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.

  1. Paid time off – 1038
  2. Paid family leave – 1031
  3. Salary – 1020
  4. Paid overtime – 1016
  5. Paid sick days off – 1004
  6. 401K/retirement savings – 974
  7. Pension plan – 881
  8. Health insurance quality – 771
  9. Access to disability insurance – 724
  10. 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.

  1. Flexible work schedule – 1056
  2. Paid continuing education – 1042
  3. Engaged/supportive supervisor – 1002
  4. Supportive board – 983
  5. Tuition reimbursement – 966
  6. Quality facilities/clean work environment – 955
  7. Open space work environment – 898
  8. On-site childcare – 863
  9. Diverse/equitable culture – 759
  10. 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

Excelling115
Pretty good334
Neutral257
Struggling245
Failing miserably128

preferred not to answer – 14

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

Excelling329
Pretty good440
Neutral151
Struggling110
Failing miserably52

preferred not to answer – 11

We celebrate the small wins

Excelling218
Pretty good495
Neutral188
Struggling132
Failing miserably50

preferred not to answer – 10

Everyone helps each other here

Excelling315
Pretty good477
Neutral138
Struggling111
Failing miserably43

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?

  • Yes – 702
  • No – 382
  • preferred not to answer – 9

Plan on working in the nonprofit sector 2 years from now?

  • Yes – 954
  • No – 132
  • preferred not to answer – 7

Plan on working at current organization 2 years from now (by age)?

  • Ages 20-30: 48.4% Yes / 51.6% No
  • Ages 30-40: 57.3% Yes / 42.7% No
  • Ages 40-50: 70.8% Yes / 29.2% No
  • Ages 50-60: 73.0% Yes / 27.0% No
  • Ages 60-65: 76.8% Yes / 23.2% No
  • Ages 65+: 62.9% Yes / 37.1% No

Plan on working at current organization 2 years from now (by salary)?

  • $0-29,999: 57.6% Yes / 42.4% No
  • $30,000-59,999: 60.8% Yes / 39.2% No
  • $60,000-99,999: 71.2% Yes / 28.8% No
  • $100,000-149,999: 74.2% Yes / 25.8% No
  • $150,000+: 76.9% Yes / 23.1% No
Kristen Hay

Kristen Hay

Marketing Manager at Bloomerang
Kristen Hay is the Marketing Manager at Bloomerang. She also serves as the Director of Communications for the Public Relations Society of America's local Hoosier chapter. Prior to that she served on several different committees and in committee chair roles.
Kristen Hay