“ADRA headquarters was right-sized.”
The Adventist Review recently published a traditional year-in-review piece about 2011, a sixth of the year into 2012. But even more tone deaf, it appeared almost exactly a year after the new ADRA International leadership fired 20% of the employees at the headquarters, leaving many crying in the halls of the General Conference headquarters of the Adventist Church. Published on February 23, 2012, the flagship publication states:
ADRA headquarters was right-sized.
Is that some wannabe Orwellian euphemism for down-sized?
I can understand why they would be afraid of using “down.” According to actual people who work there morale is down. Funding is down. In fact, a recent petition signed by 65% of ADRA International employees that was quashed by a few at the top noted the following:
- “ADRA International’s USG (U.S. government) funding portfolio has decreased”
- “recent internal fundraising strategies to increase unrestricted private income have come at the price of decreased transparency, especially in regards to emergency appeals.”
With all this actual, factual evidence of decreases, it’s no wonder some church leaders are attempting some creative spin. If gutting an institution this badly sounds right to them, I’d hate to (G) see wrong.
*The “Pray for ADRA” graphic comes from the Facebook pages of several past and current ADRA employees who were using it to commemorate the Feb. 22, 2011, mass firing.
