Statement from the Ignition NW Board

Hello Community.

 

It’s been hard in the last several months to keep the public abreast of the going-ons of its elected Board activities, as the challenges have been daunting and seemingly insurmountable. The ultimate goal of the current Board is to provide legacy, transparency, and structure to current processes and workings of the organization. We want to be an organization that serves the community in the best way possible, aiming for a participatory leadership model.

 

As was announced previously, our two longest-serving members stepped away from the Ignition Northwest Board of Directors. Collectively they made up the majority of the work that has been done to keep the Board going prior to their step-down, both being President and Vice President in the last couple of years.  Their work as these Board officers, combined with the legacy of what they provided as the Chairs of the Grants and the IT committees, has left us with the loss of years of wisdom. The current Board had the challenge of working together and figuring things out without that wisdom. We’re trying our best to figure it out together.

 

After the elections for new Board members earlier this year, our new Treasurer dove into their duties and quickly ascertained that our accounting firm was not working on our accounts and our bookkeeper was not responsive. More importantly, we learned that our tax exempt status was in jeopardy and things needed to be handled rapidly, lest we wouldn’t be able to continue with events, nor give out grants.

 

At the May public Board meeting, Tara, our then President, gave us the choice to immediately hire an Interim Executive Director (IED) to get our organizational filings in order or INW would cease to exist and threaten our largest event: Critical. As we are all volunteers, finding the time to handle these crucial items without hiring someone seemed impossible. Tara’s day job, coincidentally, was ending in a couple of days and she would need to launch into a full time job search, so she could offer no assistance to the tasks, unless she was hired immediately as an Interim Executive Director. Making this really clear: the Board felt they could EITHER HIRE TARA FOR MONEY OR THINGS WOULD END. When asked if we could look at the alumni list and try for two weeks to hire someone, Tara did not agree to wait. We had two days to think this over  and make a decision, because she was to start looking for a new job on Monday. We all agreed to 90 days of an interim position, so she stepped down from the Board, and into the Interim Executive Director position to start handling the tasks.

 

David was nominated and voted into the President position and Ethan was nominated and voted into the Vice President position. The IED was tasked to file our Secretary of State Application, get a new bookkeeper and accountant, finalize an Executive Director job description, and help us prepare for a permanent Executive Director (ED). David drafted the contract for this IED position, and pay would be based on an average salary of similar positions, equivalent to $80K a year for a FTE.

 

Accountants needed to be hired. Insurance had to be arranged. Many of the things that had been on autopilot for several years had to quickly be re-engaged and sorted.

 

The Board and the IED came up with a list of deliverables. The Board met with the IED on two occasions to work on the division of tasks that we, as a Board, felt represented the healthiest path forward. We were shown options of a “governing” Board (letting a “CEO” make all the decisions for the community, hiring staff depending on needs, and having the Board weigh in on larger direction) or a “Working” Board (continue with elected positions, committees, and having an admin professional do many of day to day functions under the direction of a Board answering to the community).  As a governing Board, the Board would merely direct the big picture, and the ED would do the actual running of everything. Getting more understanding of that plan, and knowing our community, we felt that this was NOT the direction INW needed. As a Board, we voted on doing the Working Board path, with the help of an admin professional. Our decision didn’t match the plan Tara had presented.

 

After the second meeting to divide tasks, the Board held an emergency meeting on July 2nd with just Board members to discuss the IED position and mounting concern. The identified urgent tasks were not complete and she would not agree to weekly status reports or project updates at the Board’s agreed-upon request. The IED would give reports to the President only. The Board voted with one abstainer to end the IED contract.

 

On the morning of July 2nd, David, who was then the President, resigned, citing issues in his personal life. David requested to stay on until the Board meeting after Critical on July 19th, in order to prevent any disruptions to Critical. This resignation prompted a vote during the July 2nd meeting to elect a new President. Ethan was nominated and elected. Boris (Natasha) was elected Vice President to replace Ethan.

