CHAPTER FOURTEEN AF: THE DONOR’S SECOND VISIT
Martin Bell returned to the foundation office with two representatives from his employee committee.
They had reviewed Keisha’s proposal and wanted to fund transport and equipment for twelve students over the next term.
Elaine asked whether they wanted the foundation to administer the funds or preferred to pay the school directly.
Helen, the employee representative, said they preferred direct payment with clear reports from the school.
Yvette agreed that the arrangement made sense.
Martin asked whether the foundation would object to being named only as a referral partner.
Elaine said the foundation’s name did not need to appear on every service it supported.
Helen smiled and said that answer made her more comfortable than the last annual report.
The group discussed how students would apply and what information the school could share without compromising privacy.
Keisha joined by video and explained that donors could receive aggregate information about attendance and completion without seeing students’ personal circumstances.
Martin accepted the limitation.
He said his employees wanted to know their money was useful, not collect stories from people who had never agreed to be public examples.
After the meeting, Yvette asked Elaine whether the arrangement represented a loss of influence for the foundation.
Elaine said it represented a better match between money and work.
Yvette watched Martin and the employees leave with a simple agreement instead of a glossy presentation.
She began to understand how much effort the foundation had once spent making generosity look impressive.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN AG: THE EMPLOYEE WHO RETURNED
Felicity Cho returned to the foundation with her attorney for an interview with the independent reviewers.
She described the pressure to confirm services that Northstar had not documented.
The reviewers asked her to distinguish direct instructions from office rumors.
Felicity said her supervisor had told her the project would be considered complete once invoices were approved, regardless of whether every placement had occurred.
She also said Cedric had attended a meeting where the phrase was discussed.
The reviewers asked whether Cedric had spoken during that part of the meeting.
Felicity said she could not remember.
Her attorney reminded her not to fill gaps with assumptions.
Felicity agreed.
Afterward, she spoke briefly with Simone in the corridor.
Simone said she was sorry that Felicity had lost her position.
Felicity said the loss had frightened her, but the months of doubting her own memory had been worse.
Simone told her about the new confidential reporting process.
Felicity asked whether it would protect employees who raised concerns about powerful donors.
Simone said the process would be managed by people outside the donor’s office, with written rules against retaliation.
Felicity said rules mattered only if someone enforced them.
Simone agreed.
They exchanged contact information and promised to compare notes after the review concluded.
Neither woman pretended the system had already been fixed.
