forester

wildlife biologist

monitor technician

it technician

technician

American Bird Conservancy

Prior to the current ABC president becoming the organization's leader, this place was laser-focused on taking up the toughest challenges impacting birds. It had many flaws (no standards, old systems, favoritism, nepotism, lack of diversity and inclusion, low salaries, intense work hours, sexism), and, yet, the mission and passionate staff made this an impactful organization to work at.

Since the current president took over leadership in 2017, ABC has become an abysmal mess. The issues that existed prior to his tenure in this role, are now glaring gaps in an organization unwilling to change with the times. It's stuck in the 1950s (Sadly, it didn't even exist then.). The turnover is ridiculously high, and morale is low in this toxic workplace. I can remember 2 to 3 employees resigning from the same position in a number of instances during my tenure. Some staff only stay a few months before jumping ship. Many of their best employees have left in the past two years, and those that are still hanging on are desperately looking to leave.

The only staff that remains are those on the leadership team. They make 25 to 50% more than most staff, and they are not accountable to anyone. Some of them seemingly take sick and vacation leave in excess of their allotment, and push their work on junior staff. Why would they want the status quo to change and ruffle any feathers, when they are earning high salaries and, perhaps, not working as much?

The board is clueless or doesn't have the time/energy/interest it would take to change leadership and make ABC the organization it could be. The HR department is dysfunctional/nonfunctional at best. When you report issues, they ask you to talk it out and make nice even in volatile/unsafe situations including cases of harassment. They don't fire poor performers. Instead, the top-performing staff continues to get more and more work piled on them (Burn out is a major issue amongst ABC's best employees.). And the current president is mercurial on his best days, primarily cares about birdwatching and adding to his life list, is a yes man to donors/supporters (Money is king/queen.), gets distracted by the latest shiny object/trend, is narcissistic, and is lacking in empathy and other social skills needed to be a leader.

This place is not worth joining. It's a literal nightmare. Consider joining conservation groups that are still relevant and focused on the actual mission of saving Earth. It's a shame to see ABC go down the drain, but an organization is only as good as its leadership.

I loved my job for a few years but there was no room for growth and attempts to increase autonomy and professional development created resentment. My job was described as leading a program but ultimately I was only allowed to do what my supervisor wanted so I was really an assistant and not a program director. The culture is completely driven by your immediate supervisor which created inequity as there was not a top down standard for supervisors to follow or adhere to. 

Management says all the right things and gives a lot of time to discussing having a compassionate and employee centered company culture that will support staff in times of need. However in reality they will either make your life so difficult you quit or fire you if you are experiencing a life situation that impacts your productivity. Working 20-40 extra hours a month for years will mean nothing if a major life event affects your productivity longer than they are willing to tolerate. The hardest thing about the job was not being able to finish projects to the level that I thought necessary to truly justify the time and effort I put in. It was always create the mvp and drop it and move on instead of creating sharable final products that demonstrated the types of tools we created and used and that could be shared with partners. I tried very hard to work with management to find a place at ABC where my passion and skills were valued but in the end if you don't get support from your immediate supervisor your only option is to leave. Benefits, especially health benefits, are pretty good and wages can start competitively but will not keep up with industry growth. Retirement benefits are poor.

This organization has a great mission that helps the world in many ways. However the organization often fails to stay on-track and execute that mission and seems to shoot itself in the foot all the time. Both firings and hirings appear ad hoc and based on whims. In-service training was limited to skills of very generic utility -- no specialized training or development. Many employees were hired because they were related to existing employees, even though they had no skills in the position for which they were hired. One time, as a result, one employee was hired after a months-long search, and that employee resigned without even fulfilling one day of work.

Most of the people are great. However, much of the management is aging and appears aligned with outdated management styles including lack of transparency.  Further, they set unrealistic goals for deliverables without sufficient manpower.  Those goals simply fall by the wayside, causing employees undue stress.

The workplace culture is usually professional, but there were many exceptions.  

The CEO was a poor communicator, socially-insensitive to the employees, and extremely egotistical.

Despite these issues, the organization as a whole is a great fit for some people, but poor for others.

Unreasonable expectations of already short -staffed groups.  There is so  much turnover in a few upper management positions.  They keep employees that they should have fired years ago and let others slip through their fingers due to poor management of employees.

Dedication means nothing here anymore. You are just a number now.  This use to be a great place to work years ago until the turnovers along with many bad hires started.  It makes you dizzy how quickly things change because the left hand never knows what the right one is doing.  Things will never change in this organization I am afraid.

I do not recommend working here as things currently stand.  Move on.  

Most employees are now remote, a typical day consists of forecasting projects, reviewing documents, signing docs, using DocuSign for all signatures.  Analyzing all grant budgets within that particular spectrum.   Management is lacking expertise in the field of managing grants properly, the hardest part of the job is getting management to realize how funds should be kept when specified by the donor, the most enjoyable part of the job is time off from the job.

Since the new president has taken over, all management cares about is money. Money to grow the organization with no clear purpose other than more prestige and higher salaries for management. I'm not naive, I understand money is needed to pay expenses, but there needs to be something more to a conservation organization besides dollars. Employees are not supported, and tough conservation issues are avoided so as not to turn off funders.

A very disorganized management culture with much more work than employees could accomplish.
Management style allowing circumvention of policies and procedures along with various ways of doing things (extreme lack of standardization).  VERY difficulty to do a "corporate" job in finance, without these parameters.  Extreme favoritism, lack of job specific training, an all around miserable experience for me.

These contract jobs for young ornithologists are essential post graduation for getting the experience required to find careers. Travel and exposure to rural areas working with endangered birds where my favorite parts of this job.

ABC provides a good work-life balance, salary, and benefits for its size.  I worked with a great team who was with me every step of the way.  Everyone is dedicated to the mission and very passionate about the work they do.  Job security for some positions is dependent on new grants and fundraising.

ABC does important work and I made many good friends there. But the pace is relentless, the benefits weak and the salaries even weaker.  Par for the course at an NGO, I guess. But that doesn't mean it's fair.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Forester 2 salaries reported	$52,067 per year
Wildlife biologist 3 salaries reported	$50,000 per year
Monitor technician 2 salaries reported	$2,975 per month
It technician 4 salaries reported	$61,250 per year
Technician 2 salaries reported	$52,500 per year

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