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Fund For The Public Interest Reviews
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Fund For The Public Interest Reviews
Review in Staff category from Brooklyn, New York
I've been dealing with their fund raising people for several years. Usually they stand in teams of two or more at New York City locations soliciting donations. They can be pushy. The most recent encounter I had was kind of negative. When it came out in conversation that I'm unemployed at the moment, the young man proceeded to try to get money from me anyway. In a large city like New York, we encounter these people on an almost daily basis. Even someone who donates something ends up being irritated by someone asking for money the next day. Sometimes later the same day. We are not ATM machines.
ID
Location
Brooklyn, New York
Review in Staff category from Weehawken Township, New Jersey
My experience with the Fund has been with the fundraisers they have stationed in pairs or more throughout NYC. They can be very aggressive. In conversation with a young man I encountered just yesterday I revealed that I am currently unemployed but he proceeded to try to get money from me anyway. A big part of the problem we have with these folks in New York is that we're approached by them just about every day! Even if someone donates money, they're being asked again the next day. Sometimes even later the same day! We are not ATM machines!
ID
Location
Weehawken Township, New Jersey
Reason of review
Poor customer service
Misleading and Manipulative
I recently quit from this organization after my third day. I was hired for a position that didn't really exist. They recruited at my school and were extremely misleading about what I would be doing. Everything about these organizations is calculated, manipulative, and scripted. On my first day I was told to make calls to people who had responded to our ads, telling them we thought they were good candidates even though I was instructed not to actually review their application because there was not enough time. They tell you that you will be raising awareness and fundraising, only you never get told what they money is actually going toward, you don't get to participate in what is said or done. They basically treat you as a mouth piece for their own profit. The hypocrisy is almost laughable if not for the fact that I turned down other employment opportunities after having been mislead that this would be a great opportunity to do good and grow my skill-set. Avoid this organization at all costs.
ID
Location
San Diego, California
Cons
- How they lied to me and wasted my time
Reason of review
Bad quality
Cutthroat, unethical company.
This company is cutthroat and brutal. They use you like toilet paper and the bare second you miss quota, they dump you like used toilet paper. Don't waste your time working for these 'people'. They expect you to pressure poor people to give money they don't have and if you don't do it, they fire you! I worked for the fund as a phone fundraiser for about a month. For the first 2 weeks, I was working on projects with high yes-factor. For the second 2 weeks, I was cold calling (which I was told that they don't do when I got hired) We called after 9PM on Sundays. We were pushed to pressure people into donating more and more money whether or not they actually were ABLE to give. During this time, I was low on quota for 2 weeks. Not by much, but that didn't matter. I was fired. Now I'm scrambling for a way to keep the roof over my single parent family's heads and support my kids.
ID
Location
Portland, Oregon
Reason of review
Poor customer service
New Reviewer
Beware of working for Fund for the Public Interest
Fund for the Public Interest, Public Interest Research Group, Grassroots Campaign Initiative, they go by several names and often times advertise on websites like craigslist under the non-profit jobs section. By and large, they promise unemployed and young college students "jobs for good causes" but what they do not tell people is the 70-80 work weeks, high turnover amongst staff, 7 day work weeks, missed paychecks, bounced paychecks, misleading advertising, and engaging in union busting amongst their staff. These groups have been a major problem and pain in the butt where I live in Sacramento and I would like craigslist to take down their ads. They hire people to do "canvassing" and that is going door to door asking people for money. Sometimes Grassroots pays their workers, sometimes they don't. Major problems with workers trying to take their paychecks to the bank and the checks would bounce. The average work length of an average worker who lasts with The Fund ranges anywhere from one to three days. There hasn't been anything good said about these organizations. If anyone has had any experiences with them please share.
29 comments
ID
Location
Sacramento, California
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I work for the fund @ environment new york. It's been exactly 2 weeks and at least 3 people get fired or quit each day.
The director at the office (Jasper) (he's the worst) seems to fire black men and uglier women first, the office is mostly pretty white people. If he doesn't like people he sends them to the worst locations until they miss quota.
