Great organization, solid practices
Pros
LLS is a strong fundraising organization with clear roles, good direction provided by the national office, and a collaborative team. The organization overall is well respected and makes excellent use of donor dollars. As a team member, I felt valued and was able to maintain a good work/life balance, with clear opportunities and paths for growth. Every chapter is different, and I know there has been significant restructuring there since 2020, but overall the org has a strong culture and generally good fundraising practices.
Cons
At the time of my departure, the organization was in the midst of major challenges due to the COVID pandemic, as many non-profits were. I think the greatest challenge for LLS was that it is a heavily event-based fundraising organization, leading to a bigger hit than orgs that rely more heavily on individual gifts and partnerships not based as heavily in event-based marketing. Granted, it's an organization that at one point was raising north of $300M annually, so I think they handled it to the best of their ability. There were at times lots of changes at the top level of the org - strategy shifts, moving to a regional structure then away from a regional structure and back, etc. That caused some challenges but overall I never felt like I worked in an unstable environment.