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      Gates Foundation

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      Gates Foundation reviews

      3.7

      63% would recommend to a friend

      (561 total reviews)
      avatar

      Mark Suzman

      81% approve of CEO

      70% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Gates Foundation has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 561 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Gates Foundation employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Nonprofit & NGO industry (3.7 stars).

      Reviews by job title

      561 reviews
      1.0
      Sep 13, 2016

      Zero

      Program coordinator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Endless resources Pay grade for Seattle is high (but low compared to other major cities)

      Cons

      Unbelievably cold culture mixed with arrogant white savior syndrome. The constipated Seattle vibe is fully showcased here. Zero joy, zero camaraderie, zero team spirit. It's nothing like any nonprofit I've ever worked for before or since. Everyone walks around insisting that all the good work they're doing is worth the overwhelming sense of despair they feel. All that "good work" is basically about giving for-profit corporations backdoor access to developing or underserved markets with zero civic oversight or transparency. There is zero career growth or training. I saw qualified internal employees who had been there for over 5 years in the same low level admin positions apply for positions and get turned down again and again. Every three months someone would quit. Positions would sit unfilled for 6 months or more. Just as soon as someone would be hired, two more people would quit. The average tenure of anyone there was 1-2 years. Can you imagine starting a job where most people were almost as new as you are?

      avatar
      Gates Foundation Response
      9y
      Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughtful feedback with us. The leadership is focusing on career growth and opportunities as part of the work around our culture. If you'd like to share more information with me directly, please don't hesitate to email me at pam.yanchik@gatesfoundation. org and we can set up a call.
      3.0
      May 7, 2016

      Inspiring mission, too bogged down in internal politics

      Program officer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      The pay and benefits are amazing, and the mission is inspiring. In my experience I've been able to professionally develop and advance within the organization, although I agree with other reviews that these opportunities can be highly dependent on supportive teams and managers. Representing the foundation you get to be a part of many high-level conversations at the global level and benefit from working with partners who are at the forefront of the field in both research and implementation.

      Cons

      The work environment is very politically charged and it is easy to get bogged down in internal churn. I don't know if it is typical for this size of an organization, but the number of reorgs seems unnecessary and a huge barrier for getting work done. It's also tough for morale when smart and effective people are getting laid off and people who are good at upward politics but seem to care less about the actual work are recognized and promoted.

      avatar
      Gates Foundation Response
      9y
      Thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback. It sounds like you've had many positive experiences representing the foundation. As you know we are working hard on the culture and on identifying expected behaviors of leaders in making improvements to the internal politics that many of our team experience. Please keep making a difference with your work. It is very much appreciated.
      3.0
      Jul 1, 2015

      Programmatic role

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Strong benefits (12 weeks maternity/paternity leave + ability to add vacation, low co-pay, wide coverage); compensation is average and uneven but decent enough; nice campus; many learning opportunities and ability to be creative and risk-taking about solving big problems; great colleagues; options to work remotely with flexible hours

      Cons

      Meeting heavy; poor management (indecisive, churning around ideas without concrete actions; bullying behavior goes unaddressed); little investment in staff and little career growth with some teams having an outright "no promotions" policy; little value for institutional knowledge but without strong IT-related knowledge management systems so a lot of information walks out the door when staff/consultants leave; constant focus on strategy refreshes/reviews which pull staff from primary work; unsupportive HR (or rather HR is clearly there to protect the company rather than the staff); at the moment, there has been a crack-down on hiring consultants--that combined with a lean staffing model and too few junior staff, burn out is high and quality is going down as employees are stretched beyond capacity and can't devote enought time to any one thing; highly stressful environment; great values on paper but they don't translate toward staff

      Viewing 37 - 39 of 561 Reviews
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      ReviewsGates Foundation reviews

      Glassdoor has 699 Gates Foundation reviews submitted anonymously by Gates Foundation employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Gates Foundation is right for you.