Key Insights on Nonprofit Employment Trends & Practices

Serving the community, providing education, tools, training and other vital services to a disadvantaged group, veterans, immigrants or others is the mission of most nonprofit organizations. While robust funding including donations, grants and fundraising events are essential to keeping an organization serving, it’s the employees that transform the dollars into actions that fulfill the mission. Whether it’s providing shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry or training and other services, nonprofit employees are on the front line of service delivery every day. This means that senior nonprofit executives need to spend time managing common employment challenges and issues. The 2017 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey, conducted by Nonprofit HR, provides important insights into the hiring trends, practices and policies impacting nonprofits. To help clients, prospects and others understand the survey results and what it means for their organization, Wilson Lewis has provided a summary of key findings below.

About the Study

The survey includes responses from 420 nonprofit executives in the United States and Canada from organizations of various sizes. It was designed to collect information on nonprofit staffing, recruitment trends and retention best practices from nonprofit executives, HR Directors and Managers. The survey included a mix of input styles including multiple choice questions, rating scales and short answer questions to gain critical details on trends and practices.

Key Findings

• Nonprofit Hiring Trends – The survey found that nonprofits will continue to hire new staff this year. According to the survey, 50% of respondents indicated they will be hiring additional staff to manage organizational needs. While this represents a 7% decline over the prior year, the trend shows that new hiring remains a priority for organizations.
• Talent Strategy – The survey found that although hiring demand is strong, many nonprofits lack formal recruitment and retention policies to guide efforts. According to the survey, 64% of respondents indicated they don’t have a formal recruitment strategy or program and 81% indicated that they lack a formal retention policy or program. While the need for qualified staff is high, many organizations simply lack the needed policies to attract, grow and retain talent. This makes it difficult for them to be successful with talent development.
• Top Talent Challenge(s) – The survey found that nonprofits without recruitment, retention and other talent management strategies faced similar challenges in talent management. According to the survey, 27% indicated that hiring qualified staff within budget restraints was a challenge, 22% identified maintaining salary budgets against market pressures as a challenge, 18% identified finding qualified staff as a challenge and 6% identified retaining support/entry level staff as a challenge. Other challenges mentioned include finding the time to recruit and interview with other duties, retaining millennial staff, retaining experienced staff and attracting passive job seekers.
• Retention Challenges – While retention is a key concern across nonprofit function, there was interest in identifying the functional area with the highest retention issues. According to the survey, 34% experienced issues in direct services, 18% with program management and support, 13% with fundraising and development and 9% with finance, accounting and human resource professionals. Other areas mentioned include marketing and communications, education and community outreach and advocacy and government relations.
• Increased Turnover Rates – Unfortunately, it appears the problem of turnover is not subsiding for survey respondents. According to the survey, 11% indicated they expect turnover to increase, 59% remain the same and 29% expect a decrease. Reducing turnover for key positions is essential to the long-term vitality of a nonprofit – especially when succession planning is a concern.

Contact Us

Every industry has to manage their own unique set of challenges and employment and recruiting is one that nonprofits have struggled with for many years. It’s clear from the survey results that nonprofits need to develop a plan to help their organization reduce turnover and facilitate greater professional development of key employees. If you have questions about the survey or need assistance with an audit or tax issue, Wilson Lewis can help. For additional information please call us at 770-476-1004 or click here to contact us. We look forward to speaking with you soon.