"Mushroom Management" - a few work hard while the rest hardly work
Pros
Helping the nonprofit community is very rewarding. This attracts some really hard working and extremely good hearted people. With very little management oversight, it's easy to get into a role that requires very little, if that's what you're looking for.
Cons
Management here is an embarrassment - it's nonexistent. If you like to be recognized and rewarded when you perform, then look elsewhere. If you appreciate any kind of career path or skills development, move along. There is no investment in training staff. If you want the kind of job where you can grow lazy by kissing up, then this place is for you, otherwise be prepared to work hard and feel unappreciated for it. Revenue has been steady for several years, but there is a never ending financial crisis that has lead to no raises this year and <3% raises over the last several years, (at least for the non-executives). Every "all staff" email the CEO writes is completely unintelligible. She thinks she's being "motivating" when she berates people publicly. She provides no real guidance and props up her vice presidents most of whom have achieved little in their many years since she brought them on board. She never understands why no one asks any questions at the "all staff" meetings, but everyone knows that to ask any questions is to be seen as a "trouble maker" and that you're only going to get empty words and no real answers. Her "great idea" was to move the technology R&D team to Corinth, Mississippi and that has proven to be as successful as you might expect. Her assessment that Vice Presidents can be spread all over the country and so long as their teams are in one place, has also proven to be completely ineffectual although it has allowed many people to make SF salaries while they live remotely and all that travel has eaten into whatever budget might have been used on raises. The only thing that keeps this place going is the dedication of a small percentage of hard workers and the constant churn of good people leaving and new people coming on board who have no idea what they are walking into. HR has executed a propaganda drive to post "fake" postings on Glassdoor, so it looks like things have "turned around" if you look on here, but notice how many of the recent positive posts all sound like they came from the same generic author. Funny, huh? That's what the management here calls leadership. It's sad that an organization with such a good mission has such a weak leadership team that is never held to account. Techsoup will continue to survive for a long time so long as their big pocketed donors continue to be satisfied with subpar performance and the few hard workers keep at it because they believe in the good work that they are doing despite the treatment they have to put up with. On a final note, There's no attention paid to racial diversity, especially in the upper ranks of management.
