How do I deal with non-profit disorganization?

June 19, 2007 8:54 AM

I have been working for a non-profit in New York City for the past year. It is a great program, using education as an anti-poverty tool. There have been money and organizational problems since I began working here, but now it seems as though everything is falling apart. I need advice.

I am an Americorps VISTA volunteer, which means I only have a one year term with my organization. My service ends at the beginning of August.
The main problems facing my organization are as follows:
-There is not enough staff to cover the programs we have. Staff continues to leave, and we have to keep destroying programs that we have.
-There are not defined enough roles for the employees. For example, I write grants, press releases, do administrative work, recruit volunteers, manage volunteers, and handle events....All with no real support or clear protocol established.
-There is no organization in the office (everything is broken, my boss refuses to throw out old papers and electronics so it looks like a tornado hit it)
-We don't have enough money to cover program costs, and are using grant money allocated for future programs to cover old debts.
-Recent specific things have occurred that have made me want to write to the Board of Directors or take some more serious action. A co-workers previous 6 checks have bounced, other workers have not been paid and are calling and calling, our employees have been kicked off of their health insurance without being notified for two months....
I have spoken to my boss (the CEO) mulitple times about this and all the concerns I had. He assures me that everything is fine, and keeps giving me work to do as though nothing is wrong. I can't pretend that everything is fine, this chaos makes me angry, and extremely stressed out to the point that I think it is bad for my health.
I need help. First of all, what actions can I take in the situation? How common are these outrageous problems in the non-profit world?
Secondly, I have about two months left here. How do I cope? How do I deal with my anxiety and stress about a situation I cannot change? How do I spend my day in this horrible chaos? It seems to seep into me, and I can't just ignore it. I also have very long hours in which there is no work for me to do, and although i try to occupy myself by reading, writing, etc, it is these times that the stress is the worst.

posted by amileighs to work & money (9 comments total)

We don't have enough money to cover program costs, and are using grant money allocated for future programs to cover old debts.

That using grant $$ to pay old debts thing? Not kosher (unless the grants were given for this purpose, but it doesn't sound like it). It may be illegal (IANAL), and is certainly unethical.

He assures me that everything is fine,

Flee. Your boss is lying to you.

While all but the most financially stable organizations (non- and for-profits alike) may experience some level of chaos/disorganization etc. what you're experiencing is on the high end of unacceptable.

You cannot fix this. You can call the board chair, and tell them what's been happening (gather documentation if possible), and that's about it - it's the board's job to fix stuff like this, though it's not a great sign that things have gotten so bad without the board knowing about this and/or stepping in to do something about it.

I'm a longtime nonprofit employee - big ones, little ones, rich ones, poor ones - and have seen chaos from within and without. Really, you can't fix this, no matter how much you love this organization. It's not your fault. Think of your health and sanity, and run.
posted by rtha at 9:23 AM on June 19, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

I also was an AmeriCorps VISTA. Unfortunately, your negative experience is not uncommon for VISTAs. The "24/7" commitment and lack of program oversight means VISTAs are more apt to be exploited than those from other programs.

I sympathize with your disillusionment. By the time I exited my program I was pretty seriously upset with the way my non-profit was run, the poor oversight, and disillusioned with non-profits in general. But I can assure you your experience is not always common for non-profits. You have to keep in mind that non-profits are like any other company, and the fact they are dedicated to helping people does not mean the people involved will be any more competent or compassionate or willing to compromise or admit their mistakes than human beings in any for-profit agency. This is stressful to realize, but also realize this does not mean non-profits are doomed to fail and people are shit and the world is shit and you shouldn't bother helping people.

OK, you may not be feeling this way, but I went through a period of feeling that way myself after AmeriCorps and figured I'd include the paragraph just in case.

As for fixing the situation, the first this you gotta remember is the people in non-profits are still human, this is still a job, so the fact that it's a non-profit does not mean you should treat it any differently than a for-profit company.

If this was "work" work, if this was your job, what would you do (aside from quit). You would contact your boss's superiors. So do that. Write the letter to the Board of Directors or whomever you need to. Make it discreet, polite, firm, and factual. You have a bad boss, plain and simple, and they need to be notified of that fact.

Other than that, there isn't much you can do other than hang in there. You can try meditating. You can try seeing if there are other side-projects you can work on or start during those long empty hours. You can start planning on what you're going to work on after AmeriCorps--whether that is preparing the best resume ever, doing job searches, writing cover letters, or finding housing. You have to remember that as much as you love your organization and its purpose--otherwise why would you apply to work there?--sometimes non-profits die. It sucks. It really sucks. But you can learn from why they die and commit yourself if you ever work in another non-profit to making sure those same mistakes don't happen again.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help. If you want to vent, feel free to email me. I understand how frustrating your situation is.

