No details, just those six words and a time stamp of 6:40 in the morning." Which meant Gerald had been awake and worried be well before sunrise. Malcolm read the message standing in the parking lot, still holding his coffee, and felt the particular cold settling that comes when you recognize a situation as serious before anyone has formally told you it is. He was in Gerald's office at 8:00 exactly. Gerald Hayes was 63 years old, the kind of man who had run a nonprofit long enough to absorb 17 different kinds of crisis.
No, his expressions, which was why the expression he was wearing. When Malcolm walked in, told Malcolm everything he needed to know before Gerald said a word. "The Harwell Foundation is pulling their annual grant," Gerald said he didn't lead up to it. He just said it. We got the official letter Friday afternoon.
I spent the weekend making calls. Malcolm sat down. The Harwell Foundation's annual grant represented 31% of Cornerstone's operating budget for the calendar year. It was not a grant you lost and absorbed quietly. It was not a number that had a ready substitute.
"Why?" He said. "New executive director over there is shifting their giving priorities to education. It's not personal. It's also not survivable without an immediate plan.
Gerald folded his hands on the desk. I need to know what we can defer. Major maintenance projects, capital improvements, anything that can wait 6 months without creating a safety liability. Malcolm pulled out his phone and opened his project tracking app. He had this data memorized, but looking at it gave him something to do with his hands while his mind ran through the implications.
I can defer the parking lot resurfacing at the Vine City building. The window replacements at Southside that can push but not past March or will have code compliance problems in winter. The elevator modernization at Barrett Street can probably hold for 8 months if a if I monthly safety checks. What's the total deferral value? Malcolm calculated.
Roughly 80,000 spread across three properties. Gerald nodded. But his expression didn't change. 80,000 was meaningful, but it was not 31% of an operating budget. That helps, Gerald said.
It doesn't fix it. "What else are you looking at?" Gerald was quiet for a moment. Harrison has been in my ear again about the maintenance division. There it was.
Malcolm held himself very still. "Malcolm, I'm not saying I agree with him. I'm saying he's been in my ear and I need to know what your counterargument is so I can make it for you when it comes up at the board level. "My counterargument is that you cannot run a housing nonprofit without a functioning internal maintenance operation," Malcolm said and he kept his voice level because this situation required levelness. You contract that out, you lose quality control.