Greetings from the locker room at Moss, the new-ish five-floor Fifth Avenue members’ club. I was supposed to be here meeting with someone and am instead writing this for you all on a very nice velvet settee so you get the story in time. (The last time I was here was for the club’s official opening in November, with an ex-boyfriend and most of New York. We largely ignored the raw bar and light-up dance floor in favor of each other, to the point that our enthusiasm near the pool table may have tested the limits of club etiquette.) I’m hoping to finish this newsletter in time to at least use the cold plunge, which looks very nice.
In today’s letter, we’re getting into a lawsuit I’ve been sitting on for more than a month while I decided how I wanted to write about it. Aurora James, the founder of Brother Vellies and the Fifteen Percent Pledge, has been sued personally alongside 15PP and its fiscal sponsor PVF (Philanthropic Ventures Foundation) by The Gathery, the LGTBQ-owned Brooklyn creative agency that produced the nonprofit’s 2026 gala. The case centers on a very large unpaid bill, missed payments, work that continued anyway, and a seven-figure dispute that became much more complicated once the event had already been produced. I’m not going to give the whole thing away up here, but I would suggest reading it below. I’ve even linked to the court documents.
I hesitated because there are two things I think can be true at once. The Fifteen Percent Pledge has done important work, and there is a real conversation to be had about how much harder fundraising may have become for an organization like 15PP over the past year, given the political climate and the retreat from DEI initiatives across corporate America. At the same time, no company can reasonably be expected to act as another organization’s bank and carry its expenses indefinitely. That kind of arrangement can become financially destructive for both sides.
I also approach lawsuits a little differently because, during my very brief stint as a court reporter, I learned that court documents almost never tell the entire story. Lawsuits are human stories. They contain relationships, conversations and circumstances that do not always make it into a complaint or a filing. I try to speak to as many people involved as I can before writing about one, and I did that here. Not every conversation is on the record, and not everything I learn can appear in journalism, newsletters included. But all of it informs how I understand the story I ultimately put in front of you.
Lastly, please understand that, like much of my work, this story will probably be picked up by larger outlets, and some smaller ones too. A few will credit me. Most will not. Remember where you read it first. I appreciate how outspoken this community is about those things. The full story (plus even more) after the jump.
