Wayfinding Academy Reviews

I was left absolutely traumatized by my employment at Wayfinding Academy. This nonprofit suffers from the definition of Founders Syndrome. Staff are micromanaged to the point that constant road blocks prevent little meaningful work from being accomplished and then staff are blamed for lack of progress when leadership doesn't let them move forward. I was paid $500 per month for my first 3 months as a full time 40 hour per week Development Director. That should have been my first red flag. While on these below poverty wages I was expected to donate to the organization. I was told that all major donors were off limits to me because the founder had a personal relationship with them so, at the advice of the founder, I began working to expand our major donors base and build relationships with new potential donors. I was then put on probation by the Board and told I needed to bring in a minimum of $75 per day from new donors less after I'd been working there and living in Portland for only 8 weeks. Employees were asked to max out credit cards on donations to the organization that were later refunded after a campaign in an attempt to get larger fundraising matches or to look like a goal was met that was not. The accountant constantly cooked the books to make the org look like it wasn't in financial trouble when they were actually drowning and several months behind on rent.