There’s no question that non-profit organizations often face challenges when it comes to finances. Never-ending struggles to capture funding from donors and grants can leave organizations in a lurch or worse, down the tube and forgotten in the dustbin of history.
Then there’s the side of things nobody wants to talk about. It usually prompts rogue, well-intended employees to approach media while upper management avoids calls, consults with attorneys and quickly makes themselves as unavailable as possible.
Among those often “unspeakable” issues are embezzlement, mismanagement and improper treatment of employees (which can include discrimination and harassment) and the dreaded “skeleton in the closet” syndrome.
Any of those often and frequently lead to the following responses from perpetrators and their victims: cut and run, vanish into thin air, avoidance and smokescreens, shock and contrition, let’s make a deal, our policy on that is non-transparent and the gutsy and bold “you’re mistaken and I’m well within my rights” reaction.
If you’re a founder of a non-profit, a current or previously underpaid employee or a volunteer kindly offering up your valuable skills to improve the world, chances are you’re familiar with one or more of the above scenarios. While it might seem like this would be a good time to create a “best of the worst” list exploring organizations and individuals that fulfill the previously mentioned descriptions, that’s not our goal with this article. We’re reporting on community news in the hope of making positive change and we’re focusing on one organization: Equality NC.
What is Equality NC?
We’ll let them answer that, from their website: “Equality North Carolina is the oldest statewide organization in the country dedicated to securing rights and protections for the LGBTQ community. We’re invested in ensuring that every North Carolinian can see themselves in this movement and helping create a safer, more equitable world for all marginalized folks.”
What did they do wrong?
It’s unclear if the organization has actually done anything intentionally wrong, but it is clear they are facing financial challenges and they’ve laid off a number of key employees. Amid allegations of past financial mismanagement and mistreatment of staff, which they have not addressed, we don’t have the entire picture. A group of current and former employees got together and put their thoughts down and then anonymously posted a document with their words to the internet and shared the link with Q-Notes. You can read what they had to say here:
https://enc-accountability.ghost.io/enc-accountability
In their defense, Equality NC released their own statement, although it has become cultishly legendary in its own way because it is so extremely vague. It’s available to read online here:
https://equalitync.org/2024/04/05/equality-nc-is-changing
Has Qnotes attempted to speak with representatives from the organization?
Yes. Attempts to speak with board members were met with a seemingly impenetrable iron curtain. However, Qnotes did manage to speak with Equality NC’s interim director Eliazar Posada; former Charlotte region representative Xzaviar Boston and former Triangle-based and multiple ENC title holding employee Artie Hartsell.
Posada spoke with Qnotes writer Taylor Heeden.
“It’s definitely been a challenging time, you know? At any moment transition is [there] for an organization,” Posada explained.
“[We knew] Kendra was leaving at the end of the year and when I came into this role, to our knowledge, we expected there would be someone installed when Kendra left, but then the search got extended. So an interim position wasn’t something that the organization wanted [or] something I was … expecting.
“Now having to deal with the entire organizational budget and then some of the restructuring that has been happening over the last couple of months [was] … also something that I wasn’t kind of like, in the conversation.”
In response to Heeden pushing the topic of restructuring, Posada’s response was vague.
“So, I’m not able to go too deep into it … [but] these changes in … leadership … who makes sense to hold what in this moment? And that’s the part we’re still kind of in the middle of, so I can’t really speak too much about it.”
Said Hartsell: “It’s unfortunate, but I can’t say I believe that Equality NC is capable of operating effectively during this election year for the LGBTQ+ community, in their current state.”
Xzaviar Boston, who has since resigned from their position, offered the following thoughts: “I’m a Black, Trans and nonbinary person,” Boston explained. “I’m also an advocate, community partner and ally in the fight for equality. I have deep concerns expressed by former employees, stakeholders and community organizations across the state about the situation at ENC – we need a strong and vibrant Equality North Carolina.
“I believe that is crucial to champion the mission of building LGBTQ+ power and achieving the vision of a thriving, liberated North Carolina,” Boston continued. “Unfortunately, my personal experience with the organization reflects a troubling pattern that undermines its mission.”
Amid the lingering questions that surround the purported mismanagement of Equality NC, many significant challenges lay ahead. As we move forward towards the 2024 election, much is at stake. The governorship, the Superintendent of the Board of Education for the state of North Carolina, the ever-present and continuing possibility of anti-LGBTQ-related legislation that could harm our community, and the dark specter of another four years of Donald Trump in the oval office.
This is a certainty: now more than ever, the entire LGBTQ+ community needs advocacy and representation it can rely on.