First, a community; then a job

Yes. Only for projects we write or contribute writing, with partners (local authorities, organisations, universities) around the world we value; and only for things and ideas we want to do. We believe very much in our work, and we think it would be immoral to turn down funding we could do important things with. Of course, unless it has constraints that go against our principles or requires us to do things we don’t want to. We have turned down projects (also big ones) that would have compromised this.

No. But not in principle. If there was funding, offered by the Greek government, that would allow us to do things we consider meaningful, without having to compromise our principles, we would try to secure it. In these ten years it has never happened, but it might be that we haven’t been good enough at finding it.

We have legal entities in 4 different countries, with Greece, Ioannina, being our headquarter. Overall, last year 62% of our funding came from grants and foundations, 38% from small donations on our websites.

No. And definitely not Second Tree. The level of access and transparency we decided to commit to on topics like decision making, funding, policies, etc is totally at odds with that. Can you imagine a scam project where everyone knows what everyone else earns? If you'd like to talk to current or former team members, let us know. We are not transparent because we owe it to someone, but because it is our choice.

We don’t know either, what that means exactly. We have positions and responsibilities, but they don’t entail being right in a discussion (or a higher salary). Certainly, if a decision needs to be made with a tight time constraint, the person that is in charge of that position will make that decision. But that decision will be under everyone’s scrutiny. Actually, newer team members are required to provide points of improvement for their managers (and, hopefully, take their jobs!) We do not do this because we are “nice”, but because it’s the only way to keep improving the way we function.

Everyone creates their own schedule, with only a few meetings everyone is required to attend (for example, our team meeting is on Wednesday morning). That means that people often work very different schedules, some people prefer to work at night, some people on Saturday morning, some wake up early and finish early. But two things are true: we all work very hard, and there are commitments that have fixed times (e.g. if you are teaching Greek in a refugee camp, you’ll have a fixed schedule on the days you go there; if you work in the communication department, you’ll have fixed meetings with the comms team; etc).

It’s long. We have put a lot of effort, and time, in our recruitment process. We commit to answer you in 48hs, and to have human beings read what you write and speak to you. That shows how much we care about choosing people well. That is also reflected in the length of the process. The full length depends on your answers and our interactions, but it will likely include multiple interviews.

It’s quite unlikely. We don’t have lots of resources, and invest a lot in new team members. And, frankly speaking, only very few people are the right match for our team.

Yes. But most of the people in the team are based in Ioannina. Some people work full time remotely, some of them abroad. However, the roles that can be done remotely are fewer, so it’s more unlikely that you’ll be selected. If you want to work remotely, specify it in your email.

We have five houses in Ioannina that we all share, where the people in the team that ask for accommodation could stay. Wanting accommodation or not does not impact the likelihood of being selected. We do not provide food.

Yeah, we don’t do illegal stuff, and we don’t think we should. The policy is the same for everyone, and it depends on how long you’ll stay at Second Tree. New team members have a trial period, during which some expenses are refunded. For those of us who are staying longer, the easiest way to make sure we have enough money to survive is through a standard (and small) employment contract. The bureaucratic framework depends on the person’s circumstance (e.g. an American might be hired by Second Tree US). In general, for those who work in the headquarters in Greece, that is a normal EFKA contract.

It depends on your role. Even if your job is field based (like a Greek teacher), there will be a significant portion of other work (preparing your classes, Education meetings, etc).

Very, very different things. Some people worked in NGOs, some were in academia, some were doing manual jobs, some worked as journalists or in think tanks, many were (and some are) teachers. But there are many more options. One team member worked in finance, one was a scuba diving instructor, one for a TV channel.

No. It’s not “ok”, it’s required.

Generally speaking, it’s TAD (Trust And Discussion), our internal culture. We are very straightforward with each other. Our practices are: Good Faith, Transparency, Open Enquiry and High Expectations. Written this way, it can sound easy or vague, but caring for each other this much requires a lot of hard and very concrete effort.

Yes.

Our compensation policy was created with the central idea that we are not rewarding a job description, but allowing team members to live a decent life while doing our meaningful work, for as long as we all want. And use the rest of the resources to benefit refugees. We don’t believe it is morally wrong for humanitarians to have high wages, but it’s not how we want to do things. You can read more[ here](https://secondtree.org/compensation-philosophy/). Of course, ask us all the questions you’d like. Don’t be shy about this.

We don’t have a percentage, because we have never published an ad like this. In our normal volunteer applications, our acceptance rate is very low (in our latest internal report it was 1.8%).

We value the person before the skills that they bring. It’s useful to know what you are good at (and what you are bad at), but if our way of sharing purpose doesn’t resonate with you, it won’t last. Some of us used to believe that the humanitarian sector needed professionals, not good people. Now it’s very clear to us that we need good people first.