Q&A: Is a Recruiter Worth the Price?

by: Karen Alphonse April 24, 2012

Q: How can a talent acquisition specialist/recruiter help our organization? Our budget has been cut, and people just don’ t see value in outsourcing human resource functions.

A: An experienced recruiter can add immediate value to your search for top talent. A good recruiter understands that a number of elements comprise an entire process from beginning to end, and he or she knows how to orchestrate them.

Staffing Needs Are Important in Program Planning, Budgeting

by: Sandra Sims October 24, 2011

It is our belief that direct services continues to be the largest area for anticipated growth as a result of the increased demand in services from the American public as they continue to be faced with the challenges of unemployment, job loss, foreclosures and other issues related to economic hardship and related stress resulting from having to live on less.

What’s in Your Manual?: Nonprofit Employee Handbooks

by: Joe Brown May 12, 2010

While the very smallest nonprofit organizations may not find it necessary, any organization with more than one or two employees should consider creating a written handbook outlining non-contractual employment terms and work conditions.

Paying Attention to Turnover in the Nonprofit Sector

by: Joe Brown May 5, 2010

“Where are they going to go?” “They’re lucky to have a job.” These are, unfortunately, actual statements I’ve heard in the past year from nonprofit managers offered as rationales for not taking steps to advance human resources practices within their organizations. While there is no question both the economic downturn and its effect on labor [...]

Development in Demand: Challenges Facing Fundraising Professionals and Employers

by: Joe Brown April 20, 2010

For the vast majority of the country’s more than 1.2 million registered 501(c)(3) organizations, the development function, and therefore development professionals, has always been of critical importance.

Human Resources Maturity and the Three P’s, Part 2

by: Joe Brown April 16, 2010

In part 1, I outlined a model of human resources maturity among nonprofit organizations based on the clear delineation of position, person and performance. I also examined the first two phases of this maturity including their implications for the design and the effectiveness of key human resources processes. These processes include recruitment and selection, compensation, performance management, professional development and career/succession planning.

Human Resources Maturity and the Three P’s, Part 1

by: Joe Brown April 12, 2010

During my years working as a consultant to nonprofits, I have observed three basic phases of organizations’ human resources maturity. This maturity can be defined in terms of how much delineation exists between position, person and performance. Each phase has implications for the design and effectiveness of key human resources processes including recruitment and selection, [...]

Salary Ranges, Part 2: Anatomy of a Range

by: Joe Brown April 8, 2010

In my previous post, I made a case for the use of salary ranges as the foundation of a formal compensation program for nonprofit organizations. Particularly for organizations experiencing or have experienced significant growth, the use of salary ranges can go a long way toward ensuring salaries are equitable and competitive while, at the same [...]

Salary Ranges, Part 1: Why Ranges?

by: Joe Brown April 6, 2010

In a recent post, compensation consultant Ann Bares questions whether salary ranges, long a staple of compensation programs among America’s companies and organizations, are still a useful tool given the relatively slow pace of salary annual growth during the past two decades. There is no question that administering salaries — and, in particular, differentiating rewards according [...]

Influencing – Getting Better at a Key 21st Century Skill

by: Fredia Woolf April 2, 2010

Whether you are president of a board, a senior executive or a job seeker, you need to be good at influencing others.  We live in a complex world where there are limits to our authority; no matter how senior we are, the old hierarchies and command and control structures of power are going the way [...]