 

After Critical, on July 19th, the President attended his last Board meeting as planned, and the IED resigned, giving no reason and telling the Board she would answer no questions. The Board reviewed the July 2nd vote to elect Ethan and Boris and agreed to continue with that decision.The next day, the IED made announcements via email and social media, writing as the Ignition Northwest Board, and without Board approval.  As a result of the unilateral action, the Board attempted to remove the resigned IED from social media control and from the program that emails all of the Firestarter members.

 

We historically run posts by other Board members before posting on behalf of INW. At that point, the IED had not been on the Board for some time.

 

In a post and email written by the former IED, she stated that her position was “fully funded [by her] outside of the set organization budget”. To clarify, this funding came from a grant for INW, written by Tara, that was received earlier this year. This was a grant application designed for helping nonprofits survive the pandemic. The grant was NOT specifically to hire an IED/or ED.

 

We have tried incredibly hard to address things fairly as they have come up. Upon the resignation of the IED, an accounting and bookkeeping firm was successfully engaged by the current Board. Long ignored insurance renewal needs for our policy were taken care of by the current Board members. Neglected taxes from the prior year were begun.

 

Requests for all the relevant information needed for our taxes from the former long time President/IED were made in handoff meetings, at IED planning meetings and by a member of the Board who asked if she would be willing to help. But we did not receive those documents. The accounting firm needed more information to continue their work, and it could not be found saved in the INW Drive and not in the President@IgnitionNW.org email inbox.

 

Without this information, our last resort was to look into the IED’s individual INW-owned email, where she did most of her business correspondence while President. The decision was made to take over the email after her resignation was final. We got into the  email account to get the needed tax documents. The Ignition Northwest lawyer informed us that we were allowed to look in the individual organization email to look for the information we needed. The overwhelming majority of organizations deactivate email accounts associated with individuals who no longer represent the organization. Without taxes being filed, we could not renew our already delinquent insurance policy, accept future grants, be in compliance for 501 status, or ultimately keep the organization running.

 

The @ignitionnw.org email is property of INW. Our attorney made it clear that it was within our legal right to access the inbox and to search it for the information needed to pay our taxes. Only tax documents were sought. The accountants were given the info that they needed. Holly, one of two tech directors who administers our emails, carried out the Board’s decision to grant access to the email for tax documents. Ethan, our Board President, was the only one to look for the tax documents.This is the only time that email was opened. One person set the access. One person viewed the email. On a single computer. Seen by a single person. Ever.

 

We also decided to hold a special election to fill the three Board seats that were empty. One seat was empty as a result of not enough candidates in the February 2023 election, one as a result of Tara’s resignation to move to the IED position, and the third as a result of David’s resignation.

 

While it’s true that nobody from INW’s history has ever had their email access both suspended and their email access “taken” by a Board officer, nobody has spoken on behalf of the Board while not on the Board and without the approval of the Board on such a scale.

 

At various times throughout the process with the IED in place, questions about deliverables were made. This was met with antagonism. As Vice-President, Ethan’s requests for information of “what’s been done?” were branded as harassment and bullying, although other Board members asked similar questions and none of the Vice President’s questions were made outside of shared Board meetings and communications. We were ALL worried that we were paying a large amount of INW’s money monthly, without receiving agreed upon deliverables.

 

While we take the accusations of alleged abuse very seriously, we think it’s important to note that it was only through the former IED that anyone on the Board had heard even a whisper of accusations of harassment, which evidence clearly showed was only reasonable requests for accountability. Ethan was cleared by the RAC as a valid candidate when he was nominated and elected to the Board over two years ago, as every other Board and production member has. He was cleared again by the RAC when he took on the position of producer for SeaCompression last fall.

 

As for the reports of concerns about our President’s conduct with other community members, we will be investigating this. As you know, these things take time and are not easy to navigate and measures will need to be taken to make sure it’s done fairly and impartially. This Board is dedicated to the safety of the community.

 

Through all of this, our goal is dedicated to transparency FOR ALL, and to bring Ignition Northwest’s Board of Directors back into the community for which it serves.