If you’ve worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 10 minutes, you know just how incredibly difficult it is to find and keep great people. The staffing challenges in our sector aren’t new, but it seems like the challenges have become more pronounced over the last few years. At least that’s what I keep hearing from clients and friends in our sector.
Recently, my friends at Dickerson Bakker & Associates commissioned a new study on this topic, HELP WANTED: A National Study of Staffing Challenges in Nonprofit Fundraising. We sat down with Derric Bakker, President/CEO to discuss the findings, which I think you’ll find fascinating and helpful in your work (and you just might take comfort in having some hard data that validates what you’ve been feeling too!).
Here are some of the key learnings from this new study:
1. Our sector is indeed facing a severe shortage of qualified fundraisers in the marketplace (this most significantly impacts major gift fundraisers)
2. The idea of the 18-month turnover cycle is largely a myth (though there’s a small group of habitual job-hoppers that muddy the water on this topic)
3. Sadly (and of great concern), only 12% of survey respondents strongly affirmed their Board and executive leadership were actively involved in raising organizational support
4. Turnover is a big problem (mostly) for small(er) organizations
5. If we want to fix these problems, nonprofit hiring strategy and practices need to change significantly. After all, retaining your best talent starts with making the right hiring decision in the first place (and this is NOT just about the candidates)
6. Too few organizations are addressing the key issues that lead to the departure of fundraising staff, which serves only to perpetuate the problems for future hires
7. Organizations that were rated as “development friendly” had a greater likelihood of experiencing moderate or large increases in fundraising results in the last 2-3 years
8. CEO engagement in fundraising is critical to organizational success. In fact, the more a CEO enjoys and is involved in fundraising, the greater the likelihood that her or his organization’s fundraising income saw increases in recent years
These insights just scratch the surface. You can download the full report here to help guide your organization’s hiring strategy and decision-making for success in the future!
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