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?
- 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
Wahoo! These stats will help us make a case for more benefits for our sector!
Excellent info. Thank you for sharing. Am
Excellent information and most of it is very true in the nonprofit sector.
I worked and loved, and still care greatly about fundraising as a senior who has been in this field more than 25 years.
Kudos to Penelope B and many others who comprised this extensive survey/ report.
Susan J. Kern
Great information. I would love to see this in comparison to for-profit industry