'I deleted all my documents': Non-profit employee quits after starting two-part plan, then the non-profit blames them for plan's failure

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jul 31, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This person wanted to work for a non-profit for free, but the organization was so disorganized that they ended up losing millions. They really lost a good employee, too — this OP was so dedicated to the cause that they actually planned to work for them for three months entirely for free. First, the company insisted the OP shouldn't do that, telling them to send an invoice ASAP. However, they company then decided that the OP was over-billing them, and accused the OP of some pretty terrible stuff. Then, when the OP tried to quit on several occasions, they insisted the OP needed to stay. What a toxic environment! 

It seems like the OP was a positive force at this place, too. They raised millions of dollars each year, and were putting in up to 60 hour of work each week. Some places can't appreciate a good employee while they have them, forcing the employee to move on to greener pastures. 

Next up, this person's boss also didn't listen to them. So instead of working a normal shift, this person decided to work 36 hours straight to maliciously comply with their boss's wish. 

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  • 01
    Purple - WHI Finnbun 'The fundraiser has fallen apart this past year with less than $2 million in sales... Sli They've reportedly lost money this year, and have no idea what went wrong.'
    via Ibrahim Boran on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Entitled non profit goes from $10 million a year to zero due to arrogance and greed M OC So I volunteered with a non-profit service club for almost 2 decades. We had a fundraiser (legally licensed gambling in our country) that would gross $1.5mil per year. There were only a dozen members, so we didn't do much except hang out, volunteer for other charities, and re-donate the money with a big presentation cheque.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 03
    Font - In 2019, we fired one of the two employees for our fundraiser. I agreed to work for 3 months as a contractor at $25/hr until they found a replacement. I found ways to improve the fundraiser and turned $1.5mil in annual sales into $8mil after only 9 months. Then COVID hit, and I revamped everything again to get us $15mil annual sales ($10mil net profit) in 6 months.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 04
    Font - I was working my a off putting in 50-60 hour weeks sometimes. The club was pressuring me to submit an invoice, as I hadn't been paid the entire time. I wasn't motivated to charge anything since my original intent was to work for free for 3 months, but finally submitted a discounted invoice for $52K for the past 15 months after we all agreed I'd been working too long and they dropped the ball in their intention to hire a replacement. They paid, but freaked out on me and accused me of greed
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 05
    Font - I stuck around (and sometimes got guilted by members into staying after multiple attempts to quit) for another year out of loyalty to my staff (almost 2 dozen at that point) and the charities I was involved with for decades. But I finally broke and walked away at the end of 2021.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 06
    Font - Here's where the malicious compliance comes in. Before leaving, I was implementing a two part plan for another revamp of the fundraiser to keep up with the huge sales and prizes. Each part had benefits and consequences individually, so they had to be implemented together to balance each other out. The first part took a long time to plan before I left, and once it was ready it was easy to put the second part in action right away. I reported what I was doing to the club, and they accused me
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 07
    Font - was tired of arguing with them. I implemented the first part as they had approved because everything was already changed over and impossible to revert back. I didn't try to convince them at all about the second part being necessary, and left them to deal with the consequences after quitting.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 08
    Font - A year later they are accusing me of sabotaging them, and not explaining the need for the second part. The fundraiser has fallen apart this past year with less than $2mil in sales but still with massive expenses, as well as a half assed revamped system bleeding money. They've reportedly lost money this year, and have no idea what went wrong. I deleted all my documents and plans when I returned the work laptop to them, also as malicious compliance because they asked for it in original cond
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 09
    Font - WutWhoSaid Dat They accused you of fraud and you stuck around? I get loyalty but you NEVER should've stayed as long as you did.
    via u/WutWhoSaidDat
  • 10
    Font - Co Gambling4Good OP. Yeah, in hindsight I agree with you. At the time, it was more "my club" than theirs in my mind. I was the old timer and these were just a bunch of new guys that didn't understand things yet.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 11
