How to Combat the Nonprofit Workforce Crisis

A study of the nonprofit workforce conducted in 2021 by the National Council of Nonprofits revealed a rising workforce crisis. According to the study, nonprofit organizations were experiencing “intolerably high job vacancy rates,” causing harm to the individuals and communities they serve.

Policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels took notice and adopted some reforms to help solve the problem. However, a follow-up study conducted last year concluded that nonprofits are still dealing with an employee shortage, and their constituents continue to suffer as a result.

Three out of four nonprofits that responded to the 2023 Nonprofit Workforce Survey said they currently have job vacancies, and more than half (51.7%) stated they have more vacancies now than they did before the pandemic. Additionally, 28.1% said they have longer wait lists for services now than before the pandemic.

Common Nonprofit Job Vacancies

The most common nonprofit job vacancies are positions that interact frequently with the public and require in-person responsibilities. This includes three out of four nonprofits that report vacancies in program and service delivery positions. Here’s the breakdown of other vacancies:

• Entry-level positions: 41.1%

• Administration and human resources positions: 31.7%

• Department and fundraising positions: 25.2%

• Senior management positions: 12.5%

• Communications positions: 11.1%

Survey respondents listed a number of specific unfilled positions they are especially concerned about, including nurses, clinicians, social workers/counselors, maintenance staff, interns, grant writers, and specialists in finance and accounting.

Reasons for the Workforce Crisis

The survey identified a number of reasons for the nonprofit workforce crisis:

Nonprofits with annual operating budgets of less than $5 million face greater salary competition challenges than larger nonprofits. Of course, boosting salaries creates sustainability challenges for nonprofit organizations and may impact their unrestricted reserves.

Nonprofits with annual operating budgets between $100,000 and $500,000 reported that lack of financial resources is a severe challenge in hiring qualified staff. One nonprofit in Oregon said budget constraints make it difficult to pay competitive salaries, leading to staff members feeling like they are stretched too thin and ultimately resulting in stress and burnout (see below).

The challenges of stress and burnout are especially acute for nonprofit human services providers. One nonprofit in Montana reported that upper-level staff are struggling the most with burnout due to heavy workloads.

These systems impose inefficiencies, financial hardships, and operational instability on nonprofit organizations of all sizes and across all sectors. One nonprofit in New York stated that funding from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had not increased from their original agreement issued four years earlier.

Childcare is especially challenging for nonprofits that primarily serve Black, Indigenous, and other constituents of color, as well as rural communities and people with disabilities.

Solutions to the Workforce Crisis

After addressing their vacancies and potential pain points, survey participants were invited to share ideas for solutions to the nonprofit workforce crisis they had identified or implemented themselves. Here are the most common responses and the percentage of nonprofits that listed them:

• Increase salaries: 66%

• Offer remote work options: 57.7%

• Create a more robust benefits package: 40.9%

• Pay one-time bonuses: 39.3%

• Implement diversity, equity, and inclusion training and strategies: 39.2%

• Offer career advancement opportunities via training and mentorship: 35.8%

• Offer expanded mental health benefits: 23.7%

• Offer wellness programs, including four-day workweeks and additional paid time off: 22.6%

• Offer signing bonuses: 16.5%

One novel idea cited by 21.3% of participants is to notify employees about their eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. This allows student loan borrowers who work full-time for charitable nonprofit organizations to earn federal student loan debt forgiveness after working there for 10 years and making 120 qualifying monthly payments. This can serve as a powerful inducement for hiring young employees carrying student loan debt.

Nonprofits also identified several public policy solutions to the employment crisis. These included calling on Congress to restore the ability for all Americans to deduct charitable contributions on their federal tax returns and calling on the federal government to invest more money in affordable housing and transit-oriented development.

Plan Strategies Now

Now is the time to plan strategies for how your organization will conquer the nonprofit workforce crisis. Meeting this challenge could be instrumental in achieving your program goals moving forward.

Impacts of the Nonprofit Workforce Crisis

When nonprofits cannot remain fully staffed, the public suffers due to longer wait lists, reduced services, and even the denial of services altogether. The ripple effects can be devastating for vulnerable community members who may lose access to food, shelter, mental health care, and other vital services.

One out of four nonprofits responding to the 2023 Nonprofit Workforce Survey reported they had wait lists for services longer than one week, 11.5% had wait lists between one and four weeks, and 12.9% had wait lists longer than one month.

Not surprisingly, there is a strong correlation in the data between the number of job vacancies and the length of wait lists. In other words, if a nonprofit does not have enough employees to meet community demand for its goods and services, its wait lists will be longer.

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