Avantages
Extremely rewarding cause, generally a good sense of camaraderie among the other canvassers and with management. Job was especially pleasant and not stressful if you had any sort of skill. Vastly improved my speaking and general people skills. Got to travel to different cities and states for work. Recognized that dress codes have been historically used primarily to unfairly single out women and did not enforce one as a result.
Inconvénients
Morale within the office fluctuated massively because of people constantly being laid off. As a non-profit, they couldn't afford to keep people on who weren't meeting their fundraising quotas, but as a result this meant that there was an extremely high turnover rate. Ignorance and absence of certain Human Resources policies led to some sticky situations and in some cases could have been a source of litigation. There didn't exist a person in upper management who served as an impartial HR person. If there had been any abuse of power or sexual harassment there very easily could have been a lawsuit. Thankfully nothing went on like that while I was there, however I did encounter a former canvasser who spoke about experiencing sexual harassment within the office. In addition to that, the canvassers, and especially the female ones experienced a huge degree of harassment while street canvassing. One of my coworkers was even assaulted in broad daylight and had to quite literally fight off a group of teenage boys. After calling the police, and contacting the head office, she was advised to simply move over a block and continue canvassing in the same area. She was also penalized for not meeting her quota for the day because of the time taken up speaking to the police. Beyond that, we frequently worked longer than eight hours and were encouraged to work through our MANDATORY thirty minute lunch break. Lunch breaks were more often than not viewed as optional, and many times I was guilty of skipping mine to strategically gain favor with my bosses. When traveling out of town for what was known as "camping canvasses" the budget was so bare bones that we stayed in motels that were roach and rodent infested, and since we were not offered a per diem to pay for meals (which is an industry standard) we had to use our out of pocket to grocery shop. A few times I had to skip meals to save money.