A nonprofit’s mission to support its community is inextricably linked to its ability to retain and support its workers.
Nonprofit workers are the heart of organizations supporting communities across the United States. They’re bright, passionate, and driven, with deep community connections and local knowledge – and the success of nonprofits’ work rests on their shoulders. They’re also often overworked and underpaid, burning out under a funding system that does not adequately address their well-being.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofits and funders are exploring and modeling new ways of working, funding, and organizing to account for worker well-being and sustain a strong social sector. When workers can meet their financial, professional, and emotional needs, they’re better able to sustain their work and support their communities.
Interested in supporting this work? Let’s connect to ensure the well-being of all nonprofit workers.
The Heart of the Sector
The Heart of the Sector combines in-depth research and practical guidance for supporting nonprofit worker well-being.
A research report documents the challenges and opportunities for building nonprofit worker well-being – with the data and real-world examples to back it up.
A shorter, practical funder guide presents the promising practices nonprofits are implementing to improve worker well-being, and actions funders can take to support them. Both are based on interviews with nearly 50 nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders; analysis of over 70 data sources; and the responses of 500 California nonprofits from NFF’s 2025 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey.
Case study: Worker well-being among LA youth workforce development nonprofits
Youth-serving nonprofits experience some of the highest rates of turnover in the nonprofit sector, threatening the stability, relationships, and expertise that helps young people to thrive. What does it take to support the well-being of these workers? This video follows staff members of three Los Angeles youth workforce development nonprofits to reveal the challenges they face to meet everyday needs and avoid burnout while continuing to make a positive impact on the young people they serve.
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
Supporting worker well-being helps communities thrive
For nonprofit workers to thrive, they need both economic stability and opportunities to succeed personally and professionally. Together, these allow nonprofit workers to sustainably serve the communities they work in, making progress on some of the greatest challenges we face today, like housing, nutrition, education, and healthcare.
This video series brings together industry experts to explore what it takes to support nonprofit worker well-being, how this builds community wealth and well-being, and how nonprofits and philanthropy can forge a better future for nonprofit workers.
Worker Well-being Is Community Well-Being
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
How Worker Well-being Shapes Community Impact
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
Why a Living Wage Matters for Nonprofit Workers and Communities
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
Promising Practices: How Nonprofits and Funders Are Advancing Worker Well-being
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
How Philanthropy Can Better Support Nonprofit Worker Well-being
Transcript
Angela Hwang: I am so gratefully a child of nonprofit. Because I was raised in nonprofit, this is something that I really wanted to do, and I’m really passionate about giving back because I know what they could do.
Brenda Sillas: Being around people that provide opportunities for communities that reflect us, it just fulfills me in every sense of the word.
Latea Davis: A lot of our community members, they look up to people who are doing the wrong things. It’s important for them to see someone that’s come from their community, someone of color, a woman, in a leadership role, and they’re still able to position themselves for success.
Sam Joo: If you talk to our young people and say, “What do you appreciate most about being here at Para Los Niños?” They’ll point to the staff. So it’s incredibly important that once we identify a strong, committed staff person, that we do everything we can to ensure that they have a long, sustainable career here at Para Los Niños.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofit workers are often the most dedicated and passionate, who oftentimes share that experience of our underrepresented or underserved youth. The passion is there to help young people, to improve systems, to improve outcomes. But when we realize how much funding we’re lacking to have a long-term, sustained impact, that leads to opportunities for burnout.
Mark Wilson: Understanding the life circumstances that a young person has to go through just to come into our doors every day can weigh on any individual.
Carlos Peña: Nonprofits often have a lot of turnover because of our burnout.
Carrie Lemmon: So if you have this high turnover, you can’t serve the youth who have the highest needs and would most benefit from your programs.
Carlos Peña: If we were better supported, we’d be able to have a more meaningful impact on all the social problems that, you know, the city has, the state has, the country has.
Sam Joo: I think whether you’re for profit or nonprofit, you’re supposed to make people’s lives better. But I think oftentimes the work that we do in the nonprofit sector doesn’t get recognized at the level that the private sector does.
