This section of this post was written July 9, 2011 in response to an article found here.

Welcome, to those of you visiting from the Associated Content Post by Samantha Van Vleet.

Shortly after my resignation from The Cloth Diaper Foundation, the new management sent me a message that they had received confirmation from the IRS that The Cloth Diaper Foundation was well within it’s rights, and bylaws, to compensate any board member for their services.  This is actually public documentation on file with the IRS, and at anytime, donors, supporters, and all other members of the public can request clarification.

Now, while compensation is not why I volunteered for the organization, it’s pretty cool to know that regardless of what all of the self proclaimed lawyers who responded negatively and harshly judgmental to my photo of my unborn child’s diaper stash, the IRS actually had our back – the entire time.

One IRS employee laughed at the accusations of “embezzlement”, “theft”, and other off the wall accusations.  Another IRS employee bluntly asked  “How is this considered illegal if 501c3 organization pay their employees all the time?”

When I first spoke with a representative of the IRS, she actually thought I was joking.  It took me a bit to get her to realize that I was actually serious.

The former CEO and I did not resign SOLELY because of these accusations, NOR did we throw this “mess” on someone else to clean up.

For two and a half years (and more for the former CEO), we helped people.  Much of the help was greatly appreciated.  It was a wonderful feeling to help families in their time of need.  I miss it.  I really do.  However, no good deed goes unpunished.  For every one or two positive feedback responses we’d receive, there were always four or five complaints awaiting. Not to mention the scrutiny from those not involved, in any way, with the organization due to complaints being posted on popular cloth diapering forums.

Like in any public position, you’re always putting yourself out there for rotten egg throwing, and it came to the point, that these accusations were the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Bad timing?  Probably.  The former CEO and I had already talked, a few weeks back, about how our nerves and patience, not to mention our families due to the stress couldn’t handle one more curveball.  Once another one was thrown, we’d bow out, and pass it on to someone else.

We had two options when we resigned, per the IRS:

  1. Dissolve the organization and pass all the inventory to an established 501c3 organization who had been in operation for 5 years or more.
  2. Hand the organization over to willing volunteers.
For us, we did not feel right donating these diapers to Goodwill for them to go back out on the buyer’s marker.  Those who have donated to CDF did so out of the goodness of their hearts, expecting these diapers to be passed along and not sold in mass quantities.

 

Because The Cloth Diaper Foundation was the only organization that distributed cloth diapers to families in need who had been in operation for more than five years, our other option was to hand it over to Kristy Burt and her group of volunteers who had already organized a great Cloth Diaper Outreach in their area in California.

 

They agreed to take over the organization, and the grand transfer was made.  All in all, I believe we shipped more than 3,500 pounds of diapers to Kristy and crew.

 

The Cloth Diaper Foundation is not currently taking applications or shipping out diapers, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the accusations from the public nor the revelation from the IRS that CDF is well within it’s rights and bylaws to compensate board members be it monetarily or otherwise.

Due to the transfer from Texas to California, the new CEO and Board are in the process of transferring the 501c3 status from one state to another, and this is taking a bit of time. In the meantime, the volunteers are working with other organizations that have started by sharing diapers from the inventory so that these diapers can get out to families in need.

Articles, like the one posted by Samantha Van Vleet are counterproductive to the mission as a whole, and that is spreading the positive word about cloth diapers, and the charities dedicated to help families in need.

There are thousands of cloth diapers, sitting in California, waiting to go out to families in need.  I would be willing to bet that there is no other organization that has popped up since April (when this all took place), or anytime really, that has that many diapers waiting to go out.  As a matter of fact, there are multiple waiting lists for several of these new organizations, and the longest standing organization with the most to offer, is waiting in the wings while they have been shunned because the public decided to make a spectacle of one individual volunteer.

For what my word is worth, I personally think that rather than having 20 others pop up, those volunteers should actually try to work with the new management at CDF to get the ball rolling so that the organization can go back to helping hundreds of families each year.

THAT should be the common goal.

 

Article Written December 7, 2010 where I am accused here of  “seeming to complain about some of her experiences as the operations manager at the foundation.”

First things first… I am the Operations Manager of The Cloth Diaper Foundation.  I do a lot for the Foundation, but mainly, I’m the one who packages and ships out diapers to recipients.  This post was not put together by the organization as a whole – just me. My thoughts.

I want everyone to know that I would never send out diapers that are not functional or are not paired with something to make them functional, and I would never send anything out that has mildew, dry rot elastic, shot elastic, or something that I just won’t put on my own kids.

That said, there are times that I send out diapers with faulty PUL (polyurethane laminate) (if it’s all we have to send), however, I would never send them out for the recipients to fend for themselves. I always, always, always add a pull on cover or two so that the diaper, in whatever shape or form, is fully functional. Diapers with no elastic can’t really hold messes in (so I don’t send them), but AIO (All In One) diapers or pocket diapers with no, or faulty, PUL can be treated as though they are fitted diapers and simply paired with a cover.

Diapers stain. It’s inevitable. I do not wash or sun diapers before I send them out.. that’s ridiculous, not to mention time consuming and costly. They are clean when they arrive to me.  This is not a diaper service. I also Freecycle diapers that seem ENTIRELY too stained to send out to recipients (who complain), and I also Freecycle diapers in need of repair. It’s still a form of giving, so it’s not against what we do entirely. There are times, however, that I do toss a diaper or two if there’s just no way of using it.

You all probably know by now, that I take complaints VERY seriously, and personally. Our job, and NUMBER ONE GOAL, is to make sure that these families receive diapers that are functional for the purpose of exclusively cloth diapering their babies. My job is to see to it that that is exactly what happens.

I have been with The Cloth Diaper Foundation for more than two years now, and I pretty much know what is going to be complained about, questions, bashed, and even publicly put on display because recipients feel that we’ve somehow, along the way, ripped them off and screwed them out of “so much money”. The truth of the matter is, lately, due to the cost of shipping, we’ve lost a LOT of money, but that’s another story.

I try to avoid such confrontation, at every cost, by not putting the reputation of our nonprofit at risk.  We’ve come a long way from where it started almost six years ago, and there is nothing any of us would do to compromise it.  However, I am human, and there are times when we receive complaints, and because I’m the one who sends the diapers out, I take them very personally.

I know we can’t please everyone, and I also know that there are FAR more people who are thankful for what we do send them than there are who complain. For that, I am eternally thankful.

The main purpose of this post is to let all of you know what I said in my first few paragraphs. We’re not running a shoddy operation here. We’re not sending out horrible diapers that aren’t usable to where these people would ever feel, in any way, that they’ve wasted their shipping money. We’re a group of good-hearted moms who are/were fortunate enough to cloth diaper our children, and we want to make sure that no family should be excluded from cloth diapering because of financial restrictions.

We’d love for you to check out
our Fund Raising Auctions!

If you would like to donate cloth diapers to families in need, please visit our donation page to see if there is a cloth diaper drop off location in your area!  If not, you can always mail them in, or, if you’re an established cloth diaper business, find out how to start a drop off location in your area!

Also, remember that we’re always in need of monetary donations!  My house doesn’t always look like this (thankfully)!  We have monthly bills such as storage costs, shipping supplies, phone/fax, office supplies, mail/package delivery service, etc.  If you would like to donate money to The Cloth Diaper Foundation, it would be most appreciated!

Last, but definitely not least, if you are in need of cloth diapers, we invite and encourage you to apply for a cloth diaper loan for free cloth diapers!

I mean, come on!  You know I take this seriously when I have wool shorties ornaments hanging on my Christmas tree!!

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous week!