Pew Charitable Trusts Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts full-time

Pros – Pew's benefit package is generous to most, its reputation for solid, nonpartisan work is strong, and its intended mission is admirable.

Cons – Working at Pew, from an operations standpoint, is a challenging experience. Process and politics often get in the way of - and frequently dismantle - its mission. There has been a incredible growth spurt in the last five years, and as a result, new management hires often lack the historical knowledge (and the humility) to properly or efficiently do their jobs. Arranging and attending meetings now seems to be the marker of progress, rather than actual results; and advanced degrees stand in poor substitute for real effectiveness and business intelligence. High turnover and numerous layoffs have crippled Pew's attempts to get back on track operationally after implementing an organization-wide system (ill-designed to manage Pew's business from the start).

Ultimately, it seems Pew has lost sight of the values of its founders. Its high-profile work, while laudable, has completely overshadowed the smaller, community-based grantmaking programs, and racks up excessive administrative expenses while doing so. There is a constant refrain from the CEO about Pew employees being "good stewards," but practice doesn't quite align with the preaching. And while growing pains are to be anticipated when an organization experiences the kind of expansion Pew has in the last 5 years, it's also not unreasonable to expect that a employer of this size and scope would plan intelligently and effectively for it, focusing on *both* the success of its programs *and* the satisfaction of its employees. For all of its prized research, Pew should know that happy employees make for effective organizations.

Advice to Senior Management – Practice what you preach, and start by preaching the truth to your employees.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Pew Charitable Trusts for more than a year

Pros – Fantastic benefits and really interesting work. The people are great and if you want to work in a non-profit without taking the risk that the place will fold, this is the place.

Cons – Pew has grown very rapidly and the systems show it. Budget systems have now improved, communications and approvals for reports have been streamlined, but the contracting process is still slow and cumbersome. There's still no real internal communications function so the junior staff can be gossipy and cliquey.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep fixing processes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Pew Charitable Trusts full-time for more than a year

Pros – Benefits; Working for a prestigious name

Cons – I couldn't agree more with the other reviews here. Pew hires smart, driven people. I was lured away from another DC non-profit. Biggest mistake in my career track.
Pew is obsessed with optics and not interested in actually doing any substantive work. It is a pity since they have enormous resources and could really make a contribution if they want.
Politics and paranoia is rife. Decision-making is arbitrary and there are no set processes for anything. In my time there I never went through a different process each time I needed something approved because it kept changing. It is maddening. The organization is top-heavy and managers do more editing and "fact" checking than any original work. Get used to meetings for everything and meeting multiple times for even the most mundane issues. There is the unwritten code of conduct which folks are only too happy to tell you about (no closed shoes, number of plants allowed etc.). I was prepared for the bureau"crazy" but was frustrated with the lack of direction and/or leadership.
Pew hires smart folks and then suffocates them by not letting them do real work.
The sheen of Pew wears off really fast.

Advice to Senior Management – The word is out on the street , so shape up or risk tarnishing your brand.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The benefits are good. Most of the staff are very smart and dedicated to their work.

Cons – Within the department, top management is obsessed with perfection, to the point that staff are paralyzed. The requirement to get internal communication approved by an upper-level manager creates a substantial bottleneck - drafting, editing, rewriting, waiting for comments, starting over. Substantive work (such as research) has to wait in the same long line to get approval, which usually takes months. Upper-level managers do not set project priorities, instead telling staff they need to figure it out themselves. Every few months, some big new direction is announced and then usually dropped without telling staff - but only after we've spent a lot of effort pursuing the new direction. Upper-level managers do not admit to mistakes or misfires, so there is no opportunity to learn from our experience.

Advice to Senior Management – Set priorities! Hire second-tier managers to whom you can delegate some authority for approval. Articulate your expectations and then stick with them so that staff will have a chance of producing something you can go along with.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great reputation and great issues. Employee pay and benefits are the near the best for non-profits. . Smart, motivated and hardworking colleagues that are often the best in their field. A great resume builder. Nice offices and location in DC.

Cons – Micromanagement from the CEO has created a ridiculously broken and beurocratic approval system for everything including the most trivial issues. There is no dedication to support employees long term. Most employees feel like their position could be cut at any moment. Turn over is ridiculously high. The best and brightest in their fields are not given the responsibility to make decisions.

Advice to Senior Management – The board needs a world-wide search to find a CEO that will give the employees the opportunity to do their jobs. When they do, they will meet their goal of changing the world in their chosen issue areas.

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts

Pros – Salary and benefits are near the top of the scale for nonprofits. Through its reputation and bankroll, Pew can draw some of the best, and it was a pleasure to work with so many smart, driven, accomplished people.

