Closing Remarks #25

Hi everyone and a special welcome to the many new subscribers that came in this month! 👋🏾

After 25 issues in just 8 months, I am up to over 100 subscribers🎉! It might seem small, but it is encouraging to me that I found more than 100 people -- most of them total strangers --- interested enough in this niche topic to let me slide into their inbox a few times a month. Thank you all for your interest and support. It means a lot.

Speaking of a lot, my friend and lead cheerleader Kyle Soo (hiiiii Kyle!) recently gave a boost to my upcoming community session with the amazing team that created the Tending to Endings card deck, and a LOT of people signed up. If you want to hear from the TtE team and also watch me be an overwhelmed host in a big Zoom room, you should join us.

Here are this week's links:

1) California Bay Area Japanese senior home sunsets
Founded by local activists in the mid-1990s, J-Sei was one of the few culturally-sensitive senior care facilities left in the Bay Area, where caregivers spoke Japanese, served Japanese comfort foods, and organized Japanese cultural activities for the residents.

Over the past few years, the home faced rising costs and waning interest forcing the decision to close. Most of the residents who are being displaced are in their 90s and have cognitive impairment. While nearly a dozen such homes were created in the initial push some 30-40 years ago, only a handful remain open in the area today.

2) Abolition of UK health authority causes confusion, forces a reckoning

When UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the shuttering of NHS England, many in the nation scratched their heads wondering what the agency was and whether it was something they should be worried about. This BBC article represents a valiant attempt to to translate the situation, and is a great reminder that accessible, community-centered storytelling needs to be at the heart of organizational change and shutdowns.

4) NYC Planned Parenthood to sell building, shutter clinic
Planned Parenthood of Greater New York is looking to sell its downtown NYC building and cease operations in Manhattan. While the group cites a funding shortfall and the need for better facilities, some critics claim financial mismanagement is to blame for the nonprofit's downturn across the nation.

As a health provider in the state of New York, PPNYC will have to outline the reasoning behind the closure and how it will affect access to care. Approval is up to the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council.

5) UK organization supporting victims of sexual abuse winds down
Savana has operated for almost 40 years, providing much needed counseling and support services to those in the UK's West Midlands who have suffered from sexual abuse. A loss of funding means that services will cease from 30 April. About 25 members of staff will be let go, with six being transferred to other organizations to continue offering some support services.

6) New Orleans cemetery nonprofit sunsets and merges

NOLA's Save Our Cemeteries has ceased operations and rolled its efforts into the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (PRC). PRC works to maintain the historic city's many iconic sites. The groups were both formed in 1974 and have had a long partnership. SOC's president has moved to PRC's board, and they will be hiring someone to spin up the cemetery preservation practice.

(The poetry of a cemetery preservation group ending was just too good for me to pass up!)

7) When A Nonprofit Goes Under, What Happens To Its Funds?

"Despite amassing billions of dollars in charitable contributions every year, a surprising number of nonprofits (about 30%) don’t survive beyond a decade. With 1.8 million tax-exempt organizations operating in the United States today, this churn amounts to thousands of nonprofits dying on an annual basis.

From a donor’s perspective, it’s worth asking: Could a nonprofit’s dissolution introduce the temptation for its leaders to misappropriate assets or commit fraud?

While documented cases of misconduct during dissolution are relatively rare, understanding the potential risks and implementing preventive measures are critical for maintaining public trust."

This is an interesting breakdown of how monies get dispersed in many nonprofit spin downs. It is a good, legally-informed, and data-rich counterpoint to a lot of the "fraud/waste" babble that has been swirling around lots of charitable work these days.

Closing Remarks is brought to you by The Wind Down, a consultancy for exploring, building, designing, and delivering better endings for mission-driven projects and organizations, and also raising closure consciousness. If you're enjoying it, please support my work.