Lutheran World Relief Reviews

The new president, Daniel Speckhard, has come into the organization with a "growth for growth's sake" mentality that is dangerous and unwise. Despite inheriting a healthy organization on a strong growth track, he is disregarding the organization's theory of change (based on improving the lives of our two priority groups) and shifting the focus to money money money. He seems to ignore or disregard the advise and expertise of his very competent staff, which has led to almost 20 people (nearly a quarter of U.S. based staff) leaving the organization in the last year.

Lutheran World Relief used to be known for its excellent leadership, steadfast vison and stellar workplace culture. However, in recent years, all of those areas have deteriorated significantly. As in any organization, there are hiccups when there are major changes in leadership. In the case of LWR, the change in leadership has been more than a hiccup. The current leadership team lacks focus and depth. The current President seems to surround himself with a leadership team who will support any of his whims. Those who dare voice dissent are quickly silenced. It is not uncommon to have employees with long tenures disappear without a trace after they disagree with a member of the leadership team. I would venture to say that nearly every current employee at LWR is looking for a new job elsewhere. Nearly every employee is miserable but just holding on until something else comes along. Rank and file employees are caught up in the fighting that has become common place since the merger with IMA. Managers are clawing to hold on to their little “kingdoms” and despite the leadership team’s efforts to portray the LWR and IMA staff as one big family, there remains an incredible amount of tension and mistrust between both groups. The leadership team is overwhelmingly white and male. As if by design, opportunities for people of color – hiring, promotions, salary increases – are limited or non-existent. The organization seems unwillingly to recognize and take action to correct this disparity. Lutheran World Relief works overseas primarily with people of color yet the employees of the organization do not represent the communities in which it serves.