No diversity (POC are suffering) - Senior Program Officer Gates Foundation Employee Review

Although the organization publicly champions DEI, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Efforts to diversify often resulted in the overrepresentation of a very specific demographic—white women—while people of color, particularly Black professionals, remained vastly underrepresented, especially in leadership and decision-making roles. Throughout my tenure, I saw talented POC colleagues overlooked for promotions or pushed out entirely, while their work was often absorbed and presented by others—exclusively by white women—without acknowledgment or credit. I personally experienced this erasure, with projects I led being repackaged and presented by others in key meetings, with no recognition of my contribution. The internal culture feels disconnected from the organization’s mission to serve diverse global populations. For a place that prides itself on equity, the internal racial dynamics were surprisingly homogeneous and exclusionary.