DVCanvass Reviews

4.0

73% would recommend to a friend

(54 total reviews)

69% positive business outlook

DVCanvass has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 54 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The DVCanvass employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

54 reviews
1.0
31 Aug 2022

Staff beware

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Notice all the positive reviews of this place are by current employees. Because they beg staff to write reviews constantly

Cons

Company fired me for calling out sick, conveniently one week after I reported that they had failed to pay thousands in bonus out to staff. They charge nonprofits over $300 per member acquisition, meaning it can take up to two years for these donations to simply break even. Meanwhile they pay staff a paltry hourly wage while they profit off good causes and well meaning people and organizations. Management was erratic, unprofessional and never did the work they said. Unreachable most days. Changed bonus and policy over 5x times in the 7 months I worked there. Staff are quickly fired for speaking up. Ive never seen a place in need of a union so badly. CANVASSERS BEWARE! DONORS BEWARE!

2.0
23 Jan 2024

Disposable

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Hired from afar before I lived in the area- awesome! Lots of training. No experience needed Get to explore and know the neighborhoods. Outdoor work

Cons

Not secure employment- must meet quota weekly initially then monthly- meaning when new, if you miss quota 2 weeks in a row, you are fired. After 3 months, if you miss quota 2 months in a row, you are fired. Actual hours usually short of full time- lunches were 45 mins long (unpaid) and usually happened like 1-2 hours after arriving to work, when I didn't really need a lunch yet. This was a huge chunk out of my day. Shifts were already only 7 hours long, bringing my weekly hours closer to 31 rather than 40. High Pressure- YOU MUST SELL TO KEEP YOUR JOB! This takes your passion about human rights and commodifies it. You must have exhausting conversations with people in a tight financial time. Sometimes we went to working class neighborhoods, people not much better off than me, and were supposed to hear them say "no" 3 times before giving up. This company doesn't realize that no should mean no and it's not ethical to pressure people to give money to a huge nonprofit and act like they don't care about their children, or don't care about human rights if they don't donate. Sketchy tactics- again. you were supposed to hear a strong "no" 3 times before giving up on someone. People would get angry sometimes. One of my coworkers got spit at once. We were supposed to ignore "no soliciting" signs because "sometimes they donate anyways" and "we aren't solicitors" (not true). We were supposed to go through closed and locked gates. Not rare to get a dog running up to you, luckily I never saw anyone get bit but there's no way it's never happened. Also watched a coworker once sign up someone who barely spoke English and couldn't fully understand what they were paying for, maybe couldn't communicate that the donation was recurring- because they were desperate to keep their job. They want you to pay $100 out of your first check for a "tablet deposit" and make you sign something saying they can- this is ILLEGAL UNDER OREGON LAW ORS 652.610(3)! DO NOT LET THEM TAKE THIS OUT OF YOUR CHECK! Even if you sign, they are breaking the law. Stressful- hustle culture. Leads you to be willing to play along with the sketchy stuff. Not likely to be able to keep employement long enough to get benefits (90 Days)- again needing healthcare makes one desperate. Inflexible time off/sick policy- "100% attendance policy" meant that if you called out, you had to work 6 days the next week. If you called out for 3 days, that meant you'd be working 6 day weeks for the next 3 weeks. No ifs ands or buts. Also, when I started, I told them I was going on vacation in a few months- when the time came, they told me I'd have to do those 6 day work weeks when I got back. I vehemently refused and they folded and said it was fine since I told them when I got hired. Funnily enough they couldn't even guarantee I'd be working there by the time my vacation rolled around, and I wasn't. Ridiculous turnover Seem to be interested in promoting DEI, but actions do not reflect! The crew gets more white and male the higher up the chain you look... also neurodivergent people are significantly more likely to fold under the pressure of this job and they do not care.

1.0
29 June 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Easy to advance Competitive pay For a good cause

Cons

Multiple things: A) there is a 100% attendance policy. This means if you have to call out of a shift, you have to schedule a make up. If you work five days and can’t reschedule a make-up in the same week. That means you’re working six days the next week! If you don’t have any vacation time and have to take multiple days off, you can expect to work multiple six day work weeks back to back. For a company who is promoting human rights, it is contradictory and immoral to keep HUMANS from having a healthy work/life balance. This led to multiple of the canvassers around me quitting due to stress and burnout. B) the capitalistic corruption of this job. Initially when I hired, the emphasis was around getting people involved with a good cause. It is a good cause, however, DVCanvass will take your passion for human rights and use it to milk the maximum amount of profit from you. Although it is raising money for a good cause, they’re still pushing their employees to the max to gain maximum profit. I noticed this shift in myself personally when I subconsciously started to focus on “getting members” than I was getting people involved with a good cause. C) staffing process/quota When I was hired the hiring process was as follows: you have four days to get three members to make staff, and then the first week after staffing is off of quota. The kicker is DVCanvass got rid of the first week off of quota leaving no room for new hires to get past the learning curve that comes with canvassing. To be fair, canvassing companies already have a hard time keeping staff, but there was a clear difference before and after this policy change. This led to abhorrent retention, an ever changing office staff, and not enough canvassers to give the Shift Leads teams. In addition, while the quota is technically “the lowest quota in Portland” but it’s still a quota. For the first three months you are on weekly quota which means if you miss quota two weeks in a row you’re fired. The job security is nonexistent. It really feels like you’re starting over week after week after week. D) poor management Management gets away with putting employees in uncomfortable positions (including being stuck outside In the snow for hours because they didn’t let you go home). There is a disconnect from the swinging force of management and the impact they have on their employees. The communication is poor often leaving the shift leads confused and frustrated. Additionally, there were several weeks where the office member goal was raised three weeks in a row even though we didn’t hit the first goal. Not to mention, the shift leads are paid $3 more than the canvassers per hour but essentially become co managers of the office. The pay raise does not justify the amount of work that will be put on you. Furthermore, if become the city coordinator of the office, you get put on salary, but it pays roughly &1.50-2.00 more per hour. Not worth it. E) safety There are multiple times where we have gone out into Portland bringing the issue of gun violence to the door. This has caused a serious issue for safety as we are not street canvassing. The intimate danger of being at someones door step puts the canvasser in a really compromising position. There has been shots fired while on the job. There has been multiple people who have brought guns to the door in anger. Just in general, high risk of getting shot/hurt just by doing your job. Overall it feels like management is wearing a blind fold 24/7. DVCanvass fails to live up to its name as a human rights organization as the work culture, management, and policy leads to the abuse of workers rights, human right, and mental health. In conclusion, SKIP THIS JOB!!!! You are better off becoming a server at a fancy restaurant as you’d be safer and make more money. Seriously though, it’s not worth the stress or money.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 54 Reviews

Glassdoor has 55 DVCanvass reviews submitted anonymously by DVCanvass employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if DVCanvass is right for you.