Project HOPE Reviews

The development and communications department is toxic. The turnover is the highest I’ve seen at a company both because of out-of-the-blue firings for no apparent reason and people quitting because they can’t take the stress anymore. There’s a culture of distrust and fear on DevCom. Team leads are either pushed out of the org or pushed to verbally berating their coworkers for fear of losing their jobs. Many people have pleaded with the CEO time and again to please address the toxicity — but the response was near radio silence. Sadly all of the most talented, creative, enthusiastic employees have already left or are on their way out. If you are a communications professional please look elsewhere. The saddest part of this all is that at one point, PH had a wealth of talent and passion on the DevComm team -- and now it's gone.

I wouldn’t recommend this organization to anyone for any purpose. Do not go work there, and more importantly do not donate your time or money to them. They have a complete and total lack of respect for their donors and employees. Employees are seen as disposable and treated with total disrespect. The senior leadership team is without morals or ethics, they lack leadership and will buckle to the whims of a board who also seem to want to drive this organization into the ground. They're a group of misguided leaders who are unwilling to do the right thing this is particuarly true on the development team. The development team is always chasing a dollar without any real business strategy or plans of any kind and it’s usually at the expense of their employees who are terminated, pushed out, laid off due to “fit for purpose” or other reasons that are generally without merit and are at the impulses of a reactive leader. Some of the “leaders” regularly ask for loyalty pledges from staff and balk when the staff won't commit themselves to the leader personally. This is the case most often on the development team. In addition to their lack of morals, every one of these senior leaders of the organization are underqualified and not even welcome in the leadership circles of the Humanitarian Aid community. Some of the leaders spend most days playing a political game with each other usually focused on undermining their colleagues and creating drama aimed at getting direct reports to infight. HR is not comprised or lead by certified SHRM professionals and don't seem to understand basic HR principles, not the least of which include establishing a code of conduct, or, more importantly, confidentiality. HR regularly shares private conversations with each of the aformentioned "leaders" when staff who - often in seeking solutions - rightfully believe they should be able to go to their HR department with concerns about the actions and behaviors of their peers and leaders. The nicest thing I can say about the general counsel is that she’s overworked but without political capital and therefore bends to the urges of these other leaders and is often left to clean up their messes. Employees are regularly berated, shouted and cursed at by the some of these so called "leaders" particularly in development and by other development staff who view themselves as “above the law”. The organization does not hold its leaders accountable for their actions, which in turn has led to an “every man for himself” cutthroat environment. The development team is constantly jockeying to get in front of the board while also bad mouthing and fighting with peers and the CEO. The Global Health team is the only one in the organization with a leader who has any sense of morals and willingness to do good on behalf of the organization. Be sure to check Project HOPE’s 990s carefully as they are grossly inflated and a completely inaccurate picture of the dire financial straits this organization is in. In-kind gifts do not equal cash! In short, this organization will be run into the ground by an egocentric board and the reactive and chaotic nature of these incompetent leaders who are too busy worrying about themselves to worry about the well-being of a 61-year-old organization or its employees and the people they are trying to serve.