Nonprofit organizations request donations daily. They partner with large corporations to enlist donations from employees at these corporations to bolster their benevolent activities. We assume nonprofit organizations with larger donations are capable of doing more great things for their community they say they support.
However, when Xavier Waye 13-year-old author decided to donate $1.50 of his profits from the sale of his first book, The Adventures of Firesky: Raven of the Nile, to an organization that supported Autism Awareness he was rejected. He asked his team at Savior Publishing, the company where he is the CEO and who published his book to reach out to two national organizations that support Autism Awareness. The two organizations currently have national corporate sponsors and receive thousands of dollars in donations. Xavier, even at the age of 13 understood the power of his platform and felt it would be a natural partnership with him being Autistic and their desire to support and raise awareness about Autism around the world.
The team sent several emails to more than five (5) people in each organization. The emails explained who Xavier Waye was, the details about the book Adventures of Firesky: Raven of the Nile, and his desire to support their efforts for Autism Awareness. The team received an auto-response from two email addresses of one of the national Autism Awareness organizations stating that they would follow up with Xavier. The second and larger national organization did not reply at all.
When the team did not receive the expected response from the National Autism Organizations, they decided to make phone calls to their offices, in hopes of reaching a decision maker. Again to no avail, both organizations were wrought with red tape, and no one who answered the phone could make a decision.
After sharing the rejection with Xavier, he responded saying, “It’s Ok, someone needs the money, and we will find them. My job is to find solutions not focus on groups that can’t get what we are doing here.” Xavier’s response is the mark of a true CEO; many can take a page out of his book in pursuit of being a great CEO.
After the rejection, the team looked for other groups Xavier could support with his book sale proceeds. The team found at least one other organization to support and is still in pursuit of others. The organization Xavier truly embraced was the Autistic Self Advocacy Network in Washington, DC. This organization, which uses the Instagram hashtag #actuallyautistic is more unique than other Autism Awareness groups; they have people with Autism making decisions and submitting stories about the diversity of persons with Autism and how our differences make all of us better.
We issue this warning, Be Aware of the “Big-Box” nonprofit organization, they may have the money to market their ideas to the world, but don’t want the truth or involvement of those they are supposed to support.
A message to the “Big Box” Autism Awareness organization: In your attempt to support those with Autism, make sure you have persons with Autism in your organization to increase your sensitivity for those who are the focus of your organization’s Mission.