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How to Recruit Nonprofit Employees Effectively

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A guest post by Jennifer Loftus, Astron Solutions

If your nonprofit is facing recruitment challenges, you’re not alone. According to the 2023 Nonprofit Workforce Survey, three of four nonprofits reported job vacancies. Filling open positions quickly is critical so your organization can continue providing services and working toward its mission effectively.

However, you shouldn’t just hire the first candidate who walks in the door. Recruiting employees for your nonprofit’s team requires a strategic approach to attract candidates who are passionate about your organization’s mission and committed to making a difference.

Your organization’s internal culture and infrastructure are integral to your success. Therefore, you must recruit motivated employees who can quickly ease into your workflow while offering diverse perspectives to improve your strategies and optimize your results. This is especially important if your nonprofit is gearing up to launch a major initiative, such as a capital campaign.

Use these best practices to recruit talented individuals to your organization’s team.

Clearly define the role and responsibilities

Finding the right candidates for your nonprofit’s open positions requires communicating clearly through every step of the hiring process.

Start by clearly defining the role’s responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations. Astron Solutions recommends crafting a compelling job description with these key elements:

  • A job title that accurately reflects the nature of the position
  • A summary of the position that outlines core duties and responsibilities
  • Relevant logistics, such as expected hours of work, format (remote, in-person, or hybrid), typical schedule, and the location of the position
  • Organization overview, including your nonprofit’s history, mission, goals, and culture
  • A detailed list of specific duties, including daily tasks
  • The qualifications you’re looking for, like education, experience, certifications, and skills
  • Relationships and information about where the position falls in your organization’s hierarchy (include who the role reports to, for example)
  • A salary range for the position, particularly where required by law
  • Benefits, such as paid time off, healthcare benefits, and retirement plans
  • Additional statements as needed, such as an equal opportunity policy statement, at-will employment statement, or a statement about providing reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities

The more specific and descriptive you are, the easier it will be to attract talented recruits whose interests, skills, and experience align with your needs.

Your nonprofit’s mission statement is a particularly powerful recruiting tool. Highlight the meaningful work that employees will be contributing to and the difference they can make in the community.

This helps attract candidates who are aligned with your organization’s purpose and passionate about its cause.

Avoid job description “red flags”

Today’s job seekers have become increasingly discerning, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic altered expectations surrounding remote work and work-life balance. Recruits are more attuned to potential “red flags” to look for in job descriptions. We recommend avoiding the following cliche or “red flag” descriptors in your job postings:

  • Providing an extremely wide salary range. This could make the requirements you’re looking for seem ambiguous or arbitrary. For example, the responsibilities of a $40,000 per year role can vary widely from a $100,000 per year role.
  • Using urgency language like “fast-paced environment.” This signals to potential employees that an organization may not respect work-life boundaries or may expect unreasonable working hours.
  • Describing your workplace as a “family.” This familiar, casual language also tends to be a red flag for job seekers, as they often interpret this to mean a workplace has loose boundaries between personal and professional lives.

About half of all nonprofit professionals are experiencing high levels of burnout. Job seekers are looking for positions that won’t ask them to sacrifice a healthy life balance to work for a charitable cause. Ensure your job postings acknowledge that reality by avoiding these common red flags.

Use multiple recruitment channels

Cast a wide net by utilizing multiple recruitment channels to reach potential candidates. This may include posting job openings on:

  • Your nonprofit’s website
  • Job boards and newsletters, including nonprofit-specific boards
  • Social media platforms like LinkedIn
  • University and college job sites, newsletters, or text chains

Seek ways to make your hiring process more inclusive and recruit candidates from a variety of backgrounds. Diversify your job search to include job fairs, networking events, and newsletters targeted at connecting underrepresented groups with job opportunities. For example, work with a university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) office to share open roles on their newsletter or job board.

