Pros
An organization that has the potential for enormous positive impact with millions of volunteers across the US. During the first few years, uneven but generally upward trajectory of increasingly progressive values, investment in social justice work, and the recognition that social and environmental justice are intertwined. Decent benefits and pay for a nonprofit, due largely to an excellent union that has pushed the standards up for both represented and non-represented staff, and pushed the organization to live its values in practice and policies. Most of the people there are kind, hard working, and care deeply about what they do.
Cons
Past year and a half, particularly since the new ED came in 2023, there has been backsliding on equity and justice work. The entire equity team was laid off, as was the environmental justice and the internal investigations team (all these teams were majority POC), the latter was responsible for addressing discrimination and harassment complaints. Now it’s not clear who does this. Union has filed labor complaints against management, leadership has stifled all forms of feedback (no more staff zoom calls with comments or speaking from non-leadership allowed, no more employee engagement survey), new leadership has a higher salary than old despite budget issues and layoffs, massive restructures and unexpected job description changes of many staff jobs. I worked there for 5 years and know a lot of staffers in nearly all areas of the org and not a single one—not a single one—feels good about being there right now. If you have strong values for social and environmental justice and/or you’re a person of color, be cautious. The organization has serious budget issues, but new leadership appears to be sacrificing the soul and values of the org in the hopes (or under the guise) of addressing the budget.