We only get 400 a week in pay, we hardly get reimbursed for travel (sometimes we have to pay upwards of 30 dollars to go to Westchester multiple times a week), and on my first day, people who weren't conventionally attractive or didnt know someone here was sent home. If I'm not fired today, I'm quitting.
I got hired out of college to be a "director." Over the sumer I moved to the location of the office, and got an apartment. Even though I knew the pay was terrible (I was salaried at minimum wage), I was excited to be working for a non-profit and felt that working for minimum wage was a way in which I was contributing to the causes.
For my first two weeks I was required to work 80 hours/week (9AM-midnight M-F, 9-noon on weekends).
Even though I was enthusiastic and willing to work overtime, I found the 80 hour work weeks unsustainable -- I literally did not have enough time to eat and sleep, let alone exercise or do anything else.
Feeling like a total failure, I met with my supervisor and apologetically told her that unfortunately I didn't feel I could work more than 70 hours/week. Her response: "That's not an option."
I should also mention that I was one of the top fundraisers for the two weeks that I worked there.
At my location the hours (for a canvasser) are just 40 per week but paychecks are being missed and we are being regularly sent out in sub zero weather. Turnover is insane because of the unreasonable quota.
This has changed, I have worked there since May, and have people here who have worked for over three years. They just put in a max hours per week at 24. I haven't had any problems with checks at all.
They are the worst place to work for I can't believe it's even legal in America! I got fired the first day after raising one hudred dollars and now after going on the internet i found out that this is a regular thing!
They suck! Anything I can do to be a part of protestring them imin!
Email at queen43.dn@***.com thanks! Deb!
I worked for them for a day. They gave me an impossible quota to make on my first day.I made them money but was under quota and they fired me my first day. They refused to pay me for those 8 hours I worked *** them.
This was basically what happened to me at the NYC office also. I know this is for CA, but I want everyone to be aware.
The Fund was/is hiring, and they sound like drones. The "wrap" has be memorized, word for word. No exceptions. That's it.
You either know it or you don't. Deviate a single bit and they let you go.
The directors are highly dismissive to say the least, and filing complaints to anyone higher up in the organization gets you no where. I'd say avoid them. If anything, find a cause and research other ways to work with it, because canvassing isn't the way to go.
The fact that a well-known org like HRC paired up with them is unfortunate.
I'm sure people will argue that my experience was my fault or something. Fine, I don't argue some of it was me.
But if you're going to treat EVERY SINGLE prospective hire like this, they're going to burn through potential candidates. Not just the ones in it for the cash, but the ones who really, truly want to make a difference and help "further the cause."
Well they posted at my school under JobsforGoodCauses.org, the contact was a Sandy @ 415-362-**** and the number just rings?
Thank you all for these postings. I got the job to work as an director, really they told me I could work almost anywhere, but because of the pay and the long hours I decided to do some research and I am glad I did.
I decided not to take the job because of my own experience and unreasonable labor. I already do canvassing and it is wrong of them not to give their employees overtime and fire them so quickly. If this is truly a social and environmental progressive grassroots organization they need to realize what the term labor laws mean.
It is unethical and unreasonable to overwork recent college students. If they truly believe in what they are preaching then they shouldn't try and burn out the upcoming generations of truly passionate individuals who want to make a difference!
I got a job as a director but turned it down because the commute would have been literally impossible. They wanted me to work in Philadelphia from 11:00 am to 10:30 pm.
If I didn't make the canvassing quota within three days I would be fired, so there was no way I was putting a deposit on an apartment. I had relatives I could stay with, but the last train leaves Philadelphia at 10:45, and I had no way of knowing that I would be able to get from wherever I was canvassing to the station by that time. I emailed them a week ago to tell them I wasn't able to take the job, and they still haven't responded.
I wouldn't suggest anyone take this job unless they were really desperate. The hours are insane, and mostly outside, I imagine you get yelled at alot, and even if you don't get fired the pay is actually less than minimum wage.