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Nondas Hurst Voll to retire as Executive Director of The Fund for Community Progress

Nearly fourteen years ago, a single mom named Nondas Voll was busy earning a living and sending the last of her four children off to college.  She had a long commute to Cambridge, Mass., where she served as Director of Communications at Lesley University.  She had served in a similar capacity at Roger Williams University where she also taught and had worked as Deputy Press Secretary for the Governor of Rhode Island. 

She hated the commute and she missed her community.  Not just her neighborhood community, but her nonprofit community.  It was the start of another career.

This summer, Nondas will retire after 13-1/2 years as Executive Director of The Fund for Community Progress in Providence, R.I.  She will leave behind a blueprint of how to overcome powerful adversaries while “pivoting” to the needs of policy makers to influence their decisions.  This genuine, soft-spoken leader has earned the respect of both sides, having marched “in so many marches for justice and peace that I can’t remember” while dramatically increasing The Fund’s access to businesses and changing public policy in the process.

Nondas became involved with The Fund because of her work as a board member for one of its member agencies – Shelter Services.  With fewer than half of the agencies (13) as it has now, The Fund had precious little resources at the time.  She had to sell her house in order to make the finances work.  She even lent her organization $6,500 to help pay for another employee.  But it was worth it.

“It was glorious to walk into an office and be able to be working full time for peace and justice,” she said. 

Glorious, but not exactly comfortable.  In 1994, The Fund sued the local United Way because of its unfair practices in several local campaigns, including the City of Providence employee campaign.  She discovered that United Way had listed all of The Fund’s agencies in United Way’s campaign booklet.  It was a tough three-year battle, with lots of negative publicity about how The Fund was “ruining it for everybody in the nonprofit sector” and going after United Way “just for the money.”  In the end, the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of The Fund.  It is the only time in U.S. history that a United Way was found liable for monopolistic practice – a decision that surely has helped level the playing field for alternative funds and federations across the country in the years since. 

“We democratized philanthropy in Rhode Island,” she said.  “Now they all want to support social change – even including United Way and The Rhode Island Foundation.  The Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Administration now honor an Advocate of the Year.  They never would have touched public policy five years ago.  It’s just wonderful.”

There have been many other fights.  During the past decade, friends of The Fund have done “sleep-overs” at the State Capitol building to protest proposed budget cuts for low-income families, sponsored films and held forums.  And regardless of the weather, Nondas and many Rhode Islanders held a regular candlelight vigil – every Friday night for 10 years – at the Rhode Island federal building to protest the US involvement in the wars in Central America.  Nondas had been a delegate with Witness for Peace in Nicaragua in 1988 and had experienced the war against the poor firsthand.

In addition to her regular schedule, Nondas serves on six boards and two steering committees, including as Board Chair of Community Shares USA, and with Rhode Island Historical Society, the Institute for Nonviolence, ACLU of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, Providence Rotary Club, Advocacy Institute and Rhode Island Peace Mission.  She will continue to serve on her local boards and, of course, keep advocating for peace and justice. 

“I need to take some time off now and catch my breath.” 

Nondas retires with a parting gift that probably couldn’t have been more appropriate.  A long-time friend established the “Nondas Hurst Voll Fund” at The Rhode Island Foundation.  Interest from this endowment will afford The Fund for Community Progress the opportunity to grant annual scholarships to low-income women.  The recipients must be single mothers of a dependent child or children and must be transitioning off of public assistance to begin or continue studies in higher education.

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