Not Taken Seriously

Several years ago, multiple workers at a Grand Rapids (MI) nonprofit organization began to describe very similar accounts of severe mistreatment, harassment and retaliation by leadership of a large organization. They communicated their experiences to Board leaders: the majority of whom did not take them seriously, while several others resigned their Board seats in protest of the inaction. Then, workers communicated their accounts to City and community leaders. They were not taken seriously.

In the past two years, another worker came forward about the harassment and retaliation they experienced: again, none of it was taken seriously.

In the past year, yet another worker experienced profoundly abusive behavior by the same leader at the organization. The Board gave the worker a raise and the account never went public.

Finally, the workers were invited to volunteer their time to participate in an independent review of the mistreatment of workers. However, when the report was finalized, the Board reversed its pledge to share the findings. The report was buried. The Board said they felt confident the findings would result in legal action against the organization. Again, no City or community leaders called for accountability regarding the report being buried by the Board. Additional Board members resigned in protest, unable to speak publicly due to the organization’s ongoing use of NDA and confidentiality agreements, silencing the voices of the very people leading the organization.

This is a structural problem, wherein vulnerable NPO workers have no recourse against repeated and clear abuse of power by leadership. The entire system of leadership circled wagons around the person with power: internally within the organization, then at the Board level, then at the community leadership level. In effect, Grand Rapids nonprofit workers and volunteers who experience harassment and retaliation have no option, other than to simply accept the mistreatment.

The following links highlight news articles, social media posts and multi-source documentation about the abuse of power that harmed vulnerable workers and volunteers at the Grand Rapids (MI) nonprofit organization.

Detailed documentation of mistreatment Over a dozen former employees contributed to “postmortem documentation” of mistreatment, 2016-2021.

One worker’s summary of events Post with public statement by former worker – and a concise bullet-list of events in the post Comments.

MiBiz article: org withholds findings Organization receives report from investigation and immediately suppresses findings, reversing its prior commitment re. transparency.

Employee post about victim-shaming Another worker’s statement about their mistreatment by same organization, triggering internal investigation.

MiBiz article about mistreatment Late 2021 article by regional publication about ongoing claims against leadership of local organization involving mistreatment of staff.

Mistreated worker’s public statement Post documenting efforts by organization to silence worker who claims mistreatment, firing them and threatening to withhold pay unless NDA is signed.

Statement to city commission Statement read by former NPO staff during Public Comment at Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, March 29, 2022.