Opportunity Knocks Nonprofit Retention and Vacancy Report 2010

INTRODUCTION

The economic downturn continues to impact the nonprofit sector in a variety of ways. Despite fewer resources, the demand for nonprofit services has not changed, and in many cases, has grown. Charitable giving is down and many nonprofits have taken a hit in their governmental funding. Nonprofits employ over 13 million paid workers which represents approximately 10% of the total US workforce. Add to that the recipients of services, volunteers, and philanthropists, and it’s easy to see that the health of the sector affects a large number of people. While none of us has control over the economy, anyone who is part of a nonprofit leadership team should be acutely focused on saving money and cutting costs. One simple (but not easy) way to do so is by decreasing employee turnover.

Staff turnover and retention rates are concerns for all employers, but especially so in the current economy. Being as efficient as possible with organizational dollars is a top priority, and reducing turnover rates is one reliable way to ensure funds are going towards program costs. While turnover rates may be lower than before the economic downturn, reducing your rate further is low hanging fruit in the effort to operate efficiently.

Finding a way to trim turnover rates will always contribute to the nonprofit bottom line by reducing operating costs. These efforts can be a simple method for decreasing the costs of running a nonprofit, but require dedication and an investment of time and resources on the part of the employer.

The issue of staff turnover is complex and involves many factors. The trick is to identify those areas that can be influenced and design effective strategies for doing so. Has your nonprofit taken an honest and analytical look at the turnover it is experiencing? Identifying the root causes is the only real way to effectively address and stem the tide of turnover and its accompanying impact upon your organization.

To provide nonprofits with current information and suggestions for addressing turnover and vacancy rates, Opportunity Knocks conducted its own research for the second time in two years. It was our goal to re-visit the answers to the following questions:

What are the turnover rates for nonprofit employers

Why are employees leaving

Where are they going

What are nonprofits doing to address the issue

The report and its findings will give your organization a benchmark against which to measure how you are doing with turnover and retention. It will help to guide your decision makers in developing ways to retain valuable employees. And, considering the state of the economy, we’ve made recommendations for stemming the tide of employee departures.

KEY FINDINGS

The average turnover rate for all nonprofits in the Opportunity Knocks 2010 survey was 16% as compared to 2008 reporting at 21%.

Although the average turnover rate was 16% in this study, more than 37% of nonprofits reported that retention is a problem for their organization.

Of the sectors participating in the survey, Arts, Culture and Humanities, Health Care and Youth Development, and Human Services have the highest turnover rates.

As the size of the organization and budget increase, the turnover rate decreases.

For all positions reported, almost one fifth indicate that the departed employee had been in the position for less than one year.

For Program / Service Delivery Management, over half had been in the position for 2 years or less before vacating the position.

After Layoff and Terminations, Competitive Job Offer followed by Dissatisfaction were most often cited as reasons for an employee leaving a position.

As compared to 25% in 2008, close to 1/3 (31%) of nonprofits report that the employee went to another nonprofit organization.

Download the full report.