“Nowadays nonprofits have to rethink their strategy” (a soon-to-be former staff person at this resettlement agency).
I couldn’t agree more!
The International Institute of NJ (IINJ) is an affiliate of the resettlement contractor, one of nine volags, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) headed by Lavinia Limon* former director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Clinton Administration (the revolving door at work again!). By the way, if you are new to refugee industry-speak, VOLAG stands for voluntary agency, but there is nothing much voluntary about them anymore—contractors like USCRI are almost completely funded by tax dollars. Now it is crunch time—the tax dollars are running out and so agencies like IINJ are closing their doors.
Here is the story Monday from the Jersey Journal:
A Jersey City-based nonprofit that provides immigration services is drastically downsizing because of cuts in government grant funding.
Employees at the International Institute of New Jersey (IINJ), a nonprofit located at 1 Journal Square Plaza in Jersey City, spent today packing boxes to move to a smaller office because of a $800,000 cut in federal and state aid, IINJ Executive Director Catherine Tansey said.
The organization’s overall yearly budget had been $1.8 million, Tansey said.
The organization had also fallen seven months behind in rent, owing its current landlord more than $46,000, officials said.
[…..]
“Nowadays nonprofits have to rethink their strategy,” said Sophia Rossovsky, 53, director of IINJ’s training center. Rossovsky said IINJ needs to improve its fundraising efforts among private donors.
Ms Rossovsky probably doesn’t understand that it was supposed to be that way from the beginning—-the resettlement agencies were supposed to be using large amounts of privately raised money, but have over the years drifted into simply reaching into the US Treasury’s pot of gold. You can see from the most recent available Form 990 for IINJ (here) that they were almost completely dependent on your money.
INJJ that year received $2,435,781 from state and federal government coffers while only raising $44,000 from private sources. What is that —something like 2% came from private money?
A day after that report above, the Jersey Journal reports that the International Institute is in even worse shape. Now they are closing completely and filing for bankruptcy. I’m not a lawyer but I wonder how a non-profit that was almost completely funded by government could actually file for bankruptcy?
Reversing comments they made yesterday, officials with the International Institute of New Jersey (IINJ), a Jersey City-based nonprofit that provides services for immigrants, said today the organization will be closing by mid-June and declaring bankruptcy.
* This isn’t the first of Lavinia Limon’s subcontractors to have problems, in 2008 we reported that the International Institute of Connecticut was closed (at least for a time) due to media reports that refugees were not being properly cared for. You can visit the most recent Form 990 for USCRI here. They received $27,857,423 from the US taxpayer and privately raised $321,530 (about 1% raised privately? check my math!). $749,900 went to the International Institute of NJ. Ms. Limon’s pay package that year was just over $200,000.
By the way, here is the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s payout to New Jersey resettlement agencies for 2009.
Hey, here is a thought! Maybe the city of Manchester will get lucky and the International Institute of New England will go broke too!