Cons – The CEO is a brilliant person whose management style is an absolute mismatch for the organization she's grown. Micromanagement and autocracy-by-fear are the rule -- other reviewers here are spot-on. She has a palace guard that's populated by sycophants and a couple of sociopaths. Pew still gets some great things done in spite of it all, but it's a shame that it can't reach a higher level. The only thing in Pew's way is Pew. I saw people reprimanded for winning outside awards for their work, and the approval process for legal/personnel/communications documents is awful. The recent top-to-bottom communications review hasn't solved problems, and may have actually made some worse.

Advice to Senior Management – Step aside, Rebecca, before you dismantle all the good things you've built. Pray that your Board never reads all the employee reviews posted here. Don't order people to go home if they're wearing the wrong style shoes (really). And be ready for the book or magazine exposé that someone's eventually going to write.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts

Pros – The chance to work with experts in their fields. Very good benefits.

Cons – Lots of process. Often, not efficient.

Advice to Senior Management – Need to incorporate business plans into front end of new project development.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Pew Charitable Trusts

Pros – Great benefits, competitive salary. People are nice enough.

Cons – No opportunity for advancement, absolutely no privacy, a culture of fear and hypocritical treatment of employees. For example, they spend oodles on a health policy group, but don't let employees take the stairs. Design of the building is atrocious. All white and glass. No doors and no walls that aren't glass. People on top of each other all day, every day. Embarrassing when you're trying to make professional phone calls and there is a group of people talking/laughing behind you or in front of you. Impossible to focus - makes no sense why they'd pay people like me to think when they put us in an environment contraindicated for such an endeavor.

Advice to Senior Management – Redesign the building layout with job functions in mind.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Pew Charitable Trusts

Pros – The benefits are excellent and the paid time off policy is really generous (if your boss doesn't guilt you into not taking it). The employees are smart and motivated plus the location is the best in town.

Cons – The CEO doesn't trust anyone and she micromanages every aspect of the organization. Never in your life will you hear the name of a CEO mentioned so much in day-to-day conversation regarding small matters that should never make it up to the CEO's office-- "Rebecca doesn't like for employees to put their sweaters on the back of their chairs". She runs every aspect of the organization. It's like the old tv shows when someone goes to a small town and one person is everything in that town and puts on a different hat to depict different roles--one hat at the gas station, another hat when taking your bags at the hotel, then a different hat at the diner. Well, the CEO should probably just fire everyone and do everything in the organization since that is what she does anyway. The DC office is completely white (white walls, white desks, and even the floors are a shade of white). Plus all of the conference rooms are glass and it's as though you're in a fish bowl whenever you're in a meeting. It's very distracting when people walk by and makes it difficult to concentrate on the topic at hand. Everyone feels fortunate to join such a distinguished organization, but it doesn't take long to feel as though you've made the biggest mistake of your career. If you stay too long you will lose your ability to make decisions.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't create a bunch of new positions only to get rid of them a few months later. When you hire smart people let them use their intelligence to benefit the organization. Leading my fear will only lead to resentment and an unhappy staff.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Pew Charitable Trusts

Pros – PCT tries very hard to run itself like a business, as opposed to a nonprofit, and one can learn many practices more associated with private firms, like a disciplined approach to investment and brand risk management. PCT is very well funded relative to peers, and once a project goes through the long and grinding approval process, funds flow. Provided an expense is justified and consistent with the goals of the project and the mission of PCT, one is very likely to be able to spend freely on research and advocacy tools on a scale that is unmatched. It is a very female-friendly work environment.

Cons – The CEO has and wields an extraordinary amount of power. She requires her approval on a vast amount of PCT business, and this slows the pace of work and is extremely expensive (though a hidden cost). When decisions are made at the top they often appear arbitrary and capricious; things that were OK for one group, project, or person are not OK for another, and explanations are rarely offered. Reorganizations are ubiquitous. Strict dress code (what is a sweater set?). She approves all promotions (even internal hires from one position to another that constitute a promotion) and they will not be considered until someone has been there for two years or maybe three years…except in those cases when she grants them for someone who hasn’t been there two (or three) years. Big Brother could learn something about brand management from PCT; it is very likely the CEO will read this post, for example. Fear of failure dominates the desire for success as the chief motivator (I am fearful right now, for example). Trust is absent. Taken together, it is difficult to say that senior management put the employees in a position to actually succeed, although everyone is well positioned to appear as if they succeeded.

Advice to Senior Management – Train your people. Trust your people.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend