I worked for the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys Council, whom doesn't have their own Glassdoor account for me to actually write a review on, which could be telling already, but I will be speaking on my experience specific to that council.
There is a very hierarchical and white supremacy culture at GSRV. As a BIPOC staff member, we are tokenized for the diversity that we bring, but don't actually get listened to all that often. There are micro-aggressions weekly, though they pride themselves in DEI work and being anti-racist. GSRV is another non-profit organization that just slaps that label on without doing the work from within. Programs for Girl Scouts of color are very other'd, and although that may be a good thing in some ways, they don't end up getting the same opportunities (scholarships, awards, etc).
Just to give you a timeline, the next three incidents all happened within five months of each other.
A seasonal Director exempt position opportunity came up within the organization, and "leadership" asked if I was interested. I was a little skeptical as it was going to be a huge jump in life transitions, but I was interested and told them that I wanted to know more information. After weeks of meetings to learn more about the position--remember, a seasonal DIRECTOR position--it was offered to me at only ~<41k (prorated for that season, then back to program coordinator salary). That's only a $3K jump from my ~<38K as a non-exempt Program Coordinator!! I asked for more, since I would be working a lot more hours, and would be in charge of paid staff members in the offered position. In return, I was asked what my qualifications were for the position to be asking for a higher salary (they offered it to me?!). "Leadership" also then clarified that it was a seasonal Associate Director position.. I declined, obviously, due to feeling disrespected from the offer. When I did so, I was gaslit and blamed for the possibility of having to cancel programs if the position didn't fill. This severed my work relationships with "leadership," which left me uncomfortable since they managed me! When trying to resolve this incident, "leadership" suggested that I had more 1-1 check ins with her to rekindle the relationship. I declined and demanded there be actual change before I could start to rekindle anything.
HR was reviewing everyone's salaries, and bumped everyone up to a certain percentage due to inflation, depending on their position's tiers. During this process, staff members realized that people who had been working here for 4+ years, were making the same (some, less), than people who had only been here a year. All the while, new job listings and new employees coming in, were started at the same amount that current employees were at, not minding the 1-4+ years of experiences in our positions. We pushed back, but nothing was done about this. We also wanted clarification on what caused the positions to be put in specific tiers, as some of us felt like our positions required a lot more work than others, but we were in the same tiers. We never got a clear answer from HR. My supervisor was also confused about this.
I lost three people all within the span of three months, including my own father. Due to this, I had to take time off for bereavement for each death. Between these deaths, I was also encouraged to take PTO, to try to grieve and recharge. My supervisor was always encouraging, and told me to take it slow and do what I could at work. Even with that, I didn't feel 100%, so I decided to apply for FMLA. In the middle of the application process, HR and "leadership" (same "leadership" that offered me the seasonal director position) unexpectedly gave me a warning due to the high case load that I had. When asking them if they had considered what had happened in my life in the last three months, they said that they're not penalizing me for taking time off for bereavement or PTO, as that was my right, but they were penalizing me for my high case load. As if my time off didn't affect my case load...
That is ultimately why I left Girl Scouts River Valleys, but I should've left a long time ago. Don't get me wrong, I loved the work, but on top of the usual non-profit culture of being overworked and underpaid, "leadership" did not lead, they demanded, gaslit, and blamed. While the employees at the forefront did the work, "leadership" got the credit. It's bad for the employees at the forefront, and especially bad for the BIPOC employees also having to bite our tongues and dwindle ourselves down to be palatable. So run, run as far away as you can. And yes, run by majority white women.
