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On paid leave, Northwest Youth Services CEO launches GoFundMe for help moving home to WV

Proposed trip includes stops in CA, AZ, TX, LA, MS, NC and FL

Northwest Youth Services Executive Director Jason McGill sits at his desk in November 2023 in Bellingham. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News)
By Isaac Stone Simonelli Enterprise/Investigations Reporter

Northwest Youth Services CEO Jason McGill, who made a six-figure salary at the nonprofit and who is currently on paid leave, launched a GoFundMe Sept. 23 to help fund his trip as he returns to his hometown.

McGill said he decided to launch the fundraiser because he won’t have a job when he returns home to Martinsburg, West Virginia, and he needs to preserve his savings while looking for work.

“Being that I embrace mutual aid practices, I am now in a position that I need a bit more support at the moment,” McGill wrote in an email to Cascadia Daily News. “I don’t come from a wealthy family who can support me. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Being black in America is hard.”

[ Read more: Bellingham nonprofit CEO called himself a ‘love warrior.’ But former workers allege culture of fear, retaliation ]

McGill, who was earning a compensation package of $168,000 a year, which included a salary of $125,000 at the nonprofit, listed a proposed route home that included sweeping down through California before cutting across Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, then turning north toward West Virginia.

While a direct route to Martinsburg is nearly 2,800 miles, McGill’s route, which he is asking members of the community to help fund, is closer to 4,600 miles.

Jason McGill, on paid leave from his position as CEO of Northwest Youth Services, launched a GoFundMe to pay for his move back to West Virginia. Left: The route proposed in the description of the fundraiser. Right: The most efficient route according to Google Maps.

McGill’s sudden resignation from the nonprofit founded to combat youth homelessness in the region was announced on Sept. 17. He told CDN by email that his biological father had lost his battle against cancer the month before, and he needed to return to support his mother.

On Sept. 26, NWYS’s Board of Directors announced they put him on paid leave, citing “concerns” and promising an investigation into McGill. The board, however, has failed to answer CDN questions about the trigger for the inquiry.

A screenshot of a fundraiser for Jason McGill, who is on paid leave from Northwest Youth Services. The GoFundMe is attempting to raise $3,000 to fund his move back to West Virginia.

The nonprofit leader was hired on as the executive director but later rebranded himself as the CEO.


“I’m proud and grateful to have had the opportunity to earn that wage in my lifetime — considering I came from poverty,” McGill wrote to CDN when asked about his compensation and the GoFundMe drive. “I’m sure pay equity will not be a privilege for me in the future.”

He went on to discuss the issue of pay disparity for Black and brown leaders of nonprofits when compared to their white counterparts. He noted that he “was one of the lowest paid CEOs and I was the only Black/Gay Executive in the community” when he first started at NWYS.

Interim executive director Dean Wight received $82,165 in compensation in 2020, according to paperwork the nonprofit filed with the IRS. McGill was hired on for roughly the same amount in 2021. He received a significant raise in 2022, with reportable income going up to $101,000, and raised again in 2023.

At the time of writing, the fund — seeking to raise $3,000 for the trip — was at $655. Top donors include Dean Shelton, Carrie Blackwood and Kirsten Barron.

Reporter Annie Todd contributed to this story.

Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.

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