“Consumed by chaos.” “Best place to work.” “It’s complicated.”
Those are among the descriptions about environmental and conservation groups on Glassdoor, a website that allows users to anonymously review employers’ workplace cultures.
The reviews of green nonprofits — ranging from glowing to scathing — offer unfiltered insight into workers’ experiences across the environmental and conservation sectors.
POLITICO’s E&E News reviewed Glassdoor ratings of 29 major environmental and conservation groups as of Jan. 26, excluding some with fewer than 25 reviews.
Those organizations employ thousands of employees across the United States and in offices around the world who are advocating for environmental and land protections. Many of those organizations have been rocked by the Trump administration’s drastic policy shifts over the past year.
Changing policies are just part of the turbulence facing green organizations. Some major environmental and conservation groups have laid off staff recently, reported fundraising woes and changed leaders. And groups across the sector are still grappling with how — or whether — to work with the administration on their priorities.
These ratings come with caveats. The platform’s anonymous reviews are aimed at encouraging candor, but Glassdoor admits that it can’t fully confirm users’ identities, the truthfulness of their contributions or their employment status. And the site’s critics say it skews toward encouraging rants from unhappy employees.
Still, the site offers a large data set about organizations’ morale, salaries, benefits and diversity. Job seekers often look to Glassdoor ratings for insights about workplace culture.
Here’s a look at the current ratings:
Ducks on top
Among the 29 groups reviewed, Ducks Unlimited received the top marks, getting 4.6 stars out of 5.
Glassdoor says its ratings are determined by employee feedback, with more weight given to more recent reviews. According to its scale, ratings between 4.4 and 5 indicate “very satisfied employees,” while ratings from 1 to 2.6 indicate “substantial challenges.”
“Our team is united by a shared passion for the resources we are working to conserve and a mutual respect for one another,” Ducks Unlimited CEO Adam Putnam, a former Republican member of Congress from Florida, said in a statement. “Our team’s strength is that we are nimble, entrepreneurial, and joyful.”
Other highly rated groups were Earthjustice (4.5), the Environmental Defense Fund (4.1), the World Resources Institute (4.0) and The Nature Conservancy (4.0).
Low marks
Environment America (2.2) and Defenders of Wildlife (2.6) received the lowest ratings of the groups reviewed. Other groups with some of the lowest ratings of those reviewed: Sierra Club (2.9); 350.org (3.2) and the League of Conservation Voters (3.2).
Those low-ranking organizations have all gotten new bosses in recent years, and the Glassdoor ratings don’t necessarily reflect shifts in morale inside the groups.
Recent reviews for Environment America complained about staffers’ low pay, grueling hours and insults lobbed by strangers during canvassing. Reviewers also said they loved the mission and their co-workers.
Environment America deploys droves of young canvassers around the country to talk to people they don’t know about issues where they might not agree.
“That can be hard, uncomfortable work,” said Lisa Frank, who took over as Environment America’s executive director in 2024. Her group is proud, she said, “to be able to offer many students and young adults their first jobs working to protect the natural world.”
Some of them “decide this isn’t for them. That’s OK,” Frank said. “We’re also proud to have a strong, passionate and talented team of core staff who have decadeslong track records delivering results for our members and the public on clean air, clean water, conservation, clean energy and climate change.”
Defenders of Wildlife’s current president and CEO, Andrew Bowman, started in August 2024. Since then, the Glassdoor reviews have been positive. “Way better since we got a new CEO,” one reviewer posted in April 2025. Another reviewer who identified themself as a former intern called it an “encouraging workplace.”
Since “our new CEO started in August 2024, we have only had 5-star ratings on Glassdoor and are actively recruiting and retaining high-caliber talent,” Defenders spokesperson Laura Sheehan said.
Sierra Club recently hired a new boss, too, after a turbulent stretch under former executive director Ben Jealous. Longtime Sierra Club leader Loren Blackford took the helm of the group last fall after Sierra Club’s board ousted Jealous from his position. Staffers inside the group said they were encouraged by the early days of Blackford’s leadership.
“Google the headlines,” wrote one reviewer in October, who gave the organization a rating of 3.0. Another reviewer identified as a former employee wrote in November that the group was “consumed by chaos.” The most recent post about Sierra Club, dated Jan. 18, called the group an “excellent organization” with “great pay, benefits, and work environment.”
The global climate activism group 350.org also got a new boss in early 2025. Anne Jellema succeeded May Boeve as the group’s executive director a year ago. That group decided to “temporarily suspend programming” in the U.S. and other countries amid funding woes, POLITICO reported in November.
The League of Conservation Voters also saw a leadership shakeup recently; Pete Maysmith took over as president in April 2025 to succeed Gene Karpinski, who had led the group for 18 years.
“Solid place to work, not without its problems,” one reviewer posted about LCV in June 2025.
Workplace culture
The National Parks Conservation Association, a parks advocacy group, received a 3.9 rating on Glassdoor, landing it among the top-rated groups analyzed.
“We’re grateful that staff continue to love working here, with many staying for decades,” said Robin McKenna, NPCA’s chief operating officer. That group offers staff a 32-hour workweek and flexible remote schedules. “Giving people the space they need to work meaningfully has strengthened our work and our culture,” McKenna said.
The Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based public health advocacy organization, also has a 3.9 rating on Glassdoor.
“EWG benefits from having smart, committed people who care deeply about our mission,” said Caroline Leary, the group’s chief operating officer and general counsel. “We value employee feedback as an important way to continuously strengthen our workplace culture. These ratings reflect a collaborative environment and meaningful work and help inform how we continue to evolve as an organization.”
Greenpeace’s Glassdoor rating is 3.8, including reviews from Greenpeace offices around the world.
Greenpeace USA, the U.S.-based branch of the global network of independent campaigning organizations, is “constantly striving to foster a people-first workplace that honors our hardworking, dedicated staff,” said Greenpeace USA spokesperson Madison Carter.
“We’re committed to upholding our hard-negotiated union responsibilities and continuing to improve our internal systems and culture,” Carter said.
