Great place to work - Manager of Operations Foundation for Financial Planning Employee Review

The Foundation for Financial Planning has a small but super smart team committed to teamwork, excellence and constant innovation. We collaborate on everything and genuinely like each other. FFP's mission is truly motivating -- we are working not just to bring excellent financial advice and planning to underserved groups -- but to instill a rich tradition of pro bono service across an entire profession. Being small makes us agile and nimble with little bureaucracy -- we can think up a cool new idea in the morning and execute that same day! Our board of trustees is fantastic - passionate, engaged and committed to advancing our mission.

Because the staff is small, we all have to be willing to roll up our sleeves and do a variety of tasks to get the job done. We run on a fairly tight budget and typically spend on must-have items but not nice-to-have items. We work with many partners and grantees and our success can be somewhat dependent on what they are bringing to the effort. Often a pro, sometimes a con.

Great mission Strong leadership Positive, collaborative culture Organization is experiencing an exciting moment of growth and innovation Competitive salaries/benefits Smart, fun staff Having worked at FFP for 2 years, I feel compelled to speak to my positive experience to date. There is another review on this page posted by a former employee, who left the organization with little explanation and less than 2 weeks notice. Having been her direct counterpart for over a year, I can say that most everything she posted is unfounded based on my experience. I worked side-by-side with this employee and never once to my knowledge did she broach any major concerns with leadership, and certainly not with colleagues. It appears based on her comments that she also never brought any concerns to HR, which is managed through an outside company and fully accessible to employees. She continually appeared to struggle to keep up with the dynamic/progressive nature of the work and left the role on her own accord. I perceive that the sole purpose of this review was to harm the organization and CEO. The CEO is among the best managers I've worked with in my 10-year nonprofit career. Authentic, energetic, and open in his interactions with staff and board leadership, with an eye towards organizational growth and impact. As long as employees are producing strong work product, his management style is relatively hands-off vs. micromanagement. Culture is centered around openness, collaboration and hard work. Great work/life balance, and very smart, fun colleagues. Board of Trustees is very strong - an influential group of financial planners and financial services executives, highly engaged and committed to organization's long-term growth/success. Board has total oversight of budget and spending, which is fully transparent as that of a 501(c)(3) organization. Board and CEO are also supportive of the personal/professional growth of employees, offering raises and merit bonuses as budget allows. All in all, a rewarding place to work and especially to grow professionally.

- Small operation so there's not much support staff - Would not be optimal for an employee who needs/wants lots of hand-holding - Employees must be very strategic and able operate at a high-level to keep up with pace of organization and leadership