Job Openings, Few Applicants
How bad is the employment situation in the nonprofit world? According to statistics, it's pretty significant. Nonprofits across the country are having an exceedingly difficult time attracting workers.
With the enormous employment paradigm shift over the last few years, nonprofits have scrambled to meet workers’ demands. On top of this, with great inflation over the past 24 months, nonprofits have been behind the curve in increasing salaries to meet economic demands.
Several articles and studies have shown that it appears frontline positions, those who are in direct contact and service to the organization’s mission, are in the greatest need. And much of that has to do with two factors. First, it's challenging work. Second, when you have challenging work, you normally pay more to overcompensate for the challenges. The challenges with nonprofit finances have limited salaries so they cannot be as competitive with for-profit job opportunities.
Depending on where you are in the country, or even around the world, a fast-food worker can make anywhere from $17 to $20 an hour with immensely fewer issues and challenges with people, taking work home at night, etcetera. Nonprofits have attempted to create flex jobs and bonus structures, but according to studies, these have not helped in measurable ways to ensure we have frontline nonprofit employees.
Beyond those on the front line, there are also a great deal of openings in middle management and upper management, in particular with fundraisers. Anecdotally, I have a few clients who have lost fundraisers as they've jumped into the for-profit industry as business development professionals. It’s much of the same work in terms of skills and outreach but for as much as 50 to 60% more money. At a certain point, the mission will only take you so far if you can't meet your food, insurance, car, and house payments.
It's a tough argument because budgets are stretched at a time when employees are asking for more money. Nonprofits are going to have to become smarter about keeping their best talent and creating the right environment so that not only financially, but individually, they appreciate the opportunity to serve others.
