“I have always believed that a critical aspect of leadership,” Goren wrote, “is knowing when to make space and pass the baton.”

Some Black women employed by Washington-area nonprofits took Goren’s statement to mean that she was making way for one of them to assume her position. Yet what many did not realize is that Goren’s journey had recently been a rocky one: Last year, two Black female employees filed separate racial discrimination lawsuits, one against the Meyer Foundation — created by the former owners of The Washington Post — and one against the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG).