...The allegations against Mortenson seem to break down into three parts: first is that “Dr. Greg” is a mythomaniac, who has embellished, exaggerated and downright lied in order to promote and enrich himself. The second is that he committed a series of financial improprieties, again with the goal or result of enriching himself. The third is that he ran a shoddy operation that wasn’t very efficient...
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...As for the financial mismanagement allegations, from the way I read the available information, CAI spent $1.7 million for Mortenson to travel around promoting CAI and his book, and CAI received $20 million in donations. That’s a pretty good return on investment if you ask me. We’ll leave it to the lawyers, accountants and the IRS to figure out how legal that all is.
But the crux of the allegations, as far as I’m concerned, isn’t about whether Mortenson is a terrible accountant: it’s whether he personally ripped off CAI funds to fly on private jets and vacation in Telluride – or worse. If Mortenson’s got a Caymen Islands bank account with millions of CAI contributions in it, he can go to jail. But I’m guessing that Mortenson has not been stealing pennies from schoolchildren to fly around on private jets because he likes the free drinks. Mortenson may have a number of strange and obstinate qualities, but from those who know him, venality doesn’t appear to be one of them. As Krakauer wrote, quoting former CAI board member Jennifer Wilson, sometimes Mortenson couldn’t even be bothered to reel in donations: “I would talk to people who expressed interest in making a sizable contribution,” Wilson said, “but when they tried to contact Greg he wouldn’t get back to them.”
Which leads to the mismanagement question, and the “ghost schools,” and finding ways to evaluate how effective Mortenson’s essential mission has been: to build schools in places where there are none, and especially to promote the education of young girls. My question is, “compared to what?” Madonna’s recent $15 million debacle in Malawi trying to build girls schools there? USAID’s efforts in Afghanistan? Other NGOs operating in Baltistan? I went to southern Sudan last year to document UN humanitarian relief efforts, and can tell you that efficiency is not at the top of the list of the programs’ best qualities. And nobody, not even Krakauer, is suggesting that Mortenson has run a phantom operation: there are many schools that are up, running, and educating kids in villages where he has worked. CAI still owes its donors an accounting of how many are functioning, and how many have failed...
http://danielglick.net/2011/04/whats-the-big-problem/