Sanctuary for Families FAQ

Pros

The people are amazing! Even during mostly virtual operations, there is a great sense of community and supportiveness. Everyone is genuinely devoted to the clients we serve.

Cons

Being a nonprofit, the salaries are lower than might be expected elsewhere, but the benefits are outstanding.

Pros

lots of paid time off, some of your colleagues are very bright and passionate, ability to gain new skills

Cons

In my experience, a supervisor yelled at me and was very disrespectful when brought to their supervisor to intervene they had a meeting where they just defended all of the supervisor's actions, and overall the agency is not very reflective or able to act on staff critique often solely focusing on what they deem as sucesses.

Advice to Management

Listen to Staff and create accountability for staff. Many staff leaves not because they dislike their job but because of issues with management.

Pros

lots of paid time off, some of your colleagues are very bright and passionate, ability to gain new skills

Cons

In my experience, a supervisor yelled at me and was very disrespectful when brought to their supervisor to intervene they had a meeting where they just defended all of the supervisor's actions, and overall the agency is not very reflective or able to act on staff critique often solely focusing on what they deem as sucesses.

Advice to Management

Listen to Staff and create accountability for staff. Many staff leaves not because they dislike their job but because of issues with management.

Pros

My favorite part about working at Sanctuary was knowing how much I was able to offer the clients because I was part of a larger team. Sanctuary has a lot of name recognition in NYC and because of that, I was able to speak directly with people in power to get great results for my clients. Sanctuary has a holistic model. I was always able to get clients in contact with other service providers to help them - like shelter, therapy, support groups, immigration, and housing assistance. While I worked on the legal team at Sanctuary I was able to make a lot of referrals to our Economic Empowerment Program, which is an incredible opportunity for survivor clients to get necessary training to break into the workforce and thrive. As a lawyer, you’re not always able to help outside of the courtroom, I appreciate the Sanctuary has a large network that meets clients where they are.

Cons

Direct representation of domestic violence victims is difficult work. It is hard to balance the needs of clients, the stress of litigation, and the emotional toll of the work. Sanctuary staff recently voted to bring in a union, I’m hopeful that having a union representative will better connect Sanctuary admin with staff.

Pros

Diverse, collaborative, thoughtful about work-life balance, receptive to feedback, informed about vicarious trauma, works hard to support staff, great cause, leader in the field and best practices, opportunities for growth, excellent network, women-led.

Cons

Still more white people in senior staff, board not always current, the usual struggle with funders who don't understand the work, legal team is less balanced/boundaried than clinical, demanding work, "better than most" victim services non-profits can still be an unsustainable job for many/some. Not all locations and programs are equally warm/supportive, some communication issues.

Advice to Management

Continue to listen to staff feedback and implement changes that lead to sustainability and better staff retention - you are on your way and may be leading the pack, but staff feedback and even complaints are still valuable information and should not be treated as attacks or lack of gratitude for the changes/supports you have implemented.