Engage current staff and supporters

Engaging with your existing nonprofit community can help you reach candidates who are already passionate about your cause. Tap into your network of staff, volunteers, donors, and supporters for referrals and recommendations. Ask these individuals to think about people in their lives who would be interested in your open positions and well-suited to the roles.

Provide materials or talking points to your network to help them promote your open positions. For example, make sure they have a link to your job posting on your website or LinkedIn. Also, encourage them to share about their experience at your organization to help determine whether the role would be a good fit.

Encourage current employees to share job openings with their networks and consider offering referral bonuses as incentives. Double the Donation also recommends spotlighting employees who go above and beyond in the recruitment process using recognition tools like eCards or loyalty awards. Use these tools to show employees your gratitude for helping to create a successful hiring process.

Offer competitive benefits and compensation

72% of respondents to the 2023 Nonprofit Workforce Survey said salary competition affects their ability to recruit and retain employees, followed by budget constraints and insufficient funds.

While financial constraints mean that nonprofits may not always be able to offer salaries as high as those in the for-profit sector, you can still seek to make your compensation and benefits packages as competitive as possible.

Communicate your compensation strategy clearly in your job posting, including information about:

  • Direct compensation, such as salary, bonuses, and overtime pay
  • Indirect compensation, including health insurance, retirement benefits, and paid time off
  • Unique benefits, such as flexible work arrangements, professional development opportunities, or a supportive work culture

This holistic approach to compensation is defined as the “total rewards approach,” depicted in this graphic:

Total rewards approach to compensation, including direct and indirect compensation

A total rewards approach is effective for nonprofits that may not be able to compete against for-profit organizations based on salary alone.  Clearly outlining your compensation information gives prospective employees a clear idea of what working at your organization would mean for their financial and professional goals. This allows recruits to determine if your position aligns with their vision for the future.

These tips will help kickstart your employee recruitment efforts, but if you need more support throughout the process, consider working with a nonprofit human resources consultant to help attract top talent. These professionals can offer guidance on your compensation and recruitment strategies based on their experience and industry best practices.

If you decide to work with a consultant, find a firm that has experience working with similar organizations and respects your organization’s culture and vision. The right partner can help manage not only your hiring process but also implement employee retention strategies that keep your nonprofit’s staff happy and energized.

Jennifer Loftus head shotAuthor: Jennifer C. Loftus, MBA, SPHR, PHRca, GPHR, SHRM-SCP, CCP, CBP, GRP

Jennifer C. Loftus is a Founding Partner of and National Director for Astron Solutions, a compensation consulting firm.  Jennifer has 23 years of experience garnered at organizations including the Hay Group, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Eagle Electric Manufacturing Company, and Harcourt General.

Jennifer has held volunteer leadership roles with SHRM, New York City SHRM, and WorldatWork. She serves as a subject matter expert to the SHRM Learning System and as a SHRM instructor.  Jennifer is a sought-after speaker for local & national conferences and media outlets.

Jennifer has an MBA in Human Resource Management with highest honors from Pace University and a BS in Accounting summa cum laude from Rutgers University.  Jennifer holds Adjunct Professor roles with Pace University, Long Island University, and LIM College.

Jennifer received the 2014 Gotham Comedy Foundation’s Lifetime Ambassador of Laughter Award.

How to Get Your Great Staff and Volunteers to Stay

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Engaged at work

How can you keep staff and volunteers excited to come to work?

A guest post by Sybil F. Stershic, Quality Service Marketing

True or False?

1. Mission matters in a nonprofit organization.
2. The people behind the mission – a nonprofit’s employees and volunteers – also matter.
3. Employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission ensure their commitment to a nonprofit organization.

The first two statements are true. While the third statement may be true in an ideal world, the reality is, while passion is critical, it’s not enough. Here’s why.

Every nonprofit will attract employees and volunteers who share a special affinity for its mission. People typically don’t work for a nonprofit for the money or glory. But a noble mission doesn’t guarantee a great workplace. If employees’ and volunteers’ work is not respected, and if they’re not given the tools needed to do their work, they’re not going to stay.

