Went from regular member to kitchen slave in 8 months at that Asheville 'healing circle'

Watching the recruits who joined after me get promoted past me while I'm stuck chopping vegetables for 14 hour days made me finally check the tax filings, and sure enough the 'leader' owns the catering company we've been feeding for free, has anyone else seen this kind of mission drift happen that fast?

2 comments

2 Comments

wood.uma16d ago

Oh my goodness, that is so familiar! I joined a women's wellness group in Raleigh two years ago and the exact same thing happened. Within six months I was folding brochures and cleaning the office while the newer girls were suddenly leading workshops. I checked their nonprofit status too, and sure enough the founder had started a for-profit retreat business on the side, using our volunteer hours to prep all the materials. It broke my heart because I really believed in the mission at first. You are not crazy, this kind of thing happens way too often with these groups. Hope you get out of there soon.

emma_garcia16d ago

Digging into why you stayed so long is what gets me. I mean, I was in that same spot, picking up dry cleaning for a board member while feeling like I was part of something real. Did you ever call them out on it, or did you just fade away quietly? I tried to ask our founder about the for-profit side once, and she gave me this whole speech about "separate revenue streams" that made my head spin. The worst part is when they use your belief in the mission to guilt you into more work, like caring about the cause means you have to accept the shady stuff. It took me a solid year after leaving to realize I wasn't the problem, they were just good at hiding it.