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
Citlzens Consu lting, Inc.
Citizens Services Inc.
Communities Voting Together
Pennsylvania Institute for Community Affairs, Inc,
Project Votefr'oting for America, Inc.
From: Elizabeth Kingsley
Date: June 19, 2008
Re: Initial Report on Organizational Review
INTRODUCTTON
(
My firm was €ngaged to conduct a review of the operations and inter-retationships of the set of
CO{JNC|L corporafions addressed on this rnemo, This is an initial report on my findings and
recornmendations.
The organizations addressed abov€ are parties to a joint defense agreement undor whieh we were
reuinod to r€present the common interests of all of them in obtaining advice about legally
appropriate ways of structuring their relationships. The iist includes a number of organizations
directly affested by the enbezzlement incident of 1999-2000, plus a set of others that I
rgcomffiended lncluding basod on my pre<xisting knorvledge of thcir activities and thE
importance of their role in the overall operations. As you reac't to this initial report and begin to
take actions in response, it may be appropriate to expand this group to include some ofi€r key
entities.
A few key points, before we get into more technical specifics:
Corporate forms must be maintained and respected, OR a decision taken to combifte
some of the allegedly distinct entities.
o This includes having real boards and a real principal staffperson/ED for each
o Appropriate lawyers must, if necessary, go directly to those boards if needed,
cspecially if there ere concerns about the ED.
Fences need to be erected to walloff types of election-related activity that rnusl be kept
completely s€parate.
@ooz
10/3L/2004 02:06 FAJ
, CURRAN, SPIELBERG EISENBERG LLP
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