We closely monitor each of our assistance awards and we will thoroughly investigate any reports of misuse and will then take appropriate action, as needed, the spokesperson added. As a resettlement agency, LIRS and our partners stand ready to welcome our Afghan neighbors and their family members and to continue advocating for those left behind. Refugees are forced to move whereas immigrants want to move. A subcommittee of the Board was formed, which would hire outside legal counsel to conduct interviews with staff and report back to the Board., According to the source, None of the three LT [Leadership Team] members who approached the Board or the dozens of staff they were representing believe that the Board investigation will result in real change, continuing, This is due to the fact that Hartke largely controls the Board through her filtering all Board applicants that the Executive Committee considers for appointment, the separation she maintains from her Leadership Team and the Board by limiting their interactions with the Board, and the fact that complaints have been filed in the past with the Board resulting in nothing. It's amazing! Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a champion for all uprooted people. Great compensation and benefits too. Assist with the processing and placement of refugee cases to LIRS affiliate partners throughout the U.S. In 2015 Grant Thornton again found a significant deficiency in internal controls over Federal award management. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization that welcomes and supports refugees and migrants entering the United States. Cannot stress that enough. A free inside look at company reviews and salaries posted anonymously by employees. (6.) It is one of the nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the office See more. Extracted financial data is not available for this tax period, but Form 990 documents are available for download. These audits are copied from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse. Lindas leadership has also significantly strengthened LIRS financially to ensure sustainability through challenging times. The second is from employee [ALSO REDACTED] who was found in June 2017 to be improperly using the credit background check system on the travel loans unit to run personal checks on friends and family. Keep in mind that this is a small organization with less than 100 employees! By 2017, the complaints escalated to the point where an outside investigation was initiated. Program Specialist for Pre-Arrival. -Working for an organization that assists the world's most vulnerable people -Mission-driven leadership -Supportive leadership team and colleagues -Teamwork is a driving force behind our success -Excellent pay, leave and benefits -Keen focus on work-life balance -Hybrid work schedule -Paid holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year's off with pay. Organization helps refugees and has a very noble mission. In partnership with Lutheran congregations and Lutheran social ministry organizations, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has welcomed more than 379,000 refugees to the United States since 1939. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion . But in the meantime, Vignarajah says the need is still great as the children continue to arrive at the southern border. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Lead by a small team that is less qualified then the people they supervise. Job Openings ( 100) Claim This Company. This is direct contradiction to the Code of Federal Regulations which only allows the ICR to be charged on the first $25,000 of each subaward. To oversee this process, LIRS has engaged the services of Kathy Hoskins and Mark Saudek of Baltimore-based Gallagher Evelius & Jones LLP. Organization. LIRS is widely-recognized . The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is funded by the federal government! The investigation team has formed. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Linda Hartke is out as CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, three months after Breitbart News first reportedon an internal investigation into claims of financial irregularities and harassment at the embattled non-profit under her leadership. Database Administrator Job in Baltimore, MD. Connect to CRM . We work with thousands of refugees and immigrants each year to help them rise above their challenges, build upon the strength and courage that got them here, and support their hopes to become vital contributors to our communities. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) 110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 506-507 Washington, DC 20002. The balance of the revenue comes through charitable donations as an IRS authorized 501c3 organization from individuals, corporations and foundations, as well as Lutheran church body support, the source says. For over 80 years, Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service has resettled refugees, reunited families & rekindled dreams | Since 1939 Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has worked to create welcoming communities for newcomersimmigrants and refugees who have been forced to leave their homes and begin anew. December 14, 2022. 46 Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service reviews. The purpose of this meeting was to come forth under the protection of the LIaRS Board-approved Whistleblower Policy to report on unethical behavior being practiced by the CEO Hartke in the course of her management and oversight of the organization. On World Refugee Day, 10 Migrant and Refugee Leadership Academy alums joined five ELCA synod bishops in making 40 visits to Members of Congress to ask for higher refugee admissions and increased funding to help refugees make a good start in the United States. Large severance and settlement payouts to avoid public and Board reporting are another problem, the source alleges: LIaRS spends hundreds of thousands per years paying out settlements and severance to departing staff members in exchange for their signatures on release of claims and non-disclosure agreements. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is right for you. This most recent finding resulted in an inquiry dated June 30th from the Office of the Inspector General to the LIaRS Board of Directors seeking a corrective action plan . Overview Jobs Revenue Demographics Competitors CEO & Executives. Given that USG revenue accounts for almost 95 cents of every LIaRS dollar, the only way Hartke could continue to spend on herself and the headquarters is through charging the USG an indirect cost recovery rate on the entire amount of their grants, even though 90 percent of the funds were simply passed through to subawards to the dozens of independent affiliates that actually do the refugee resettlement work (i.e. REFUGEE AND RESETTLEMENT SERVICES. The average employee at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service makes $41,844 per year. I'm only a month in to my position with LIRS, but the onboarding process was especially impressive. ImmigrationPoliticsfederal refugee resettlement programLutheran Immigration and Refugee Servicerefugee resettlement. Bart Day, LIRS Board member and CEO of the Lutheran Church Extension Fund of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod said, I am full of gratitude for Lindas 8 years of leadership at LIRS, during which she instilled an important focus on engaging local congregations and Lutheran leaders. For those interested in acquiring the original data from the source, heres where our data comes from: Enter a nonprofit's name, a keyword, or city, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits. But they knew, even as two people, they could do something. Challenging work -- a lot of trauma but very rewarding to be able to help. Heck, I won't be able to retire unless the media (and even people like Beck who fancies himself a great investigator) make that fact known! Senior Specialist, Corporate Communications, Get started with your Free Employer Profile, LIRS is dedicated to both its mission and its employees. $54k-65k yearly est. I would love to hear more about that. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization management. The IRS Form 990 is an annual information return that most organizations claiming federal tax-exempt status must file yearly. It is nationally recognized for its leadership advocating with refugees, asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, immigrants in detention, families fractured by migration and other vulnerable populations. The employee was permitted to travel monthly to visit LIaRS headquarters, staying at the Royal Sonesta Hotel for a week at a time and charging everything from dry cleaning, pistachio nuts, and room service to Federal grants (est. Seeking volunteers to explore ways ST Mark can help LIRS. 16% of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service employees are Hispanic or Latino. Today, Linda Hartke, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), announced her departure from LIRS after eight years of service, LIRS said in a memorandum sent to its donors, Lutheran congregations, and the U.S. government on Tuesday. As an organization, LIRS originates from the response of American Lutherans in 1939 to the needs of Europeans displaced because of World War II,[6] but the roots of the organization reach back to the 1860s when the New York Ministerium and the Pennsylvania Ministerium joined together to help and protect Lutheran immigrants in the US. Both Leonard and Catherina agree, their experience fostering migrant children has been rewarding. Virtually all of LIRSs revenues come from the federal government. The issues related to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIaRS) are widespread but are rooted in the main areas of financial mismanagement and the incompetence of leadership, a source familiar with the operations of the refugee resettlement industry told Breitbart News in November, adding that seven key areas were the focus of the internal investigation: Financial Mismanagement Under President Trump, annual refugee resettlement has dropped from 84,995 in President Obamas last full year (FY 2016) to slightly over 53,000 in FY 2017 to a presidential determination of a ceiling of 45,000 in the current fiscal year, FY 2018, which began on October 1. Get to help refugees and immigrants reach the American Dream alongside dedicated team members. Already their two largest church body supporters, ELCA and LCMS [Lutheran Church Missouri Synod], have cut back donor support to LIaRS over concerns with Hartkes leadership. WASHINGTONThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office of Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS) and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), released its report today, entitled Serving Separated and Reunited Families: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward to Promote Family Unity, which documents the work of Catholic and Lutheran agencies who assisted the Administration with . LIRS continues to be a faith-based organization and celebrates strong collaborative relationships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a champion for all uprooted people. The Breitbart News source alleges seven key areasthat the source believes will be investigated by this external firm: In February 2016, senior members of the LIRS staff sent a letter to the Board documenting their complaints over Hartkes leadership style. U.S. State Department, LIRS-ND is staffed with experienced resettlement experts and offers a full array of services for . Sign up to get ProPublicas biggest stories delivered straight to your inbox. The story has many layers including the tens of millions of USG [U.S. federal government] dollars that have been thrown at LIaRS over the past six years, fueling their wasteful spending on headquarters that does nothing more than act as a pass through to the 40-plus independent nonprofits that actually do the resettlement work, the financial mismanagement of those USG funds leading to audit findings and OIG inquiries, and the soap opera drama incompetence of the CEO, who rakes in $293,000/year and is under an investigation by the Board of Directors for a culture of harassment, discrimination, bullying, slander, and even backdating an overdue State of MD tax form, the source tells Breitbart News.