For more than a decade, the youth-and-civics group Rock the Vote has been the coolest kid on the political playground.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1990 with the goal of politically empowering the MTV generation, Rock the Vote quickly became a cause celebre among Democratic and entertainment power brokers. At rock concerts, on college campuses and with ads featuring a near-naked Madonna, the group helped register millions of young voters.
But as it moves into its 16th year, Rock the Vote itself is being rocked by crisis.
Saddled with about $700,000 in debt, the group has cut its staff from more than 20 people in 2004 to just two today. Its president, who left last summer amid disagreement about the organization's direction, has yet to be replaced. And last month, Rock the Vote was sued for the second time in just eight months.
Fred Goldring, a music attorney and chairman of Rock the Vote's board, says dwindling donations are to blame.
"We're like the popular kid who never gets asked out because everyone thinks he already has a date," said Goldring, who presides over a board of more than 20 people, including MTV President Judy McGrath, Recording Industry Assn. of America general manager Joel Flatow and, until recently, Viacom Chief Executive Tom Freston. "Everyone thinks this group is rich because of our enormous visibility."
But lackluster fundraising is just one of Rock the Vote's problems. The organization has typically recruited young executives who embodied its mission. But according to more than half a dozen people familiar with the situation, Rock the Vote's staff did not have the business acumen to manage a large nonprofit.
Rock the Vote's former president says the group's priorities are too often buffeted by board members -- many of them top music industry executives -- who appear to care more about promoting artists than registering voters.
"Board members wanted to use Rock the Vote events to give their artists visibility," said Jehmu Greene, who left the organization after leading it for three years. "But sometimes it was way too expensive, or would send the wrong message, like having a rock band play when we're trying to register kids into hip-hop."
Rock the Vote was formed when Jeff Ayeroff, then co-chief of Virgin Records, hit upon the idea of using the marketing power of the music industry to register 18- to 25-year-old voters.
