American Cancer Society – “Fighting cancer one day at a time.”

Pros

You truly feel that the work you do has a direct impact on the organization and the general public who benefit from those services. There is a lot of autonomy within the position and you have the ability to express your ideas and carry them to fruition (so long as they don't exhaust too many resources). The staff at the American Cancer Society are so passionate about what they do and it's that passion that drives projects forward at such a fast pace and make all of the lifesaving research, education, advocacy, and patient services that the organization delivers so valuable.

Cons

Low salary. Very few resources within the organization. Often times you feel like they want you to accomplish everything under the sun, but won't give you the funds to make it happen. The organization's headquarters is so large, trying to do so much, with so many projects that it sometimes drops the ball when transitioning local projects to a national level. There seems to be a lot of push and pull between divisions and the headquarters. Divisions want to work within their own merits and the national headquarters all wants to create similar processes and structure for division which doesn't always work given the differences in demos and divisional cultures.

Advice to Senior Management

Donors want to know where their money is going and ACS has a great track reccord for success. Demonstrate those results at all times, continue to be transparent as an organization and it will serve you well.