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Amid a storm of complaints of workplace harassment, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation announced Tuesday that its executive in charge of human resources will be leaving.
Daiva Natochy, who served as vice president of the nonprofit’s Talent, Recruitment and Culture division, reportedly resigned voluntarily this week.
Natochy was singled out as one of the key executives who had enabled a toxic culture of blame and fear at the influential nonprofit. In an anonymous letter sent to board members, 65 current SVCF employees asked for Natochy and CEO Emmett Carson to immediately be put on leave. Carson was placed on paid leave April 26 while an internal investigation is conducted.
Much of the controversy so far has centered on Mari Ellen Loijens, the No. 2 executive who resigned last month. Her departure came after more than a dozen former employees went public with allegations that Loijens was an abusive manager whose ability to attract large donors insulated her from any repercussions.
Natochy was seen as having a supporting role in that abuse, according to former employees. When she joined in 2015, Natochy initially tried to address some of the workplace concerns, but she didn’t persist for long, said Rebecca Dupras, former SVCF vice president of development.
Within a few months, Natochy was acting to protect Loijens from employees who were speaking out, Dupras said. On multiple occasions, Natochy had invited staffers to discuss workplace concerns under the guise of confidentiality. She later informed Loijens of what she had learned, Dupras said.
Dupras recalls getting summoned to Loijens’ office and hearing the same employees who had complained being described as “problems.” That practice led many employees to develop a deep-seated distrust of Natochy and the foundation’s human-resources department, which is still an ongoing problem at the nonprofit, according to other employees who spoke to the Voice.
“I had to tell my staff: ‘I can’t tell you not to go to HR … but you need to be careful about what you say to her because Daiva will share it with Mari Ellen,” Dupras said. “She had extra knowledge of what was going on, but with that extra level of access, I think people felt betrayed by her.”
Natochy’s departure was announced in a letter sent to donors on Tuesday afternoon, May 1, by interim CEO Greg Avis. In the letter, Avis assured donors that the investigation, being conducted by outside legal counsel, would not be financed by individual donor advised funds. Funding will come directly from the foundation’s operating budget surplus and, if necessary, from its reserves, Avis said.
In 2017, SVCF celebrated its 10th anniversary. The organization has grown from $1.4 billion in assets in 2007 to more than $13.5 billion today.
What does this so-called “non-profit” corporation do – other than pocket the profit?
Looks like they didn’t do anything but abuse their workers and push them into the ground.
I feel so ashamed that I donated money to this entity. It is shocking how badly behaved these people at the top are. So much money pouring into their coffers made them invincible and do all kinds of bad things and get away with it for a long time and still going to get away with it because they are not walking away empty handed. They are sure taking at least few millions with them. Non profits are corrupt and crooked just like our local/state/federal govts are. One would think the board of directors would have common sense and decent ethics to make sure the foundation is working properly. No, that is anything but what is happening in this foundation. They need to be criminlly charged and put behind bars, yes, the board of directors who are supposed to keep an eye on everything. I do believe there are lot more scandals especially with travel expenses, gifts etc with this foundation
There’s another big problem here, that the focus on employee abuse misse. After the 1969 Tax Act, community foundations had to claim all of their named (advised or directed) funds as being part of the foundation’s own endowment. Otherwise, these funds were designated as private foundations and subject to higher taxes and less deductions on the donor’s tax filings. Owning the funds means that the funds can’t be taken away. Yet, the reporting shows that many donors have taken their funds out of the community foundation and moved them to other donor-advised fund services (like Fidelity.)
The tax laws have been weakened over the years, and the IRS lost a big fight against Fidelity over 15 years ago on whether their service even met legal minimums for getting a charitable deduction. But while the law is weak, the ethics of giving haven’t changed. If you give a gift to a charity it should be a full gift – no longer yours to control and dictate. It is unfair in the extreme that very wealthy people get whopping big tax deductions for gifts that they still control – they get to say how money is spent, or even ‘if’ money is spent.
Once the air clears, a lot of donors are going to leave the SVCF, and if they do, their tax savings on past gifts should be rescinded and they should be made to pay back taxes.
I’m glad bullies of all sorts are being de-closeted and penalized for their cruelty. The #METOO movement has awakened suffering people to the option of banding together and speaking up against “bosses” who, in any way, abuse their status vav subordinates. Let’s get rid of as many as we can asap. This toxic way of business needs to be countered, esp for women but also for anyone who is bullied.
The biggest scandal that has come out of this is the paltry amount of money going to Moutain View’s Community Services Agency from SVCF, helping those truly in need. CSA received a TOTAL of 317K in THREE YEARS, yet SVCF took in $1.4 billion in donations and disbursed $1.3 billion in grants in 2017, ONLY ONE YEAR. SVCF HQ is in Mountain View, yet they and their donors (many who live in Los Altos) turn a blind eye to the socio economic issues associated with homelessness. Try parking a decrepit RV in Los Altos, zero tolerance, zero concern. Let Mountain View deal with it.
@pocket the profit – with donor advised funds, the donors put money into the fund and then in turn are meant to distribute it to 501c’s of their choice. I don’t see local social agencies (5013) getting much of that money.