Disconnected/Nonprofit Industrial Complex/Internal Problems
Pros
Salary and benefits are extraordinary for a nonprofit. Work/Life Balance is really important to FA. They pay interns. There are some really incredible, smart, capable, driven, conscious people who work at Feeding America. I was so inspired by some of my coworkers and the intentionality they had in the work they do. I learned so much more from lower staff who have such an expertise and view of hunger. Their support of the Feeding America network is satisfactory. They do push resources to them and do a great job in compliance, helping food banks stay reputable, safe organizations. Some of the food banks are doing really incredibly innovative things that is way ahead of the national office. There are some rockstars in the network who have such a pulse on what it takes to end hunger.
Cons
I have 6. 1. It's unsettling that when Diana Aviv left, Feeding America released communications misleading the public on why she left. Their communications team only cares about two things: preserving the FA brand and raising money. Just look at all the videos they're producing. They're purposely pulling on heartstrings to raise money and exploiting people's stories rather than seeing people experiencing hunger as leaders and change agents. It causes distrust and I hope people hold them accountable for it. 2. FA is constantly in strategic planning mode. The amount of time and money wasted on never developing an actual strategic plan is baffling. 3. HR protects middle management employees who treat lower level staff poorly. They allow Executive Team favorites to directly hire friends as contractors, let managers threaten employees to the point of breakdowns, and have different sets of rules than the rest of the office. It causes mission drift and an unhealthy workplace. 4. There's a heavy disconnect between FA, the network and the people they serve. They promote volunteer opportunities, but a lot of employees work at FA because they enjoy the charity work and it makes them feel good. There's only a rare group of folks who can speak to the effects of hunger through a social equity lens. 5. The general culture is unhealthy. Annual reviews and promotions are based on opinion (HR will state that someone's not long enough in their career for a promotion or that it was too soon since their last promotion even if an employee is doing outstanding work). The communications team refuses to promote people and recently saw an exodus of extremely capable staff because of it. There's no management training. There's a culture of leadership taking notes on staff and reporting to managers rather than providing direct feedback. Previous reviews about letting higher management collect big paychecks is true. 6. FA does not make a large enough effort to work directly with people experiencing hunger to drive its mission. There were coffee talks with Diana Aviv, occasional videos shown of stories of people experiencing hunger, and a panel or two at a conference - but FA doesn't work with people or make more of an effort to include folks. Just look at the board. It's mainly older white men. When I was leaving, their initiative on ending hunger was offensive. They'd rather spend tons of money investing in teaching families better financial management skills than putting money into systemic and societal causes for hunger. Another example is how much they're praising their food waste work. It's wonderful, but what kind of message is that sending to people who are hungry, that FA would rather focus their efforts on a supply chain issue that helps the bottom line of food companies than making sure people experiencing hunger don't need that food?
