The Country Music Foundation has sold Charity Navigator a bill of goods.
While supposedly "The mission of the CMF is to identify and preserve the evolving history and traditions of country music and to educate its audiences," nothing could be further from the truth!
I am a print and broadcast entertainment journalist of 40 years' experience. I am the sole author of three published country-music books and have been a contributor to several others. No one working in the field today can match my credentials nor is better positioned to tell the CMF's story.
During my earliest years in Nashville. writing for Country Song Roundup, I had a very cordial working relationship with the Country Music Foundation,
That relationship ended suddenly for no apparent reason. Were the CMF a private entity, its blacklisting could perhaps be justified. As is, as a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Foundation not only refuses to invite me to its media functions and thereby "educate" my audiences by reporting whatever positive news it generates, it has refused to stock my books in its gift shop (despite the fact that the Hall of Fme gift shop prides itself in stocking all manner of country-music titles, including the most obscure\).
It has always been my desire that my 40-year collection of priceless recorded interviews with country-music legends, one-of-a-kind photographs of these folks (many of which have never been published), and various limited-edition memorabilia find a home with the Country Music Foundation.
Incredibly, the CMF has rejected these donations!
Further, it has put obstacles in my place when I ask that its 990s be made available for public inspection and encouraged its attorney to harass me.
Where it would have been pragmatic to perhaps ask for an apology, if warranted, accept one if received, forgive, forget and move on, the CMF chose the low road, culminating in my being physically assaulted by one of its officials. Because my physical injury was minimal and because the perpetrator agreed to mediation, I did not press the criminal charges that would have resulted in her arrest after documenting the particulars with a CMF security guard.
However, when other Foundation officials joined the assailant in refusing cooperation with the mediator I was forced to press civil charges.
I regret that this action was necessary but as, I have chronicled on my Web site, these actions are part of pattern of behavior that should not only concern donors, it should result in a loss of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's accreditation by the American Association of Museums and in the CMF's privileged tax status being revoked.
Links in support of my statements and the CMF's other appalling, nonprofessional behavior may be found at:
http://stacyharris.com/iveykyle.html
http://stacyharris.com/adultery.html
http://stacyharris.com/ronnie.html
http://stacyharris.com/horsnell.html
Review from CharityNavigator