A hundred years ago I was working for a large NFP that was just starting to go through a radical restructuring. As a cocky young accountant, I saw the direction and I was concerned that the decisions being made were wrong. I voiced my opinion on deaf ears and left in frustration.
Shortly after I left, the bottom started to drop out of the NFP. They announced that they were closing their first program that had been in place for decades. I looked at the revenue of the program (I love the availability for NFP information), and then I built a budget based on the number of patients based on state regulations. Then I doubled the budget figures. I could not get the program to lose money and I was not even including any donations. Again this was the first program and a cornerstone of the organization, why was it closing?
I complained to my ex-Executive Director repeatedly. She listened politely and then told me I was complaining to the wrong person. So I listened to her and called the CFO of the organization. I explained where I got my numbers from and how I built my model. He agreed that my logic was sound and the numbers were fairly accurate.
So, I demanded to know how the program could be losing so much money that it made sense to close the program and facility. I was told it was a result of bad choices. Now as CFO, he had a real part in all of the decisions, so the fault lay at least partly at his feet.
He retired from the organization shortly after all of this. The NFP hired more people that in my opinion were unqualified for their executive positions and then they then shrank the NFP by two thirds. They shuttered all of my old programs, so all of the work I had put into place was undone. These programs were making money, not a lot, but they were better than breakeven on razor thin margins. They were even profitable even after the 10% corporate tax they charged the programs.
It still pisses me off when I think about this, the pure hubris of senior management. I also was not alone in my thinking. There were three of us who were like minded about the financial aspects. We were a definite minority. But if we were listened to, I think our ideas may have been able to turn the organization around and keep those programs open and serving the communities of Illinois. For one thing they would not have pissed off all of their donors. The spigot was turned off by a vast majority when they wholly shuttered programs near and dear to many.