Good experience for self-starters - Grants Management Specialist Inter-American Foundation Employee Review

The IAF has a truly inspirational mission (to fund and support community-led development throughout Latin America and the Caribbean that's making real, long-term, positive changes). That mission attracts talented, good-hearted, humble, hard-working professionals. The team (and the mission and model that motivate them) is the IAF's greatest strength. For many staff members, working at the IAF gives them the sensation of "finding their people." Even with some turnover, that has remained consistent over my time with the agency: new staff members are as smart and delightful as the ones we've lost. Because the team is small, there's a lot of scope for learning new skills, trying new things, and performing a range of activities that might fall to different staff members in a larger agency. In many roles, you can pursue your own interests. The agency takes individual learning and development seriously and encourages us to get training every year. One of the central elements of organizational culture is "being propositional": the agency values proactivity highly. While it's still a federal government agency and there is an organizational hierarchy and clearance process, it is possible to get your ideas carried out even from a more junior position within the agency. Most agency staff seem to have a good work-life balance. There's not a lot of redundancy, so there are definitely moments when you have to work a night or weekend if a situation arises that's demanding for your specific role. But that has been very occasional for me, and the agency emphasizes taking our allotted annual leave, sick leave, and otherwise caring for ourselves as professionals to prevent burnout.

A major downside of working at the IAF is that, as a small agency with limited leadership positions open, opportunities to grow or gain seniority are very limited. Agency directors are aware of this issue and are actively seeking to provide opportunities for people "stuck" in lower-level positions to gain leadership experience by running cross-office committees and initiatives. However, for many junior people, to take the next step up in their career, they will eventually have to leave the agency, even if they would prefer to stay for all of the positive aspects described above. While the agency sometimes promotes from within, it takes open competition seriously. I've seen several bright, talented people who wanted to grow within the agency have to continue their career paths elsewhere. I think that as long as junior-level applicants know about this challenge going into the agency, they can still have an excellent formative experience with the IAF for a few years.

Opportunities to engage with grassroots communities, grantees in LAC region. Staff are committed, mission driven, talented development professionals with vast institutional knowledge.

Toxicity, hostility, bullying + intimidation of staff (especially women) by management go unaddressed. Mega micromanaging of fully capable professionals. CEO often refuses to engage when ideas are not in lockstep with her own. Top-down, heavy handed decision making processes. Caste-like hierarchy system. Zero growth potential for junior staff. Vacancies intentionally not backfilled by front office. Folks resigning left and right, creating overworked staff and obliterating morale.