Foolproof, the decade-old nonprofit that brought politically lefty speakers and comedians to Seattle stages, fell apart this February, but there was no press release. Last week, board president Sheryl Harmon admitted that the organization died of debt. Its death was not peaceful.
Harmon said financial problems stemmed from "years of irresponsi-bility and mismanagement of funds" by founder and executive director Marilyn Raichle, including overreaching (bringing high-priced speakers like Bill Clinton to high-priced venues like McCaw Hall), a long-term $400,000 deficit, and trouble with the IRS.
"When you're throwing $50,000 into speaker fees, there's nothing left over for marketing," Harmon said. The events were underattended, debt piled up, and the IRS put a lien on the organization for failing to pay payroll taxes in 2005.
Harmon wasn't on the board in 2005 and told the IRS she couldn't explain what was going on at that time. Foolproof, Harmon said, had a lot of board turnover—she became board president only two Julys ago, just as Raichle was leaving town to spend a year on sabbatical at Harvard to study public administration.
The IRS came calling three months later. "You don't know what fear is," Harmon said, "until you find yourself as a volunteer and a board member looking at a possible lien on your house for something you don't even understand." (As board president, Harmon is legally responsible for some of its finances—she's still paying off Foolproof's credit cards.) The board fired Raichle, paid down all but $2,000 of its lien and as much of the debt as it could, and reluctantly dissolved the organization. "We've kept it quiet," Harmon said. "We tried to bring Foolproof, with dignity, to an end."
Executive director Raichle hasn't spoken to the board since her dismissal in October, but says being fired "shocked" her and that the unpaid IRS payroll taxes were "not a big deal." When asked specifically about the "mismanagement of funds" allegation, Raichle said it was "hyperbolic."
"I never mismanaged funds: That implies a criminal use of money," Raichle said. "It was difficult, God knows. I was juggling." Raichle guesses the board fired her because "they felt abandoned. Mom left."
"'Mom left'?" Harmon laughed over the phone. "I don't think she understands the scope of how many people she has hurt financially. How can you continue to take money from people you know you can't pay back? We're probably close to around $400,000 of unpaid personal loans to Foolproof and Marilyn," Harmon said. "There are those of us who stayed and did the right thing by bringing Foolproof to a close rather than let it continue to take people's money." 
