First of all, the office I worked at changed mid-summer from PIRG to Environment America while retaining the same staff, in undoubtedly some halfhearted attempt to flee accountability for unethical labor practices. A number of the negative reviews have already gone into detail on what's so bad about this place, so I'll keep it brief. This job sucks in young college students desperate for work and spits them out just as quickly, leaving them with a negative impression of what nonprofits actually do. Instead of learning in depth about the causes you promote, you end up being too focused on meeting the ridiculous fundraising quota, which is usually around $150 in a day (otherwise you get minimum wage). You have about 3 days to try and make the quota or the directors will fire you. That's right, who cares about raising awareness to climate change when you're not making the higher-ups enough money? And they'll try their hardest to get you fired by sending you to canvass sparsely populated territories or low-income areas where people can't give you much, just to prove how expendable you are, and so they don't have to pay you. It goes without saying you'll be canvassing in any weather --- heat waves, severe storms, or blizzards --- until it's pitch black out, with directors having little to no concern for your safety. This is all quite hypocritical for an organization that calls itself progressive. Factoring in travel costs (which aren't reimbursed btw) I think I lost money working here. Pirg/Environment/whatever you want to call them are still stuck in their old ways using outdated strategies for fundraising. It's the 2010's, why are we still knocking on stranger's doors? If I wanted that kind of job I would have driven for Uber Eats. At least the pay there is guaranteed.
