Hi Friends!
The other day I was talking to a friend about an organization that she had heard closed. We both stopped and looked at their website. It very much looked like the website of a going concern. It had a donate button and a mailing list signup and pictures from fairly recent events.
Sliding over to the LinkedIn pages of some of the org’s leadership, they all seemed to be still working there. However, my friend said she had it on good authority that they had been closed for a little while now. This sort of thing happens to me not infrequently while writing this newsletter. I get a HOT TIP about a sunsetted org and I go trekking around the interwebs looking for confirmation that is indeed shut down, only to find no concrete proof of this allegation. It is like a house with all the lights on and a clean car parked in the driveway, but I can’t quite tell . I don’t usually go so far as to reach out. I have enough to write about here (and on the Museum of Closed NGOs page) that I don’t need to all go ringing doorbells to get any kind of “scoop”.
That said, these situations do always get my mind spinning on the question of whose responsibility (if anyone’s!) it is or should be to flag that these are no longer operational My friend and I started chatting about beloved nonprofit sector gadfly Vu Le’s blogpost on “zombie missions”. Vu describes a zombie mission in this way
“These orgs have missions that were once vital, but as needs change, or as other organizations overtake them in effectiveness, , they find themselves in denial..They become ‘zombie missions’. This usually leads to a lack of direction and purpose, perpetual morale issues, and constant staff turnover.“
– Vu Le, “Zombie Missions:Organizations that should close but won’t”
While these zombies are undoubtedly a problem, what I am lamenting here is less the orgs that stumble along half-dead than the orgs that know they are dead and never bother to let anyone else know in a clear way. What to call those that go off quietly into the night never to be heard of or from again? For now, all I can see in my mind is that persistent image of the house —likely still full of useful things — that slowly and mysteriously becomes a needlessly rundown mess.
Here are this week’s links:
1) New Jersey hospital flatlines
After a failed emergency appeal to the state for funding, Jersey City’s Heights University Hospital was shuttered by its parent organization, Hudson Regional Hospital. According to the local union, the abrupt closing was in violation of local regulations and left around 120 medical employees scrambling to find roles in other hospitals in the parent system or seek employment elsewhere. Meanwhile, HRH is exploring alternative uses for the 150 year-old facility.
2) LGBTQ center closes, dodgeball season in jeopardy
The Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 was a pricey and ambitious effort to build an LGBTQ+ hub in Cleveland, Ohio. While no explanation was given for its shuttering after only three years, reports indicate conflict between the board and staff. Stonewall Sports Cleveland, a local LGBTQ+ nonprofit sports organization, which was one of many housed in the facility, is now frantically searching for a new space for the January 18th opening game of the gay dodgeball league.
3) Pro-Israel LGBTQ group blows up
For 15 years, A Wider Bridge attempted to fight antisemitism and connect queer Jews in the US with their peers in Israel, helping to promote a narrative of Israeli’s respect for human rights by way of a tolerance for its LGBTQ community. However, growing accusations of pinkwashing coupled with sexual misconduct charges against the group’s executive director, lead to increasing exclusion from US LGBTQIA+ coalitions and gatherings.
Decreased funding was the main reason cited for the wind down. Their last day of operations will be December 31, 2025.
4) Social isolation charity waves goodbye
Vermont’s Social Tinkering was established in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic, in response to a growing epidemic of social isolation. While it has now marked its last gathering, it is celebrated for the number of initiatives it was able to launch in just a few short years. Their projects include many in-person meetups, an LGBTQ+ welcome campaign, nearly $200,000 in health equity grants awarded, and extensive public community programming.
5) After 150 Years, California’s Sugar Beet Industry Comes to an End
Policy wasn’t the only reason for the closing plants. In California, higher-value crops also displaced beets. For many years, while federal policy kept sugar at a relatively fixed price, the price for other crops kept rising—especially nuts.
“That was a big surprise to a lot of people, how quickly almonds and pistachios expanded,” said Kaffka. “It was like printing money.”
A great, longish read in Civil Eats explaining the how and why of the decimation of the Imperial Valley’s sugar beet industry. The loss of this critical contributor to California’s agricultural sector has had wide reaching implications for the surrounding communities, such that politicians and activists are still exploring how to fill the gap.
6) The Colleges That Couldn’t Survive 2025
At least 15 nonprofit institutions announced closures amid a difficult year for higher education as the sector navigated rising operating costs and political minefields amid a presidential transition.
That number is down from last year when Inside Higher Ed tracked 16 closure announcements but up from 2023…
Anyone who’s been hanging around these parts for a while won’t be too surprised to see this headline or this list from the journal Inside Higher Ed. 2025 was another rough year for institutions of higher learning, and this doesn’t even include the individual programs and centers that sadly came on the chopping block. Sadly 2026 is already shaping up to be another hot mess.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Jan 26, 2026, 12-2pm EST
Loss of Primary Source of Funding: A 4 Session Workshop Series by Educopia (register)
Facing major funding loss? Get tools, frameworks, exercises, and peer learning to make strategic, thoughtful decisions for your organization
Yours in the end,
Camille
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