Non-profit abusing grant/ payroll. Changing horses midstream

What is the name of your state? Oregon.

I'll try to make this brief for brevity's sake.

I approached the administrator of a non-profit organisation to sponsor a grant so I could continue teaching computer classes for adults. They weren't paying anything, I volunteered.

I brought a grant application to her and typed out the core proposal. She filled in some details about the non-profit and itemized the resources we were seeking. She said at the time that fully half the grant would go to pay me, and the other half would buy new computer equipment.

For months after submitting the grant, she kept saying on several occasions how great it would be for them to finally pay me.

The grant went through, and a check for around $30,000 is due to be dispersed to the non-profit in the next couple weeks.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the administrator takes full credit for the grant, sets aside $4,000 for herself as a 15% fee for typing the grant, says she's going to buy herself a brand new g5 macintosh and informs me that I get $3,150 to be payed out in small payments over the next 8 months (!) for teaching a class.

This was not our agreement.

Neither of us has signed anything. I have the option to contact the company who is writing the check, and request they give it to the next group they had in mind. I could simply yank this grant from them.

Legally and in the most civil manner possible, what is a good way to approach this group so I can have more say in how this grant gets spent? As it is, they plan to eat up most the grant in administrative costs.

I have no problems with just binning the grant; it could go to good use elsewhere, I'm sure. I just feel that I'm being seriously taken advantage of, used and abused in this situation.

Please help, if any specific step or issue of this process needs clarification I will post more information.

Help me stop this blatant abuse of community funds. Thank you in advance.

-O

Neither of us has signed anything. I have the option to contact the company who is writing the check, and request they give it to the next group they had in mind. I could simply yank this grant from them.

And there is your problem. If you approach the institution making the grant you open yourself up to serious legal complications.

Grantwriters get paid a fee for putting together a grant proposal. Since the other party is the one who is administering the grant and the one who helped you write it, there is nothing blatantly illegal or wrong with her getting a percentage of the monies.

Your decision is this: Either keep quiet and move on after the last payment or; go to the institution and ask them to rechannel the monies thereby opening yourself up to risk and depriving the students of the tools with which to learn.

Originally posted by hexeliebe
...opening yourself up to risk and depriving the students of the tools with which to learn.

Thank you.

Your response was well timed and VERY much appreciated. That helped me off the "single track" in to the (much needed) broader scope of things.

Thank you