The beleaguered NAACP has adopted as its fund-raising slogan "Imagine an America without the NAACP" -- hoping, of course, that potential donors will find such a notion unimaginable.
But as the NAACP struggles to overcome a $4 million deficit and a profound leadership crisis, the notion of a trimmed-back, more decentralized NAACP is gaining currency.
NAACP watchers and insiders expect the Baltimore-based civil rights group to be reshaped over the next few months as it tries to control costs, raise money, pay bills and restore public confidence.
"We have a tremendous challenge at the NAACP," Earl T. Shinhoster, interim senior administrator, said at a Baltimore NAACP banquet last week. "Our challenge is to survive, to stay alive, to stay afloat, and to keep the capacity to protect the rights of those who for so long have been denied equality of rights."
Some analysts say they believe the challenge facing the NAACP is not only to survive but also to change -- and that a crisis that forces the organization to do so may be healthy.
Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, has suggested a streamlined NAACP could "become a loose federation of chapters, each standing on its own and funding its own programs," with national headquarters serving as a clearinghouse.
Frank L. Morris Sr., a Morgan State University political scientist, said the crisis provides a chance for the NAACP to junk its "autocratic model" of leadership.
"They will rebound because of their long tradition and because their real strength lies in the branches. The strength of the organization should be from the bottom up and not the top down. That's the real problem," Dr. Morris said.
While the 85-year-old National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is widely expected to survive, it faces several tests that will mold the organization that emerges:
* Board elections this fall in which dissidents led by Hazel N. Dukes and Julian Bond will indirectly challenge the leadership of Chairman William F. Gibson, who is under attack for alleged reckless spending of NAACP funds.
* Election of national officers in February that will determine whether Dr. Gibson, 62, remains in the unpaid post or makes way for new leadership. Dr. Gibson has refused to resign and has left unclear whether he will seek re-election.
