Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Reviews

Pros

People care about the mission Excellent benefits Competitive pay Lots of resources to lean on Smart people- can make good connections Good leadership (executive leadership team)

Cons

Lots of internal politics. Some teams are toxic and chaotic like any company. Challenging for admin staff to build their career in an upward trajectory.

Pros

- Got to define my own role - One of the best supervisors in my whole career - Excellent benefits (15% 403b contribution regardless of employee's contribution, generous medical, dental and vision insurances) - Caring teammates

Cons

- Teams and orgs are always evolving, needing lots of readjustment times - Essentially a family Foundation - Not enough visa sponsorship support

Pros

Opportunity to work with amazing people on some complex and important global and domestic challenges. Increasingly intentional focus on inclusive culture and equitable partnerships.

Cons

Hectic and political work environment, and priorities are still set from the top so a lot of time spent managing up.

Pros

People are passionate, kind and engaging

Cons

Sometimes high level education means more than experience

Pros

Mission-oriented teams Impact-focused organization Extremely smart and capable teammates

Cons

The organization can be overly bureaucratic, particularly around budgeting cycles

Pros

work life balance, organized and talented co-workers, team oriented, top notch benefits

Cons

not many opportunities for growth

Pros

It is a great place to work

Cons

It’s very far away from my home

Pros

Benefits are great, if you click with your team it is a great community.

Cons

HR and management training could use some improvement especially compared to companies that put more time and emphasis and money on training their managers. However, if on the right team it does help!

Pros

From the top leadership all the way through to program teams and business partners, the staff are fully committed to the foundation’s mission and values. It is a place to think big and think innovatively about the world’s most pressing challenges, while partnering with the most impactful and exciting local, national and global organizations. The internal environment is highly supportive, with strong, highly conscientious, emphasis on refining culture, values and the working environment. Finally, the benefits are second to none.

Cons

While strategy helps structure and articulate grant portfolios , it can constitute a significant - sometimes excessive - part of the work for all program teams, which otherwise could be devoted to grant design, local partnership building or other country-level work. Work life balance can be challenging to achieve based on the role, depending on if the team is sufficiently staffed, but can be developed with the manager.

Pros

Mission-oriented organization oriented towards maximizing social impact

Cons

Leadership and decisions can feel highly bureaucratic