Horizons Fall/Winter 2019

INDUSTRY UPDATE NOT-FOR-PROFIT

Many Not-For-Profits are Struggling to Retain Talent by Amy Altholz, CPA, CGMA P er the John Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies’ 2019 Nonprofit Employment Report , in 2016 the United

The Nonprofit Finance Fund, State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey 2018 found that 59% of respondents were challenged by employing enough staff. This is magnified by another challenge many not-for-profit organizations face — limited resources to serve an ever increasing demand, resulting in many organizations unable to offer the competitive salaries and benefits of the for- profit sector. The obvious answer to this employment challenge is to pay employees more. However, in most instances, this is not feasible for organizations. Instead, organizations must think outside of the box on ways to attract and retain this talent.

States nonprofit sector was the third largest workforce of any U.S. industry, employing more than 12.3 million paid workers (or approximately 10.2% of the total U.S. private workforce). There’s no doubt that it takes a lot of dedicated, committed and passionate employees to improve our communities. However, with a competitive job market fueled by unemployment at its lowest level in nearly 50 years, finding and retaining these types of employees is a challenge for many not-for-profit organizations.

Many Not-For-Profits are Struggling to Retain Talent

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