Giving Compass' Take:

• Nonprofit organizations do not have the HR capacity to keep up with the changing market and usually do not have as much expertise in recruitment as for-profit companies. 

• How can nonprofits focus on changing their infrastructure in order to build their HR capacity/training?

• Read about how to recruit the best nonprofit board members that can help strengthen organizational capacity. 

The latest Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey administered by Nonprofit HR found that though nonprofit organizations are still growing their workforces at a rate that outpaces for-profit companies, the hiring gap between the two sectors has narrowed by about 11 percent. As nonprofit organizations gear up to replace retiring baby boomer leaders as well as keep up with the growing demand for services, the closing of this gap could be problematic moving forward.

Two notable issues highlighted by the Nonprofit HR report point out areas where the nonprofit sector must focus in order to attract high quality candidates. The study found that 64 percent of the nonprofits surveyed did not have a formal strategy for recruiting employees, and 56 percent indicated no plans on changing this. Part of this may be due to funding issues.

The nonprofit sector in general has not felt the need to invest in employee acquisition or retention because the field offered employees one benefit that for-profit companies could not: satisfaction from purpose-driven work. But, with the advent of social entrepreneurship and more companies recognizing that employees, especially millennials, want to engage in community service and value employers who offer these opportunities, nonprofits may be at some risk of losing their edge in this aspect.

Nonprofit organizations work towards solving major issues facing our society; they need highly qualified staff in more than just the executive suite to make progress. Nonprofits must develop both internal and external initiatives that offer what workers want—not just fair and livable wages, but also an environment where skills can be built and intelligence and passion can be well deployed.

Read the full article about nonprofit staffing by Sheela Nimishakavi at Nonprofit Quarterly