Bottom line: once engaged doesn’t mean always engaged.

The good news is, keeping staff and volunteers (including board members) engaged doesn’t involve anything complicated. It does require an intentional and ongoing application of internal marketing – a strategic blend of marketing, human resources, and management to ensure people have the resources and reinforcement they need to do their work. (Don’t be concerned with the “marketing” term as you don’t need to be a marketer to apply this approach.)

How to engage employees and volunteers with internal marketing

Internal marketing basically connects employees and volunteers on three fundamental levels:

• To the overall organization – to ensure everyone who works in the nonprofit understands its mission and goals, where they fit within the organization, and what’s expected of them in helping it achieve its goals.

• To the people the organization serves and those it works with in the process (such as donors, community influencers, advocates, etc.) – so staff and volunteers know who is important to the nonprofit and how to serve them.

• To fellow volunteers and employees – so they understand their individual and collective impact on the mission, along with how best to work together.

You can build these connections through a range of organizational activities that include but aren’t limited to: new staff and volunteer orientation; training; team building; and group meetings to share important information on new programs, policies, strategic plans, funding and organizational updates.

Nothing truly extraordinary – just whatever it takes to provide the necessary tools, attention, and reinforcement that enable the people behind the mission to do their best and know that their work is valued.

Even though I advocate “internal marketing” as a framework for engagement, it doesn’t matter what you call your approach to engage the people who work in your organization, as long as you are intentional and proactive in your efforts.

Remember, an inspiring mission may attract talented employees and volunteers to work with your nonprofit, but it takes much more to get them to stay. People need to feel they matter as much as their work.
—

Sybil F. Stershic, author of the award-winning Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits, is a respected thought leader, speaker, and facilitator who specializes in engaging employees with internal marketing. Active as a volunteer leader in many organizations, Sybil is a former chairman of the American Marketing Association. For more information, please visit her website and blog at Quality Service Marketing.

In the Beginning, Our Nonprofit…

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creation story

How do you tell your creation story?

One of the stories that nonprofits should know how to tell is what Andy Goodman calls the creation story. This story shares who started the organization, why it was started, and when it was started.

Your staff, Board, and membership can be informed and inspired by the story of “how we got here.” Here’s a creation story that made a difference to me.

When my wife and I came to Temple B’nai Brith in 1990, about half the members were retirees, in their 70’s and 80’s. The other half were people in their 30’s and early 40’s, with almost no one in between. The temple had existed since the early twentieth century, but by the time we arrived, the way it ran was so different, it was essentially a new organization.

We asked the younger generation, “How did you get involved in running a synagogue, in partnership with people old enough to be your parents?”

They told us:

We liked the people. We liked the building. We started spending time here on Saturday mornings. Eventually, the older generation came to us and said, “Look, we’re not getting any younger–you’re going to have to take over this synagogue.”

That came as a shock. It was surprising enough to some of us that we would even attend a synagogue–let alone run one!

The younger generation got together and decided we would present our elders with a demand they probably wouldn’t accept. We said, “If we take over this synagogue, we’re going to count women and men equally for all purposes. Ritual, membership, voting, you name it.”

The older folks thought a bit and said, “Well we’ve never done it that way before ….” (and we thought we  were off the hook!)

And then they said “…but we know a lot of places are doing it that way now, and we know you young women will take it just as seriously as the men, so…okay. What else do you want?”

And we couldn’t think of anything else! So now, it’s our synagogue. And we love it.

Look at what this story told Rona and me about the organization we were joining.

  • It’s based on friendships between people of different generations.
  • Members run it.
  • Members are committed to it.
  • Egalitarian values steer it.
  • Change is a part of its identity.

Because we knew the story, we knew what we were getting into: what we could expect and what was expected of us.

What’s your organization’s creation story? What does it tell the people who work there about why it exists and how they should act in the future?

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