Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society full-time for more than a year

Pros – Fantastic mission, work with some real angels (both staff and volunteers), opportunity to help people on the client services side. Team in Training helps you stay in shape. Local volunteers are amazing. Learned a fair amount about fundraising and volunteer management (what to do) and local board management (what NOT to do) that helped me in subsequent job.

Cons – Failure on the part of HQ management to respect local boards and staff. Insistence on adherence to McFundraising models. Excessive politics in White Plains. Tendency to view the chapters as nothing more than ATMs. Disrespect for faith-motivated individuals. The chapter executive director position, stuck between local board and inflexible field management, is often untenable. Sadness from losing clients to these horrible diseases.

Advice to Senior Management – Push more autonomy and authority to the chapters, provided they are hitting their numbers.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society full-time for more than a year

Pros – Mission is prominent in your everyday work, the cause really support local patients, finding cures and helping, volunteers are dedicated and motivated to help

Cons – Internal issues with upper management make it very hard for staff to be successful, those who work closely within the organization know how inappropriate the things that are happening in the office are, double standards and guilt are utilized often to try to get results

Advice to Senior Management – Take a look at the upper management and really "see" what type of environment you are breeding.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – Good benefits, flexible, good networking if you work for a major fundraising campaign. If you want a job where you are not behind a desk and get to network with a lot of different people this is good for you.

Cons – This is one of the most mismanaged, low strategy, unrealistic, disrespectful, confused, deluded places I have ever worked. Things are getting better but very slowly. The turnover is HUGE, the management is poor, the culture is unprofessional. Long hours, low pay. HR is awful and not on your side. They let people "go" wontonly. Unethical.

Advice to Senior Management – Manage chapters better, treat employees better, offer 360 degree evaluations, strategize, have HR representation in each chapter, offer real, valuable training.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – Excellent salary compared to other non-profits.
Decent benefits.
Organization does benefit cancer patients through financial assistance and education.

Cons – Little opportunity for growth or raises.
Upper management is blind to how dissatisfied the staff is.
Poor managers mean that jobs remain stagnant and uninteresting.
Cut-throat and corporate-like environment where ideas are stolen.
Poor communication within departments, let alone between departments.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to employees and take suggestions seriously. This was probably the worst place I have ever worked due to poor management, and lack of improving employee environment. Requests were denied or ignored and my career suffered. It would have been much better if management of people and projects were fairer and took account of employees' desired growth and success, not just the bottom line.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – great salary and perks. Plenty of free goodies

Cons – CEO has internet scandal. National Management refused to address. Made fund raising very difficult

Advice to Senior Management – replace CEO

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – The best reason to work for LLS is that you'll get a chance to work with wonderful patients and their families as well as amazing donors/fundraisers. I also loved most of my coworkers - we formed deep bonds from being in so many good and bad situations, and for LONG hours. In the end, I'm glad that I was able to make a difference in the lives of our patients.

Cons – Senior staff in the Bay Area offices are not at all connected with the Campaign Managers or anyone at a lower level, so they have absolutely no idea how much time and effort we put into our jobs. There were times when I worked 20-25 days in a row...then when I asked to take a day off, the answer was no.

But, by far, the worst part of working for LLS is losing patients to cancer...especially when those patients have become friends.

Advice to Senior Management – Senior Management in NY needs to pay closer attention to the feedback from the "on the ground" staff in the chapter offices. Unfortunately, the senior staff in a given chapter office are usually adept at "snowing" the senior management from the home office.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – Flexibility with time off, autonomy.

Cons – Salary at 40% less than comparable non-profits. Very few opportunities, and no method to promoting, etc. The donor dollars are spent horribly, as I see absolutely no business management sense.

Advice to Senior Management – VALUE current employees. When someone surpasses the amount expected to raise, they deserve compensation- as with any other company. Fundraising is sales- only, we have no product. We are "selling" hope, and in any other industry, this would be praised.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – Their mission is excellent and moving and their expenses are kept to a reasonable minimum.

Cons – Extremely poor and inequitable treatment for performers. Favoritism and popularity are more highly prized by mid and upper management, rather than work ethic or results.

Advice to Senior Management – Shed some of the superficial sorority girls/women from your ranks and place a greater value on substance from those genuinely committed to the cause.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Pros – Nationally LLS does a phenomenal job of helping individuals with Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma. Their Team In Training program provides a win-win situation for both the Society and the Athlete.

Cons – When issues occur their tends to be a failure to examine the whole picture. There is an air of favoritism and an atmosphere where gossip is taken as fact than getting to the truth of the matter.

Advice to Senior Management – Take some time to talk to those out in the field and doing the day to day work of LLS. Do your homework on situations before taking action.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend