Elevate (DC) Reviews

Please do not ignore the warnings here about the workload for the grant writer position. They'll warn you during the interview process that it's "fast paced" and that the workload is significant, but what they don't admit is that you quite literally cannot accomplish all your tasks within 35 hours per week, which is how many hours you should be working at a full time job with entry-level pay. You'll be writing an average of 4 "drafts" per week, with a "draft" being either a full proposal, a report, or a letter of inquiry. You will also be required to attend 4-5 team meetings per week, 1 supervisor check-in per week, and anywhere from 1-4 meetings per month *per client,* with an average load of 4 clients. Between editing drafts, meetings, conducting mandatory research, doing mandatory professional development, answering emails, I regularly performed about 55 hours of work per week and was often still behind schedule. There's a lot of turnover, and it's almost always very disruptive. The company also is very open and welcoming of complaints and negative feedback. These two things together seemed promising at first, because I figured that the company must be trying to fix things; on one of the teams I was placed on, a client openly expressed frustration that they were getting yet another new writer, so it seemed like it would be in the company's best financial interest to keep turnover low and improve conditions for grant writers. However, I eventually could only conclude that the math has already been done, and burning through grant writers is more profitable than creating bearable conditions. I truly believe that the reason they're so welcoming of grantwriters being open about their conditions is to create the impression that, eventually, conditions might improve, when management knows very well that it won't. I eventually left after about 8 months, and I've never left a job after less than a year before. If you have ADHD or any other disorder that affects executive function, you will not last in this job. Seriously. Don't attempt it. The co-workers I had who struggled with executive function complained on a daily basis that they were underwater, ashamed, guilty, overwhelmed -- it got too demoralizing to even talk to them after awhile. The company clearly relies on the fact that most grant writers are highly intelligent and want to do good, but also disproportionately likely to suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety and depression disorders, imposter syndrome, and compulsive people-pleasing; each writer thinks their overwhelm is their personal failing. When they finally realize it's not, they leave, and the company doesn't have to deal with them anymore. Company gets paid, clients stick around because there's no other option they can afford, and who cares what happens to the writer? I truly hope that eventually Elevate has enough trouble hiring new victims that they take a real look at their business model, but every year there's a fresh crop of 23 year olds with English degrees and no experience with fair working conditions, so I'm not optimistic. My best advice if you're going to work here (other than "please don't") is to do the bare minimum, plan on leaving within a year, and make sure to give at least 30 days' notice, because otherwise they won't pay you for the PTO you rightfully earned.

Almost everything. Pay sucks. Benefits suck. Having to schedule vacation and Weekends off around their schedule. Extreme micro management. Don't expect to want to stay there more than a year at most.