    Font - The fraud they were accusing me of wasn't in the millions of dollars, if that makes it any better lol. They just liked to use exaggerated corporate or legal language to make an empty point without merit. They accused me of exaggerating my work hours that I was billing for solely because I never complained about working long hours. They accused me of "improper financial practices" which got turned into the word "fraud" because the club didn't have enough good enough history or credit for s
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 12
    Font - transactions, so I put up my own personal credit and technically bankrolled the project. I took all the accusations as misunderstandings at the time and thought my explanations would sort things out. I didn't realize they were grasping at straws and knowingly accusing me wrongfully for greedy reasons.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 13
    Font - Blippii +1· Nothing p es me off more than management guiding from the captain's lodging when the rowers say there's rough water to handle first. My own boss did this. Told them 3 or 4x that if DEF happen, ABC can't happen.
    via u/Blippii
  • 14
    Font - Gambling4Good OP. It's especially frustrating because they weren't even "management" in the traditional sense. We were all volunteers, and every member gets a vote and equal say and blah blah blah. These guys had literally zero knowledge or experience, didn't work their way up from anything in the business, and still took charge and blindly opposed everything I had to say. Mind boggling.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 15
    Font - Nutella_Zamboni Good on you OP. A local charity in town that had a VERY strong strategic mission and devoted employees lost 5 of it's most senior and highest paid employees due to idiotoc new management. They were all up for raises but new management basically insinuated there was no funds, even though multiple friends of the management were hired into 6 figure "new" roles. All 5 basically said f this and moved on to greener pastures. 2 of which actually brought in enough money through Gr
    via u/Nutella_Zamboni
  • 16
    Font - CEO of a similar charity and brought all his contacts with him while simultaneously turning his charity from deep in the red to flush with cash. 1 of the other 2 works with me now and makes 10k more a year for less hours and within 3 years will be making 20-25k more a year with far less BS. The charity losing him basically list itself someone that was its handyman, program developer, and overall problem solver. The final loss to said charity was the behind the scenes glue holding it all t
    via u/Nutella_Zamboni
  • 17
    Font - development, training, and retention Said charity has now gone through more employees in the last 3 years than it did in the prior 15. The 5 that left had a combined 90+ years of institutional knowledge. The longest tenured employee currently has 3...
    via u/Nutella_Zamboni
  • 18
    Font - ■ Gambling4Good OP. This is a terrible but all too common story. I've always thought that one of the problems with charities and non- profits is that they're so "grateful" for people just wanting to be involved, that they never ask if these people should be involved. Workplaces fire bad people all the time, but charities and non-profits very rarely "fire" volunteers that have the potential to wield huge decision making powers.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 19
    Font - I could tell you dozens of stories of terrible people I've had to force out of the club over the years, including one guy that faked his daughters cancer and forged a letter from a hospital to get money out of us. In all of these cases, I usually got criticized for losing a valuable member
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 20
    Font - [deleted] The sad truth about building something sophisticated and profitable is it will almost always have a set back because the world is of no shortage of over confident morons who think theyre minor role is the whole thing.
    via u/deleted
  • 21
    Font - Gambling4Good OP. Totally agree. Normally I would fight against these guys, but I'm getting tired in my old age lol. The other problem was that these guys were taking more advantage of the funds than anyone that I knew of in my past 20 years in the club. If I fought to stay and run the fundraiser properly, it would just benefit these terrible people that want to pretend being multimillionaires with community money.
    via u/Gambling4Good
  • 22
    Font - MenstruatingMuffin. I particularly love the part where they s on you for wanting 50k after making them $10m+ 90 Reply Share Gambling4Good OP. I think they were comparing the $50k I was getting to the $0 they were each getting. They ignored the fact that I was actually working full time and they were not working a single minute in that entire time
    via u/MenstruatingMuffin

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documents finance quit millions finances sales entitled volunteer bad bosses fundraiser money quitting entitled people
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