development director

director

manager

business development specialist

vice president

March of Dimes

Compensation/benefits are mostly on par with other nonprofits, and having fully remote work does allow for better work-life balance. Local management and team members are hard-working and supportive. However, the pros end there. 

The entire organization has been poorly managed for so many years that everyone lacks a clear sense of direction, there are very few standardized processes due to high rates of turnover and furloughs, and despite financial issues for the past decade, the vast majority of donations and funding go to pay for inflated salaries for national leaders, while local teams are overburdened and understaffed. Makes it nearly impossible for progress to occur, even when there are staff who desperately are trying to improve processes and achieve beneficial outcomes. 

The mission is great on paper, but poorly executed in reality. Financial mismanagement and misuse of funds are a constant occurrence, but many in senior leadership are the ones fueling this behavior, rather than keeping it in check. 

If you are someone who wants to feel a sense of accomplishment or fulfillment, this is not the organization to be at. If you want to be paid for sitting at home and being in pointless meetings where nothing ever gets done, and you don't really care about impact or ever getting a raise or being promoted, then maybe this is the place for you... until your job gets cut, that is. 

RUN if you want to grow professionally. I initially loved working for the March of Dimes till they began straying from the mission by using funds to support plans and ideas that didn't help ALL BABIES like they say and my manager became a micro-manager. The organization as a whole is losing funding everyday and I'm not surprised. March of Dimes, get back to TRULY saving babies by using funds raised to support REAL programs for parents who have babies born premature AND with birth defects because they really need it! The NICU family support specialist is getting paid to give out brochures and pamphlets vs. programs that can help parents learn how to take care of their babies once home. Development Managers are asked to wear so many hats, have unrealistic budgets, and are not given raises due to the organizations financial crisis. After 5 years with this organization, and working my tail off, I got a 10 cent raise last year. If you plan to interview with them, ask exactly what they're funding. If they say research ask for a list of research they're working on and the progress. Ask about local programs and what they entail. You don't want to work for an organization that doesn't fund what they say they do. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
This was a very difficult job in New Orleans because March of Dimes does not do advertising and marketing in the area. And there are very many very active local charities that concentrate their efforts in fundraising locally.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It takes time to build local relationships but March of Dimes expects you to raise mega dollars immediately.  Their events are not ones that stand out because their are  so many big and that are so “New Orleans “  that locals  genuinely want to support as compared to a charity that doesn’t make its presence known throughout the year. It I only makes its presence known at its fundraising events twice a year. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Highly stressful.   You never have enough time to work on building relationships because the events are priority and you can’t manage each individually.   The executive director writes you up for making mistakes when you working the events for the very first time.  I had an injury and the doctor would not allow me to do certain activities and I was written up by her for things I was told that I medically could not do.

So I was hired back in 2018 the specific supervisor I reported to was very negative. When the team would say we are doing great the supervisor would get up and then start telling the team how this is not good how this is behind how we might not make numbers I sat and observed. She and the staffing agency did not give me a solid time on when I needed to be to work. I was ultimately let go after working only three days due to “the mail room being to full and we didn’t have enough workers” ya ok. The environment was quite  different departments would walk by and not speak to each other...it was like having 3 classes rooms in one and everyone’s with there tribe and they only communicate with there tribe.

I kept hearing one woman say I’m glad I know how to speak up , I’m glad I wasn’t quite when I first started I decided to write notes since I was never given work all three days of working there. So I just took the brief convo we had and put it into my own words. 

I was given a tour ...there was not a receptionist so you have to keep ringing the door bell until someone gets up from the back to let you in.

The air was thick in the office someone higher set the tone I’m glad it didn’t work out. A flower can bloom in dead soil!

