A dying star? - Anonymous employee FreeWill Employee Review

2.0
6 Apr 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Fully remote Unlimited PTO 12 weeks of parental leave

Cons

Frequent layoffs occur even after speeches about avoiding them. Internal promotions are limited to the inner circle, leaving those in IC roles with limited advancement opportunities. The organization frequently hires outside candidates for management and leadership positions, further restricting opportunities for those in IC roles. Compensation is low, and promised annual increases are rarely applied to base pay. Furthermore, most departments fail to meet goals, preventing bonuses from being awarded. Leadership won't force struggling departments to use AI or hire better people, leading to more customer complaints than ever about decreased services and support.

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FreeWill Response
2mo
Thank you for this feedback. We're glad you've enjoyed our remote environment, flexible time off, and leave policies. We did unfortunately have a significant layoff in late 2022/early 2023 and a very small layoff in early 2025 and leadership took full responsibility for this and shared about the internal and external factors that led to the tough decisions. We've taken great strides to be thoughtful about employee retention and company growth in the hopes we can provide continued stability. Majority of external hiring has been for IC roles and when manager or leadership roles become available, they are open to internal applicants and most of these roles are filled internally due to promotions or internal movement. FreeWill actively embraces and encourages the smart use of AI in every department and has implemented AI Learning Modules, an AI Tool series, AI office hours, and a slack channel dedicated to employees sharing about their use and knowledge of AI. We appreciate you sharing about challenges around compensation and will share this feedback. Thank you for your contributions to FreeWill.

Explore other reviews about FreeWill

5.0
6 Mar 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

MIssion driven Caring employees Innovative

Cons

Slow growth and a strong culture lead to low promotion opportunities

1
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FreeWill Response
3mo
Thank you for sharing about your experience these past few years and we're glad you've had a great experience with company culture!
2.0
7 Jan 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote work and mission-based company with decent pay that is providing a good service (to some orgs). If you're not on the sales team then working at FW is probably one of the better places to work.

Cons

Planned giving is an extremely challenging offering to sell, largely because outcomes can’t be guaranteed and many gifts aren’t realized until long after an organization has churned or renewed multiple times—often with diminishing returns. There’s really no “selling” an organization on FW’s tools; those who understand the value will see it immediately, and for everyone else the decision ultimately comes down to cost. Unfortunately, the entry-level investment is significantly higher than what most nonprofits expect to pay. As a result, roughly 90% of initial conversations end in budget-related closed-lost decisions or clients going silent. In many cases, the best-case scenario is revisiting the opportunity a year or more later once they’ve finally allocated the budget. Compounding the challenge, FW has raised prices while reducing services for smaller nonprofits in pursuit of greater profitability—ironically impacting the very organizations that need hands-on, strategic support the most. Within the sales organization, quotas are typically met at the departmental level, but fewer than 20% of individual reps hit their personal targets. When a couple of team members exceed 150% while most others fall between 50–80%, it’s difficult to call that a true win. Leadership may view it positively, but it takes a toll on individual morale. Lastly, if you're looking to be inspired and motivated by your VP of Sales—look elsewhere.

5
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FreeWill Response
5mo
Thank you for your feedback and we're glad you're happy with the remote work and pay! We recently implemented a stop to a change that was made in how we service our smaller nonprofits which we believe is a positive change and more aligned with your vision of service. We strive to keep our costs reasonable and our base rates have stayed the same or in line with inflation, with some services being raised 5% last year. We definitely appreciate your feedback regarding individual achievement and morale on the Account Executive team and we welcome you to share any ideas you have that could help with this in terms onboarding, training, continued professional development, or any other type of support to set all team members up for success. Please do reach out to your manager or HR if you have not already. Thank you for all your work to support nonprofits!
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