PBN Best Places To Work Awards 2023
SMALL COMPANIES #7: Rhode Island Foundation
Employees in R.I. 49
CEO and President David N. Cicilline
Questions answered by Chris Barnett, Senior Communications and Marketing Officer
What three words best describe your staff? Dedicated, passionate, team-oriented.
How would you describe the culture of your workplace? Our culture is service-oriented, mission-driven and performance-focused. As Rhode Island’s community foundation, we understand the responsibility we have to meet the needs of all Rhode Islanders – and our team works tirelessly at a very high level to do just that.
What role does diversity, equity and inclusion play in your hiring and promotion decisions? Diversity and inclusion play a very important role in our hiring and promotion decisions. Our goal is for the foundation team to reflect the entire community we serve, with an eye toward building trusting relationships across the diverse cross-sections of the people, institutions, organizations and sectors that we interact with, while embracing the cultural diversity of the state.
Do you have a preference for promoting existing staff or hiring from outside and why? Promoting from within enables us to reward outstanding performance and to capitalize on existing institutional knowledge and buy-in on our mission. We can’t always do it, but the advantages have value to us, as well as to the communities we serve.
