I love working in the nonprofit sector!! There are many well paid jobs and career opportunities in nonprofit organizations.  However…there are certain realities of working in nonprofit organizations that employees must understand in order to sustain a career in the nonprofit sector.

The reality is the majority of nonprofits operate with budgets less than $500k; they are small businesses with limited resources.  Even organizations that have $1mil or $2mil budgets have limited resources, especially when it comes to staff training and development.  In last year’s Nonprofit Employment Trends survey we found that only 4% of nonprofits with less than $1mil have a human resource manager.  The majority of organizations have an executive director or other senior staff member who manages the human resources function in addition to their other responsibilities. We also found that the majority of nonprofits use current employees to staff new initiatives.  This puts increased demands on employee time and less time for employee development.

These realities often conflict with the needs and wants of employees, especially younger workers.   Younger workers often think and express “my boss needs to teach me, mentor me, develop me as a manger.” Case in point, Maria Walker’s article More than Just a Boss.   Yeah, Maria’s tips are great to sustain younger employees longer than 12 months in an organization, but are these tips really realistic?  Maybe 1 in a 100 organizations have a boss who truly mentors and develops their employees, but the realities of the current state of nonprofit organizations, prevent younger workers from having a boss like that.  I am totally supportive of trying to change the way that nonprofits currently operate.  In fact, I believe all nonprofits (and all companies for that matter) should operate like Southwest Airlines.  Southwest is known for putting their employees first and as a result, their employees are happy workers!  Many nonprofits are a long way from operating like Southwest, so in the meantime employees need to be flexible and find ways to thrive in the current realities of the workplace.  Or, employees can purposefully seek out nonprofits that focus on employee development, of few of these organizations do exist!

One of the main ways that employees can thrive in their careers in the nonprofit sector is through tapping into personal and professional development opportunities outside of their organizations.  In How to be a Nonprofit Rockstar, Rosetta and Trista explain 50 ways employees can seek out professional development opportunities, many of which are OUTSIDE of the walls of their own organization.  Case in point, I would not be as successful as I am today if it wasn’t for all the professional development that I obtained outside of the workplace.  These professional development opportunities included networking, blogging, graduate education, etc.

My theory of change in the workplace

From my experience, I believe there is a change continuum that exists in the workplace.  The younger the person, the more they want and push for change. But this push for change often conflicts with experienced workers who are comfortable with how things are.  Older workers might push for change but at a lower rate than younger workers.  If younger workers are patient and wait it out for a couple of years, they can adapt and grow as the  organizational environment around them adapts and grows.

What do you think?  Do your experiences match up with the realities of the nonprofit workplace?  Do you agree or disagree with my theory of change?  I want to hear your thoughts.