I just sent the following letter of resignation. I did not want to quit now, nor is it an opportune time. I have approximately 4-5 months of savings. Considering the project I must implement will take 3-5 months — and will provide me with no income even after it is finished — I am pretty much parachuting without a net. Weeeeeeeee.
Dear Redacted,
Unfortunately, fundraising at the derivative of the non-profit organization that I started has been declining sharply. In the past few months, the amount raised is far lower than we require. This stagnation may be a reflection of some progress made or cyclical constituent fatigue. In either case, given the general state of funding for rare diseases right now, it threatens to arrest research progress that I am hoping will translate into improved clinical outcomes…soon.
While I happily shifted responsibility onto the willing members of the Chordoma Foundation and folded my established organization into their nascent one a few years ago, I believe I have to shoulder some of the burden again. Last year, I wrote an application that would serve small organizations with highly-motivated potential beneficiaries. It worked very well initially. However, due to mistakes in the design that were entirely my own, it has soured some of the fund-raisers and needs to be corrected. I have been trying to do a rewrite after work each day, but the context switching is proving to be an obstacle. Half of my time is spent recalling work I have already done. Consequently, I have been sacrificing good-practices in order to churn something out. I produced a mediocre product last year; I cannot afford to do so again. A high-quality, distributable product will require a full-time effort for 3-4 months.
While it was my intention to remain at Redacted in my current capacity while pursuing a PH.D in experimental economics hopefully starting next fall (more precisely, experimental economics with a strong focus on agent-based simulations), this does not seem to be an option anymore. I thoroughly enjoy Redacted, but I reluctantly must resign.
I will stay on until a suitable replacement can be found.
Sincerely,
John B Nelson
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