The mission is real. The people are extraordinary. The governance is a recurring surprise.
Pros
- The mission is genuinely compelling. - Frontline staff, volunteers, and managers perform miracles with limited resources. - You will meet some of the most dedicated people you may ever encounter in your career. - Excellent place to develop skills in: change management, risk management, stakeholder management, emotional regulation, and archaeology; you will spend a surprising amount of time conducting excavations to determine why something exists and who promised it to a donor in 2018.
Cons
- HQ Culture: Imagine watching a group of people dismantle an airplane while simultaneously debating the best paint color for the replacement aircraft. - Leadership: Frequently expresses a desire for innovation, and has addressed this challenge through repeated reductions in operational capacity and institutional knowledge. - Talent Strategy: The organization appears committed to transforming itself into a modern, agile nonprofit while drawing heavily from leadership talent pools whose formative experience was gained in organizations that were not required to be either modern or agile. - Technology: Several systems are simultaneously mission critical, underfunded, being replaced, not being replaced, going away, and required forever. The status depends on which meeting you attended. - Operational Strategy: Announcements, initiatives, and reorganizations arrive with impressive speed. The supporting operational plans occasionally arrive later.