[INFOGRAPHIC] State of the Nonprofit Workplace 2019

We’ve all seen the stats outlining the poor retention rates for working fundraisers, with most leaving their positions every 16-18 months.

Researcher Penelope Burk found that this costs nonprofits $127,650 in direct and indirect costs every time a fundraiser needs to be backfilled.

While there’s a lot of (good!) ideas and strategies for improving your employee retention rates, we were curious how the average nonprofit employee feels right now about the workplace culture, benefits, perks and other qualities they’re currently experiencing at the nonprofits they work for.

So we teamed up with our friend and employee advocate Mazarine Treyz of Wild Woman Fundraising, put the word out and got around 1,000 responses.

You can see the results of our survey below:

KEY FINDINGS – State of the Nonprofit Workplace – 2018/2019

What’s behind the high turnover rates (19%) in the nonprofit industry? What keeps employees engaged? Motivated? How can you keep them from walking out the door? Bloomerang recently surveyed 1,093 nonprofit employees to find out which workplace and employee benefits mattered most. Here is what they reported:

Employee Benefits

Salary was among the top 5 most important employee benefits, however, employees ranked paid time off and paid family leave even higher.

Paid time off – 1038
Paid family leave – 1031
Salary – 1020
Paid overtime – 1016
Paid sick days off – 1004
401K/retirement savings – 974
Pension plan – 881
Health insurance quality – 771
Access to disability insurance – 724
Health insurance cost – 618

(Described by respondents as “very important” or “important”)

Workplace Qualities

Survey respondents ranked a flexible work schedule (including working from home) as the most important workplace quality.

Flexible work schedule – 1056
Paid continuing education – 1042
Engaged/supportive supervisor – 1002
Supportive board – 983
Tuition reimbursement – 966
Quality facilities/clean work environment – 955
Open space work environment – 898
On-site childcare – 863
Diverse/equitable culture – 759
Quality of tools/software – 663

(Described by respondents as “very important” or “important”)

Motivation & Team Support

Based on survey responses, nonprofit employees are experiencing varying degrees of support in the workplace.

We have a good structure to address conflict

Excelling	115
Pretty good	334
Neutral	257
Struggling	245
Failing miserably	128

preferred not to answer – 14

My boss cares about how I want to grow and supports me to get there

Excelling	329
Pretty good	440
Neutral	151
Struggling	110
Failing miserably	52

preferred not to answer – 11

We celebrate the small wins

Excelling	218
Pretty good	495
Neutral	188
Struggling	132
Failing miserably	50

preferred not to answer – 10

Everyone helps each other here

Excelling	315
Pretty good	477
Neutral	138
Struggling	111
Failing miserably	43

preferred not to answer – 10

Demographics

Women make up more than 85% of the nonprofit workforce, while employees of all ages were equally represented in the sector, including Millennials (ages 23 to 38 in 2019).

Gender

Male – 133
Female – 937
Non-binary – 4
Other – 2
preferred not to answer – 17

Age

20-30 – 157
30-40 – 262
40-50 – 213
50-60 -243
60-65 – 95
65+ – 72
preferred not to answer – 51

Do you work multiple jobs?

Yes – 350
No – 734
preferred not to answer – 9

Years worked in nonprofit sector

0-5 – 256
5-10 – 228
10-15 – 190
15-20 – 128
20+ – 266
preferred not to answer – 25

Salary Breakdown

Not surprisingly, employees earned more based on increasing their level of experience. However, women earned less than men across all categories, including based on years of experience and the size of organization.

Avg. salary by experience

0-5 years: $44,505
5-10 years: $51,040
10-15 years: $60,032
15-20 years: $70,523
20+ years: $69,498

Avg. salary by gender

Female: $56,404
Male: $69,017
Nonbinary: $46,000
Other: $35,000

Avg. salary by gender + organization size (male)

$0-$99,999: $41,600
$100,000-$499,999: $55,198
$500,000-$999,999: $56,133
$1,000,000-$4,999,999: $78,394
$5,000,000-$9,999,999: $91,363
$10,000,000-$99,999,999: $74,332
$100,000,000+: $132,500

Avg. salary by gender + organization size (female)

$0-$99,999: $37,504
$100,000-$499,999: $42,237
$500,000-$999,999: $51,139
$1,000,000-$4,999,999: $60,107
$5,000,000-$9,999,999: $69,555
$10,000,000-$99,999,999: $66,408
$100,000,000+: $75,368

Avg. salary by gender + experience (male)

0-5 Years: $53,070
5-10 Years: $62,934
10-15 Years: $64,294
15-20 Years: $85,441
20+ Years: $77,898

Avg. salary by gender + experience (female)

0-5 Years: $43,285
5-10 Years: $49,963
10-15 Years: $59,669
15-20 Years: $68,150
20+ Years: $67,812

Avg. salary by age

Ages 20-30: $42,305
Ages 30-40: $53,692
Ages 40-50: $64,391
Ages 50-60: $62,509
Ages 60-65: $62,965
Ages 65+: $66,751

Future Plans

About 35 percent of nonprofit employees predicted that they wouldn’t be working at their current organization 2 years from now. Younger employees were more likely to predict an exit, with more than half of 20- to 30-year-olds agreeing with that statement.

Plan on working at current organization 2 years from now?