Update: Benefits Data Trust (BDT) Executives Fail to Address Staff Concerns
July 16, 2024
The current and former staff of Benefits Data Trust (BDT) released an open letter on July 3 to the Executive team and the Board of Directors to request:
Transparency as to how our organization became financially insolvent
A clear plan to secure BDT’s legacy and minimize harm to the marginalized communities we serve, and
A commitment to ease the transition for staff.
Our questions were not only an attempt to seek clarity, but also a call to action for the Executive team and the Board to demonstrate its commitment to the dignity of BDT staff and the people we serve.
We are committed to continuing the process of easing this hard transition for our staff and the communities we serve. However, we are disheartened to report that our questions have not been adequately addressed. The Executive team and Board declined to engage with the letter expressing our concerns and continue to proceed without transparency or accountability.
On July 9, the Executive team and Board disseminated a statement via email to all staff. This statement did not contain any answers to our financial transparency questions, did not present a clear path to continue our mission, and did not offer staff the requested support. While they claimed to have "no ill will" toward staff who signed the letter, they subsequently limited communication and dismissed good-faith attempts from staff to gain clarity. The Executive team chose to respond by:
Restricting who can post in organization-wide Slack channels
Deleting Slack posts advocating for transparency
Ignoring inquiries about PTO, Bonusly cash pay-outs, and severance
Weaponizing the employee handbook to intimidate staff members who ask questions, without citing specific rules or policies
Running counter to our values of communicating openly, taking ownership, and creating solutions, we've found this conduct to be particularly alarming and a betrayal of those values. We are still committed to working in good faith with the Executive team and Board. As a reminder, we are looking for comprehensive responses to the following:
Calls for Transparency
Staff have not received any answers to the financial transparency questions we asked on July 3. We are alarmed by the sudden closure of our organization and we are still calling for answers to the following:
When did the Executive team identify irreparable financial strain?
When was the Board notified of financial strain? What documentation/evidence was shared with the board and when will those be shared with staff?
How did the Board address the concerns of exiting and existing senior staff in late 2023 and onward?
How did the 2023 financial auditors’ findings influence decision-making related to the organization's solvency?
When will you publicly release the 2023 IRS Form 990, which was expected in March? When will you publicly release the 2023 Audited Financial statements?
In December 2023, Mr. Sanders announced a board-approved balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2024. What changed in the last 6 months?
Preserving BDT’s Mission
BDT served a vital role in the benefits access space, and our closure will leave low-income communities worse off. We demand answers about how the Executive team and Board plan to move forward regarding our work, and are still calling for answers to the following questions:
What, if any, plans are in place to ensure the continued support of the individuals and families who rely on BDT’s services?
What will happen to BDT’s ongoing projects, initiatives, toolkits, and proprietary solutions such as TERRI and PRISM (BDT’s custom-built benefits screening applications) and Wyatt (our FAFSA chatbot helping students get financial aid)?
What efforts are underway to transfer these critical services and solutions to other organizations in order to prevent their loss?
Duty to Staff
We have not received an adequate response regarding increased support for staff during this transition. We are still calling for the following:
We request BDT adhere to its own PTO policy as stated in the Employee Handbook and provide a complete cash out of earned, unused PTO to all employees.
We request BDT adhere to its own severance policy and provide severance of 1 week per year worked (with a minimum of 4 weeks) paid severance to all employees impacted.
We request 2 months of COBRA reimbursements to mitigate unexpected healthcare costs for staff impacted by the mid-June layoffs and BDT’s closure.
We request a commitment to uncontested unemployment claims for all staff.
We request a commitment from BDT that there will be no retaliation toward the current and former BDT staff who have signed onto this letter, out of deep concern for the future of our work and careers.
We request that the Board of Directors and Executive teams formally and actively support our staff in transitioning to new employment opportunities. This includes providing outside job placement support, resume assistance, networking opportunities, and job search resources.
It is unacceptable that Wendy Starner, Erika Blumenthal, Sang-Hoon Lee, Alyssa Wagner, and the BDT Board have responded to our collective efforts to seek transparency and protect ourselves and our clients by silencing staff and avoiding accountability.
We love our work and are committed to our mission to help vulnerable communities access the public benefits they need. We must ensure our mission continues. We urge all stakeholders, especially funders and partner organizations, to join us in calling for transparency from the Executive team and Board.