Marie C.
All I am asking for is our data
I am the Vice President of the Board of We Are One Recovery (WAOR), a very small Tennessee nonprofit that operated recovery housing. On August 3, 2026, our CEO and Board President was arrested and jailed on serious criminal charges unrelated to WAOR. The Board subsequently terminated his employment and his membership on the Board. As Vice President, I assumed responsibility for the organization and began the process of winding down its operations, including transitioning our clients, satisfying grant requirements, paying outstanding obligations, and dissolving the organization. Shortly afterward, I contacted One Step regarding our account. A One Step representative provided me with instructions for exporting/downloading our organization's information. I subsequently received an email stating that our account would be deactivated and that we would no longer be charged. At no point was it clearly communicated to me that "deactivation" meant that WAOR would permanently lose access to its information or that One Step would no longer permit us to retrieve our organizational records. At the time, I was dealing with an extraordinary family emergency. My mother-in-law subsequently entered hospice and died, while I was also caring for my own mother. As a result, I did not complete the data export before the account was deactivated. Once I was able to return to this issue, I contacted One Step by email and telephone. I even offered to pay for access myself if that was necessary so that WAOR could retrieve its records. Instead, I have been told repeatedly that One Step can no longer provide access to our information. This is extremely concerning because these are WAOR's organizational records, and we need them to complete legitimate nonprofit obligations, including paying outstanding debts, responding to grantors, maintaining necessary records, and properly dissolving the organization. I am not asking One Step to provide information belonging to another customer or to bypass any legitimate security or privacy requirements. I am asking One Step to provide WAOR with access to, or an export of, the data associated with WAOR's own account through an appropriate verification process. I would like One Step to provide a written response addressing the following: 1. Does One Step still possess WAOR's organizational data? 2. If the data still exists, why can One Step not provide WAOR with an export or temporary access to retrieve it? 3. If the data has been deleted, when was it deleted and under what policy or contractual provision? 4. What specifically did One Step mean when it told us that our account was being "deactivated"? 5. Why was permanent loss of access to the organization's records not clearly communicated when we were notified of the deactivation? 6. What process is available for an authorized board officer to verify WAOR's authority and retrieve the organization's records? I am not seeking special treatment. I am asking for a reasonable opportunity for a nonprofit that is shutting down under extraordinarily difficult circumstances to obtain its own organizational records. I have attempted to resolve this directly with One Step's customer service department without receiving a satisfactory resolution.