Silicon Valley Community Foundation Employee Reviews about "silicon valley"

Pros

The staff is highly competent and smart. Most truly enjoy what they do and care for the mission of fostering philanthropy. The main office is centrally located along the Peninsula/Silicon Valley and each work space is comfortable, modern and clean. Benefits are the best I've received from a nonprofit employer.

Cons

Your experience truly depends on your relationship with your supervisor. Promotions are rare but occur if you are willing to go above and beyond your job description AND be your boss' pet. Internal pay equity is extremely off - job postings for new employees post higher salaries than current, longer-term employees. There are also too many levels of management and a pervasive acceptance of a micro-managing style of management. Some processes are in place to maintain the high integrity and professionalism expected from the community foundation but most work-flow processes are frustratingly slow and just foster distrust and fear of making mistakes.

Pros

-Excellent benefits (generous PTO and VTO, health, dental, vision, retirement, paid family leave, telecommute one day a week) -Committed and talented staff - Social committee to plan fun events (summer picnic, end of year holiday party, halloween party, ice cream social, thanksgiving potluck, and more!) - Employee volunteer council to plan group volunteer opportunities - Opportunities to truly make an impact in the community The SVCF board and senior leadership made some important decisions during a very public organizational crisis that surfaced in 2018. I am confident that these decisions have steered SVCF in a new direction. Some of these decisions include: - Bringing in a previous board member as interim CEO to right the ship and truly focus on examining and rebuilding our culture, starting with the creation of a Culture Task Force, which consists of staff of all levels. This task force is charged with a review of our values and how to live them authentically and taking a look at our cultural norms and behaviors. While sometimes it feels like it's one step forward, two steps back, there has been definite progress. - In her short tenure, our new CEO has been explicit in her commitment to ensuring that SVCF focuses on our impact in our local community and beyond. She has said both internally and externally that she is committed to working with the board and our teams to ensure that our community impact work is married with our donor engagement work. - They have instituted a new series of Town Hall meetings with board members so all levels of staff have an opportunity to build relationships directly with board members - There is a new art committee to add local art to our walls which has improved the vibrancy of the working environment - Regular email communication from the board on the steps they are taking as we rebuild after this time of crisis And to end with, I think one of the biggest pros of working here is the relationships with our local partners who have stood by us throughout this difficult time. To me, this shows that our community impact has been there all along and with this new direction, we have so much more opportunity with our local partners to truly improve the lives of folks here in Silicon Valley.

Cons

I have been at SVCF for a number of years. As you can probably gather from the other reviews on here, the last few years were tumultuous. I am fortunate enough to be in a division where the intense toxicity was not rampant; but I will be honest there were serious issues. That said, once everything blew up during a very public organizational crisis, while it took awhile, in the end, the board and senior leadership made some very important decisions that have truly changed the direction of SVCF. I'm seasoned enough to know it is still a long road and that not all senior management may like the new direction, but I think we have the staff and leadership from our CEO and other key leaders to get us through.

Pros

Nurtures a positive team attitude among staff Helps staff members build self-confidence with both encouragement and thoughtfully given corrections to errors Organization's mission of helping families, individuals and organizations manage wealth and philanthropy is much-needed in Silicon Valley and has a positive impact on the local community, as local non-profits are able to improve their services

Cons

Like all of Silicon Valley, you need to come to work every day with a clear mind and a capacity for fast, superb performance in your job Sometimes feels like white upper-middle-class mono-culture

Pros

Smart people who care about issues in the community and globally are drawn to SVCF. Employees are committed to social change and are helping to guide some of the richest donors toward causes that will have lasting impact for the good of the local and worldwide communities. The CEO is very likable, despite some feeling that he is unapproachable on internal issues.

Cons

Extreme distrust of "out of the box" thinking, despite it being a listed requirement on almost every job posting. Leadership at the C-suite level is dogmatic, territorial and destabilizing, so be prepared to slog through months of unnecessary work when you are singled out (and everyone gets singled out eventually). CEO is truly inspirational and likable, but largely ineffective in keeping his chiefs in line-- they run the show as he is almost always out of the office on national speaking engagements. The board of directors is made up of some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley, but they really don't know much about how SVCF operates, nor do they really care so long as they can bring in major donors. Despite a stated desire to be agile and nimble and allegedly risk-friendly, the culture is very much the opposite. Be ready to do things exactly by the book, even as you are being encouraged to take risks. Back your communications up in email, because the instability of the organization eventually creates a culture of suspicion and back-biting in which coworkers are actively pitted against one another in order to prove their "successes" by blaming others for failures. The culture of blame is a huge problem here and takes what is by and large a talented, compassionate group of people and turns them against one another to create the illusion of "top down management." Middle management is effectively powerless, despite a huge number of VPs and directors. Their hands are tied by the C-suite so effective management is basically impossible on the ground level and quite frequently, minor issues are overtaken by the C-suite before the VPs/directors can address the situation. The involvement of the C-Suite in low-level day to day management is distressing and further creates a culture of fear--which apparently is the point, as fear is what SVCF considers a good motivator. Minor mistakes, such as grammar or simply asking for advice/clarification on a project is punishable by having job duties relieved and being labeled incompetent. Do not make a mistake here, ever. Period. If you do, figure out a way to blame it on someone else, because you won't be praised for admitting your errors and fixing them like a functional adult. Turn over rate is close to 30%. People are constantly being fired or forced to resign for obscure reasons such as being "bad fits" for the culture, or without any reasoning at all. HR will freely admit this when asked and acknowledges the difficulty in filling roles within this division due to the reputation it has among philanthropy on the West coast.

Pros

The people who work in lower positions create a family-like support system because of all the terrible things that take place in leadership.

Cons

First off, the top high rated comment on the reviews was sponsored by HR. It was at the top while leaders were being let go. Second, it is absurd to me that they have fired those in upper management, but chose to be blind to the terrible culture the Directors and VPs continue to inflict on a daily basis. The Director I reported to acted like a high school mean girl and would choose only a couple of people she treated well. Unfortunately, none of those people reported to her. I would constantly witness her lie to our clients, she would blame those under her for her mistakes, and she would only choose to manage when she felt like it. After I confronted her on her negative qualities when she asked for feedback, she got extremely defensive. I have even shared personal information with her, given that it impacted the time I could be at work, and others asked me about my situation. She gossiped about my personal information behind my back! I have written to HR about her when they were going through their restructuring. Nothing was done about the situation and they chose not to look at Directors or VPs who continue this horrible culture. I have yet to come across a manager that embodies every bad managerial trait. I feel bad for those currently being managed by her since it is challenging to get other jobs of the same field in Silicon Valley. I hope HR recognizes that the issues will continue if these terrible managers remain a part of SVCF.

Pros

Silicon Valley Community Foundation brings together some of the greatest minds from across the country to tackle world issues. I love working with some of the brightest people that I have ever met in my life with tons of drive, truly inspiring.

Cons

Lower level employees aren't appreciated and often do work without proper recognition. Over worked and under paid.

Pros

good benefits and free snacks

Cons

I worked at Silicon Valley Community Foundation for a year after feeling burned-out from week 2.