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The Nature Conservancy

Engaged Employer

Great place to work for highly motivated people - Science Director The Nature Conservancy Employee Review

5.0
Mar 31, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pretty much uniformly, everybody's bottom line at TNC is doing good conservation work, not money or ego or internal politics. That makes it a great place to work and ensures that the time and effort you put in as an individual will be magnified through the teams you intersect with.

Cons

Work:life balance can be an issue. Upper management is aware of this and trying to do something about it. So it's not because a huge workload is necessarily expected of everybody. Instead, it's because TNC is a group of people who can't say no... folks are so mission-driven that they take on too much. Formalized prioritization of goals/objectives/work is needed (from org-wide, which is happening, to the individual level, which still needs to happen), with an expectation of offloading work that is lower priority. Much easier said than done!

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The Nature Conservancy Response
4y
Thank you for your thoughtful and balanced review. We’re so happy to hear that you know your time and effort are valued. We appreciate the value you see in our priority to support a positive work-life balance. We’ll continue to provide resources to support this, and leadership is working to intentionally review our priorities and projects. We look forward to hearing how you feel about the progress in this area, and thanks again for your feedback.

Explore other reviews about The Nature Conservancy

5.0
Jul 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Rewarding work, amazing people, beautiful sights, lots of free food

Cons

Long hard days, sweaty, tough if you have a family.

2.0
Jul 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent benefits and access to programs, resources, and employee support that are often more comprehensive than what is available at smaller nonprofits.

Cons

There is a culture of sweeping problems under the rug to manage perceptions and avoid accountability. Many employees recognize that raising concerns about structural issues is unlikely to lead to meaningful change, which discourages people from speaking up. Managers and directors have incentives to protect their own interests rather than escalate serious problems, particularly when those issues reflect on their own leadership. In turn, senior leaders may be reluctant to address those management failures because they were responsible for hiring or promoting those managers in the first place. This creates a cycle where accountability is consistently avoided, allowing organizational dysfunction to persist. Recent restructuring decisions are a good example of these broader issues. During the North American marketing reorganization, some less qualified directors and managers were placed directly into their roles, while others were required to interview for essentially equivalent positions. Criteria such as geographic constraints were applied inconsistently across comparable roles, leaving employees with the impression that the process was neither transparent nor equitable. The resulting uncertainty and perceived unfairness have contributed to low morale, resentment, and reduced trust in leadership. Because they specialize in communications, marketing team members are especially skilled at framing or explaining away problems in ways that minimize their visibility to senior leadership, including the CMO. As a result, underlying issues often remain unaddressed until they become much larger problems.

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