On preview: rtha, with only two months left, it would not necessarily be advantageous for the poster to take off now. It would mean the loss of the $5,000 education grant or $2,000 cash bonus at the end of the year and wouldn't look great on their resume (and they'll need to be able to explain where they've been for the past ten months).
posted by schroedinger at 9:36 AM on June 19, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ah - true, schroedinger. I missed the part about only two months left.

In that case: hang in there. Breathe deeply, take at least an occasional long lunch, and take the good advice schroedinger gives.
posted by rtha at 10:00 AM on June 19, 2007

Wait until your term is over and you have your next job, then write to the board.

I too am a lifelong non-profiteer, and this situation sounds rather extremely bad.

Don't VISTA volunteers work with a VISTA coordinator? The people who oversee your year of service also need to know about your and others' experience with this NPO, because they may choose to stop sending Americorps staff to it based on your information. I'm sure you have some sort of end-of-placement review - make sure to take notes/gather info now that you can present then. If there is no such review or evaluation, make an appointment for after your term is over to discuss the problems this organization has.

As miserable as this is, dealing with this and with the aftermath will improve your skills. All nonprofits aren't like this. Most nonprofits do feature people wearing multiple hats and more work than can reasonably be accomplished, but the lack of systems and the financial impropriety are pretty serious problems.
posted by Miko at 11:43 AM on June 19, 2007

How common are these outrageous problems in the non-profit world?

I work for an extremely well run nonprofit. There are only 15 employees, so we're not huge like the Sierra Club or anything, yet we have a savings account sufficient to cover operating expenses for almost a year (that's the goal and we're almost there). We are scrupulous about the use of grant funds. So, I can't speak for all non-profits, but your experience sounds very extreme.

So, I wouldn't worry about saving the organization. Your contributions to them might not help them succeed. But what can you salvage for yourself from the experience? What skills can you gain that will help you serve another organization, when you find one more worth your contributions? What do you want out of it that you can take with you? Meeting certain people? Getting experience doing X or Y (the disorganization helps you there)? Etc. Good luck!
posted by salvia at 11:53 AM on June 19, 2007

Ditto everything. We share office space with a nonprofit and they're really exceptionally competent there, so it's not some endemic nonprofit disease or anything.

I very much do *not* endorse this, but if they really are using grant money to pay down debts, the IRS will be interested. Nonprofits are audited like mad and always under constant scrutiny, so I can't imagine that they've gotten away with this, but anything is possible.

Most of all, keep your head down and don't get too invested in the place. Don't try to save it, just do your time and get out. It might help you to keep a journal or an (anonymous) blog of all the very bad stuff you see, just to get it out of your head.
posted by Skorgu at 12:13 PM on June 19, 2007

Don't VISTA volunteers work with a VISTA coordinator?

In this case, my boss (the CEO) is the VISTA Coordinator, a situation that is absurd. Myself and the other VISTA's in my office notified our State and National Coordinators of this, because we also thought it was insane. But they have failed to take any action. Thank you for that advice, because I definitely don't think that this organization should get help from Americorps in the future. However, due to their lack of response to this problem, I wonder how effective my communication will be....
posted by amileighs at 12:34 PM on June 19, 2007

Thank you schroedinger, I definitely appreciate the advice and knowing that someone has been through a similar experience with the VISTA program.

Thank you to rtha, Miko, Skorgu, Salvia for your excellent advice. It is really important for me to get feedback from people with experience, who can help me affirm my inexperienced judgements of the situation. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I have not recieved any support from Americorps to help me deal with/understand this situation. That is why your advice is vital to me, thank you.
posted by amileighs at 12:40 PM on June 19, 2007

Do not contact the IRS. There are some really bad Nonprofits out there (I'm not just sympthazing, I've suffered in a few) and your issues are straight from a list of common problems:
1) incompetency in leadership,
2) exploiting high turnover employees to cover for mismanagement,
3) lying to employees and running secretive plans to juggle the ongoing crises,
4) etc.
But the problem is often leaked to funding and culture: they can't afford to keep the problem going because funding streams for non profits are all going dry right now. Nonprofits generally are either well-oiled battle ships (that also tend to not get their hands dirty) or messes. I echo the people who say to contact the board, write your issues down, give it to the board, take it easy, and chill your two months out. Get your real work done, but if they give you busy work, let it slide. Good luck and seek out ex-vistas who've moved on to bigger or better things: they will buy you drinks.
posted by history is a weapon at 3:03 PM on June 19, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]