employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

The Nature Conservancy

Engaged Employer

Beware Toxic Ghost Culture - Anonymous employee The Nature Conservancy Employee Review

1.0
Jan 13, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Conservation and fundraising staff are some of the best people you'll ever meet.

Cons

If you are attracted to this organization because of its mission and culture, here's a word of caution. The Nature Conservancy is a toxic place to work. Full stop. They have a record of making egregious hiring decisions at the Director/Assistant Director level making the likelihood of you reporting to an unqualified, abusive, gas lighting narcissist shockingly high. This repeated practice has become a culture killer that forces hardworking, mission-minded staff to suffer and leave. As a result, TNC has developed what is fondly referred to as a "ghost culture": a culture that is very different than the make-believe culture the CEO thinks it has. TNC's ghost culture is a direct result of these toxic managers and has a much darker emotional impact on employees. Stay too long and your psychological safety will plummet. You'll be made to feel that you don't bring value to the organization and your confidence will spiral. Your strengths will be diminished and ignored. Your imposter syndrome will become the only voice you hear. You'll forget why you loved this organization in the first place. You'll burn out. And it will not be your fault. HR won't help you. They would sooner see you off than build a healthy work environment for all. Ethics & Compliance can't help you. They have their hands full keeping TNC out of court with sexual harassment and unprofessional conduct allegations. So do yourself a favor and find one of the many amazing environmental non-profits that truly are a great place to work.

avatar
The Nature Conservancy Response
2mo
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We are sorry to hear how difficult your experience was and the challenges you faced. We take the concerns you shared about leadership behavior and psychological safety seriously. Feeling unsupported or unsafe at work is not an experience we want for anyone at TNC and acknowledge the harm those experiences can cause when not addressed appropriately. Creating a positive work environment where people feel valued and heard is very important to us. Please feel free to reach out to us at recruiting@tnc.org. We would like to hear more about your experience so we can better understand these concerns.

Explore other reviews about The Nature Conservancy

5.0
Jun 19, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work, smart, helpful coworkers, room for growth, great benefits.

Cons

No advice at this time!

3.0
Jun 2, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mission is awesome. Great work-life balance.

Cons

Prioritizes comfort over continuous improvement. Very bureaucratic and slow. Incredibly sensitive culture to a point of extremity--don't think you're in a safe space or that you can be open with any communication. Someone will be offended by your honesty and the backlash is yours to manage. They prefer people to just go with the flow even if it's painful, inefficient, etc.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All