In contrast to all the discussion of an impending leadership deficit, a new report from the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies paints a rosy picture of the state of the nonprofit workforce. The Johns Hopkins Nonprofit Listening Post Project surveyed 277 nonprofits nationally and found that despite challenges to recruiting nonprofit staff, there has been a significant boom in nonprofit employment. John Hopkins might have us believe we should stop worrying and be happy we’re still attracting people to the nonprofit sector. It’s important to note, however, that the study did not focus on the recruitment of senior managers, who are presumably emerging leaders, but on front-line service workers including administrative staff. Though the report’s opening statements poo-poo the idea of a workforce crisis, it does wonder whether nonprofit managers are just being more aggressive and creative in their recruitment techniques to fill open positions.
There’s some really great information here to inform the nonprofit sector. However, while the report presents a promising view of the future of the nonprofit workforce, the report does lack a bit in terms of subsectors. The study only highlighted 5 subsectors: child and family services, theaters, museums, elderly housing and services and community and economic development. More variety could have been represented here to fully address a more well-rounded view of the nonprofit sector. Here are some nuggets I found interesting.
What Were the Difficulties in Recruiting Nonprofit Staff?
- Lack of competitive salaries
- Few opportunities for advancement
- Lack of competitive benefits
Over half of respondents reported having an extremely hard time recruiting candidates of color. Interestingly, one of the more surprising findings in view of the sizable proportions of organizations that identified serious challenges attracting people of color to their organizations, only about a third of the organizations implemented strategies specifically designed to attract such candidates.
How Did Managers Successfully Find Candidates?
- Word of mouth
- Current employee referrals
- Local newspapers
- Posting on others’ websites
- Recruit from recent interns
- Posting on organization’s website
- Advertise in field specific periodicals
- Recruit from recent volunteers
- Campus recruitment
- Nonprofit periodicals
- Increased starting salaries or benefits
- New media outlets (e.g., Web postings)
- Professional placement firms
- Offered referral or signing bonus
- Advertised in national markets
- Added or expanded internship/volunteer programs
- Partnered with other nonprofits
