Nonprofit firms could be hard hit by talent shortages exacerbated by the large cohort of baby boomers soon entering the retirement years, says a report by The Conference Board.
“While growth in the nonprofit sector is outpacing growth in the rest of the economy, talent shortages are already affecting critical service sectors, including healthcare and social services, in which nonprofits are heavily represented,” says Jill Casner-Lotto, author of the report—Boomers are Ready for Nonprofits, But are Nonprofits Ready for Them?—for The Conference Board.
Non-profits have not invested significantly in their human resource management, putting their limited resources instead toward their mission. In addition, many funders restrict their support to specific programs or services as opposed to broader human resource development. This under-investment in managing talent has led to some of the challenges non-profits now face in terms of staffing, leadership, and succession.
However, the advent of retirement for a vast majority of baby boomers also brings opportunity for non-profit organizations.
A considerable number of baby boomer employees in the private sector are considering a move to the nonprofit sector where they can use their experience and skills in social purpose work. Nonprofits can tap into other sectors’ talent pools and their own mature workers to recruit experienced leaders, staff, and volunteers.
“But action is needed now,” says Casner-Lotto. “Evidence suggests that nonprofits are seriously lagging behind the government and private sectors in efforts to both retain highly skilled potential retirees within their organizations and actively recruit older hires from other industry sectors.”
To comment on this story email craig.sebastiano@rci.rogers.com.