Mark Wilson: The nonprofit still has to function as any other business; the only difference is the tax designation. But our costs are not discounted. We pay the same health insurance, and we have to be competitive with wages.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: The nonprofit is more intensive. You have to be always chasing funds. They also have to have a reserve fund so they can see the future, can incentivize employees.
Carrie Lemmon: Just because you have a charitable mission, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a living wage. When you have that economic stability, you can show up to work and provide your best self to your clients.
Mary Keipp: I think, first of all, a quality job has to be something you like to do. It doesn’t have to be pleasurable every single day, every single minute. But I would not be working at 83 years old if it weren’t something I liked to do.
Brenda Sillas: A quality job would be something that gives you work life balance, that doesn’t allow you to neglect who you are as an individual. Because, as an individual, you have to make sure that you’re taking care of before you can take care of the rest of the community.
Heidi Lemus: Having benefits in this position, it’s important to me. I know it’s there and I can focus on my other work with – working with young adults, and not living paycheck to paycheck.
Annie Chang: Having a salary that allows you to pay your expenses; being able to feel like the services you’re doing, you’re able to spend enough time with the individuals you’re serving, and that you are really helping them towards achieving those outcomes.
Brenda Sillas: L.A. is very expensive and it’s very difficult being in nonprofit to say that you’re getting paid an equitable wage.
Angela Hwang: We’re out here surviving. We’re not living.
Heidi Lemus: I wish I was able to save more. I have two daughters with special needs, and so for me to save, it’s a little harder with the income that I have.
Carlos Peña: Luckily, I’m privileged enough to still live, you know, with family. If I had to live on my own, in the neighborhood that I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to with my current salary.
Mark Wilson: A lot of our staff live miles away from where they work at, so you can imagine the increased costs.
Erik Aguirre: We’re in this type of field because we care about what type of work we’re doing. Sometimes the workload, might be a little bit too much for what we’re getting paid.
Mark Wilson: I believe added compensation where everyone is paid well does justice for our internal environment, meaning a healthier workplace. And that directly impacts the people that we serve.
Annie Chang: When we look at just the living wage calculator by MIT, we can clearly see that there are certain levels of staff that are not paid enough to be able to sustain their families.
Mark Wilson: Salaries are set sometimes at lower wages where people are pretty much providing the service that they may need as well.
Latea Davis: We do have professionals who go to work every day that are homeless or unable to afford the basic amenities.
Sam Joo: Salaries are oftentimes determined by the funder.
Selerin Ntahitagabira: And when we talk about government grants, they don’t even cover the cost of living increase.
Sam Joo: So I think it’s inviting nonprofits to the table to reexamine that formula on what’s considered a justifiable salary.
Bre Onna Mathis-Perez: As a society, we tend to look to nonprofits when major issues come up, like COVID-19. They had those relationships with communities and were able to get in to be able to provide support. But yet we’re not showing that their staff is valuable. We’re not showing that they deserve to have enough funding to be able to pay livable and competitive wages.
Carrie Lemmon: Nonprofits are producing incredible value for the community. We are reducing poverty. We are helping young people get into employment so that they are less likely to rely on public benefits or end up in the criminal justice system. And those are all savings to government, to taxpayers.
Latea Davis: We have to make sure we are taking care of our staff that we’re relying on to change the lives of our community and make an impact.
Sam Joo: It’s always about, “You don’t get in it because of the salary.” And I think we have to start questioning that notion.
Carlos Peña: I wouldn’t just want to get paid more. I would love to get paid more and be able to do more. And it goes hand in hand.
Mark Wilson: Some businesses’ bottom line is how much revenue is earned every quarter. Revenue is important for all nonprofits. But the double bottom line is the satisfaction of how impactful we are in the community.
Annie Chang: We really think it’s important that the funding sources that are ultimately trying to prevent poverty in our communities are also funding our providers enough so that their own employees are not facing those same barriers.
Learn more about nonprofit worker well-being in our Heart of the Sector report.