From day one I found this opportunity to be rewarding in that MOD connected their employees to the mission. The Job Work/Life Balance was great! These listed above by far were the great qualities of this organization. 
I found daily/weekly struggles with management giving staff the tools to succeed. From a behind-the-scenes view, the organization struggles to compete with other major organizations both locally and nation-wide. There was no logistical support for bringing on new sponsorships, events, committee members within my chapter in order to achieve expected results. There was an extremely limited budget to acquire resources needed by any nonprofit organization including but not limited to business cards, chamber of commerce memberships for networking, mileage for "in-field" training and soliciting new donors. Several of these I feel were mandated by local interim management. The organization is currently going through a "restructuring" phase which and I hope.. better equips field staff with achieving budgeted goals. If not, they will continue to fall far below budgeted goals and expectations.

Many offices have recently closed and people are working remotely. Benefit is you have flexible hours, but the lack of support from managers and upper management is poor and very unorganized. They are more concerned with the money being raised than the well being of their staff. The organization keeps implementing change after change and there is no way to keep up. People keep getting laid off and you are expected to do the work of multiple people, with limited support and reduced resources.

I loved what I was doing. I was passionate about my job, and was laid off, along with other people, without any prior warning, being told that my position had been eliminated and there was no other position for me, only to find out afterwards that someone was hired in my place. 

I'm concerned about the future of March of Dimes. The work that they do is extremely valuable for mothers and babies, but I fear that the management of the organization is not going to ensure success of the company.

March of Dimes in San Diego is a great small office that's is primarily focused on development.  They do a gala and committees and large March for Babies walk campaigns.  The mission is to improve the health of babies - so in my mind a great one to represent.  I'd recommend working there if you like to build things, events, committees and the overall division.  They hit a bit of a reboot a couple of years ago in terms of staff and board.  Things seem solid under the new ED, who wants to work with people who want to build and are excited about it.  She'll give you room to spread your wings and drive your projects IF you do.  Job security is good there again if you are development oriented and self-starting. Not so much otherwise.  Great organization, pretty nice office space, nice small staff, responsible with donor dollars.

Its a horrible place to work management treats you like slaves and threatens your job when they don't get there way like kids.

They have the highest turn over rate in America. When they have a training everyone in the room hasn't been with the organization over 2 weeks.

HR is horrible they take sides of the State Directors and whatever you tell HR in confidence they tell the State Director which makes things worst.

March of Dimes could care less about work life balance they just want to make money to spend on useless trainings that cost over 2 million dollars in Flordia just one big PARTY.

March of Dimes supports planned parenthood, they use stem cells from aborted babies to do research as well.

They are going through a realignment right now because they have been operating in the RED for 3 years and now they are trying to find money to save the organization.

It's so many snakes in this place it's just sad!!! They could care LESS about saving babies and THATS THE TRUTH!!!

Like all companies there are pros and cons. Providing care to our clients is hands down the best part of our jobs. It is hard, but so rewarding.  When it comes to advancing within the company, I feel that they base their decision on who has been there the longest. Which is backwards in my opinion when you are in the field of dealing with human care. Anyone can learn policies and programs, but you can’t teach care and compassion. You either have it or you don’t. That isn’t at the forefront of the hiring process and it definitely should be. Listen to your staff and to your clients, pay attention to who they feel comfortable with having as their leader. Stop basing it on experience and who answered interview questions the best. Base it on who is genuine, passionate and committed to what this company stands for and someone who strives to bring positive change and leadership to the programs and most importantly providing the best possible care to our clients everyday. 

It's been a great ride at the March of Dimes. For more than 16 years I have helped to improve the health of mothers and babies by positioning this organization as the leading mom and baby nonprofit in the U.S. It is a noble and rewarding job.

I am also lucky to have worked with some incredibly talented individuals. They've taught me the meaning of perseverance, hard work and what it means to work as a team. 

It's also been a pleasure to serve the thousands of volunteers who have personal connections to our mission and are our true inspiration.

I'm only as good as my last success. That means I'm always working to succeed every day. It's that and trying to communicate with one voice throughout the foundation are some of my greatest challenges at the foundation.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Development director 4 salaries reported	$82,059 per year
Director 3 salaries reported	$108,333 per year
Manager 4 salaries reported	$76,250 per year
Business development specialist 5 salaries reported	$24.70 per hour
Vice president 3 salaries reported	$126,667 per year

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