Staff
In the beginning, staff is often voluntary. But as the organization grows, the day to day needs grow as well.
Bringing on Senior Management
Executive Directors and Compensation:
An essential aspect of bringing on board members and senior management is figuring out compensation. Along with the arduous task of developing good leadership with an Executive Director, organizations also have to navigate how much to offer them. There are a variety of suggestions, but it is always best to base it on the size, type, and resources of the particular organization.
States quite often have guidelines for the percentages and ranges you should offer, and it is good to keep in mind that different locations can have quite different expectations (20-25% higher in New York is a good example). A good rule of thumb is 10% - 12% of the organizational budget when you are in the 600K and above range. Organizations with smaller budgets will need to maintain a baseline salary that attracts the right talent and is regionally appropriate.
There is also a free downloadable program for making this sort of analysis. It can be found here.
Staff Benefits
Many organizations wish to give their staff benefits in addition to salaries, such as health care. These plans can range from simply covering the employees to their entire families. (For those who opt out of the healthcare plan to go through their spouses, they've negotiated a pay raise or another benefit.) Other groups often give stipends in order to help people buy health care on their own. We offer health plan access to our employees at their own expense, with a small stipend from us to offset the cost ($200/month for full-time employees, rises to $400/month after five years of service).
There are many organizations that provide health care to non-profits, and often take care of things such as withholdings and government reporting. These include, but are not limited to:
Another method is to join a bureau of small businesses, which group workers from different businesses together in order to increase the risk pool and get fairer prices.
Job Postings
Finding qualified staff and building a positive staff community is absolutely vital to the success of any organization. Here are some places where organizations have had success:
A non-profit organization that will post jobs for $60.
You can post a short job description on our Community Job Board. Nonprofits can post a job for only $25 a month. For-profit companies can post for $50 a month.
Bonuses
Many organizations will give out end-of-the-year bonuses to their staff. This is generally quite appreciated by staff members, and provides a nice dose of goodwill around the holidays. Since staff members at non-profits will often work for less than their counterparts in private industry, not to mention that staff members work very hard in general, it is beneficial to show them that all the hard work they put in throughout the year is appreciated.
