Nonprofit organizations have increased hiring by 14 percent in August of 2011 compared to August of 2010, according to a survey by Idealist.org, a nonprofit job search engine.
This growth is aligned with earlier findings that reveal 91 percent of the 3,000 nonprofit organizations surveyed expect to maintain their work force or hire new employees in 2011.
Respondents say late 2008 and much of 2009 was the worst economic period, but they now believe the worst has passed. Of the survey respondents, 42 percent feel optimistic about their respective organization's outlook this year, and even 47 percent expect to offer 1-8 percent salary raises in 2011.
The survey also finds that in 2011 nonprofits anticipate hiring program and direct services staff at 69 percent and fundraising staff at 35 percent. These are also cited as the most challenging positions to recruit at 44 percent and 37 percent.
"Even though the economy is slow and unemployment is high, the nonprofit sector has remained surprisingly resilient during the economic downturn, and these findings are supported by the increasing number of job postings on Idealist," says Ami Dar, Idealist's founder and executive director. "Throughout the summer of 2011, job postings hit record highs, with more than 10,000 jobs posted in July and August on the Idealist website alone. This is very encouraging since the nonprofit sector accounts for almost 10 percent of employment in this country."
According to Idealist, the site's job postings have followed the economic cycle when it declined from 12,462 in the first four months of 2008 to 8,763 during the same timeframe in 2009. The figures then recovered and doubled to 12,974 and 17,486 during the first four months of 2010 and 2011, which sped up growth throughout the year.
Seventy percent of respondents say managing several priorities is the primary challenge they face in their nonprofit human resources work, with 65 percent saying no money was dedicated to HR skill development in 2010. Another 62 percent report health care costs rising in 2011, and 64 percent do not know if and how the Affordable Care Act will affect business.
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