The sector has been here before and will be here again. Doing
more with less appears to come with the IRS tax exemption letter.
But unlike the federal government, the nonprofit sector cannot
disguise its deficits by ignoring future liabilities or changing the
start of the fiscal year. And unlike the private sector, it cannot
shelter itself by eliminating unprofitable product lines, declaring
bankruptcy, or falsifying profits. The nonprofit sector will do
what it has always done: it will ask its workforce to work harder
and longer, and its workforce will do just that.
The nonprofit sector will survive the current crisis because
it has the most dedicated workforce in the nation. It is a workforce
that comes to work in the morning motivated primarily
by the chance to do something worthwhile, savoring the
chance to make decisions on its own, take risks, and try new
things, and puts mission above all else.
The question is not whether the nonprofit workforce will
tough it out through another year of cutbacks, pay and hiring
freezes, and short staffing—its passion for the mission will give
it the energy to keep going. Rather, the question is whether this
workforce will be there for the next crisis. Gone are the days
when the nonprofit sector could count on a steady stream of
new recruits willing to accept the stress, burnout, and the persistent
lack of resources that come with a nonprofit job. The
vast majority of nonprofit workers come to work in the morning
because they love their jobs, but many go home at the end of the day exhausted by the workload and unsure that they have the tools, let alone the stamina, to come back the next morning.
This "state of the nonprofit workforce" report provides a statistical
confirmation of what many readers already know about
their colleagues in the sector: that the workforce is strong, but
their organizations are often weak. According to a telephone
survey 1,140 randomly selected nonprofit employees conducted
by the Brookings Institution's Center for Public Service,
nonprofit employees experience high levels of stress and burn
out, and report that their organizations do not provide enough
training and staff to succeed. When asked which one reform
might improve their organizations, these employees mentioned
just about every fad known to the field, but none mentioned
the need for more advocacy, higher foundation pay-out, or a
stronger defense across the sector as a whole. At least for these
employees, every nonprofit is a tub on its own bottom. (The
complete questionnaire and all survey findings can be downloaded
at www.brookings.edu/nonprofiteffectiveness.)
Read the full report (PDF—362KB)
Complete Survey Results
(PDF—63KB)
Press Release