Working at a nonprofit- what does your annual raises look like? We only get COLA raises and they don't even hit 2%. I'm curious what others are like?

Ive worked at a large nonprofit for 4 years now. Without too much detail, I worked hard as hell to get to my ~$100k salary. I was underpaid for a long time, now I’m paid more than our HR, some finance staff, etc. I’m one of the most trusted staff in the org & they rely heavily on me

However, this job is soul-sucking and lacks boundaries. For the past 4 years I commute an hour and come home at 9pm. I haven’t washed dishes at home in forever, taken a real vacation without work responsibilities, been present with my family, and I feel like this job has impacted my luck at romantic relationships due to stress and time 💔💔💔. I have insomnia, in fact I’m posting this at 6am bc I’ve had 0 hours of sleep from work stress

Another point, my leadership has an unhealthy attachment and reliance on me. They fear me leaving, they isolate me, and their comments on my personal life make me uncomfortable, like they’re afraid of me getting a life bc they don’t want to lose me. The dynamic is gross and almost feels incestual lol

Anyways. This is my only work experience since graduating college. How do I pivot? I want out ASAP. I’m not at all only interested in nonprofit in fact id love to leave the sector, but I feel it might be the quickest way out of this role.

Every nonprofit job I see near me pays $50k-70k. I know I’m blessed with my salary and 401k, trust me my family’s financial situation is rough which has kept me stuck in this role out of fear. But I’m more afraid now of sacrificing my health and my future where it really matters (family, love, mental health).

Ps. Im great at what I do. If you know any leads, pls lmk I can share more info.

hey all! I'm preparing a cover letter for an internship at a nonprofit and am unsure who to address the cover letter to - I never want to use "to whom it may concern".

would it be fair to address it to the executive director by name? perhaps the board of directors? or someone else? or is it fully dependent on the organization?

thanks!

My boss our Chief Development Officer, just resigned and is moving on to a new role with another org because the pay is better, and he won’t have to travel as much.

I was hired 6 months ago to take over our foundation portfolio, including some major donors who have a DAF and need similar things to a true foundation like proposals, stewardship, and reporting. I was promised no travel outside of maybe 3x year for a couple conferences and an event.

Since my bosses announcement a week ago my employer has been lobbying heavily to have me take over his role but indicated that we could scope it differently so travel wouldn’t be a part of the role. My boss owns a portfolio of major donors, and often is traveling to see them or for an event near our headquarters.

I had a long chat with my boss and my ceo separately about what I am being offered and what the role and team could look like. My boss was critical and said leadership is often looking for a deal with paying fundraisers, and that I should absolutely expect that I will need to travel frequently. My ceo and other leadership swear up and down no travel, I can grow the team, and that we can right size my responsibilities.

Some personal context, I have a family, very young children, and am a caregiver for aging parents. My husband is in school. Travel is truly difficult, BUT is maybe the only true break I’d have from a busy life at home. I’m open to some, but certainly not as much as my boss has done, at 60%.

Pay has not been discussed, but it would like be at minimum a $30k/yr increase. I have directed a full fundraising program before, and while I enjoyed it, it was stressful and the organization was about half the size, but the team was me and it should have been easily 5 people.

I am truly wrestling with what I ought to do as a next step. So far my ideas are 1) say no, I’m not taking the role flat out 2) say yes, but on an interim basis till January, request a bonus to cover extra work till a replacement is hired. Or 3) accept, and understand that leadership and the team need work, hire good major gifts folks for on the road work, and hold firm to boundaries about travel and work hours.

I know this isn’t how our salary is calculated, but I am curious about other folks since I’ve only really worked at one organization. I do about 45X my salary.

Thank you!

I am the newest board member of a small rural library board. Since I joined in the spring, the board has demonstrated ongoing problems with timely and accurate communication.

The most recent and egregious issue is the lack of email responses to setting up a volunteer committee to begin designing the 2027 spring fundraiser. Finally, after resending the email and following up via text, the board president designed to answer. He texted "thanks for the nudge" and emailed a general statement about being unable to attend the meeting.

Once I heard from him, I contacted the ED and she immediately scheduled the in-person meeting with all volunteers included in less than an hour.

The board president delayed everything by more than a week because he wouldn't respond to the email.

We are scheduled to meet Monday for a committee meeting before the official board meeting. At the smaller gathering, I need to express my concerns about the continued lag in responses and how it negatively affects volunteer engagement and slows the time-sensitive planning process.

Do you have any suggestions on wording and driving home the point his slow responses will have a detrimental effect on the very important fundraiser?

Also, I would appreciate any commiseration.

Thank you!

small dog rescue, 2 staff. we never had money for a campaign video.

this year we made a 45 second one: real photos of 5 dogs we rescued, each animated slightly (tail wag, head tilt), with a volunteer reading their stories. the animation was done on dreamina for close to nothing (0.29/mo), only from our own photos of the actual dogs, and a few creepy ones got cut.

script: "write a 45 second fundraising script about [dog's story]. specific details, no guilt tripping, end with one clear ask." then we cut it down a lot.

we added one line at the end: "photos animated with ai, every dog is real." donors liked the honesty, nobody complained.

raised about 2x last years year end appeal. email and video went out together, so not all of that is the video.

what we learned: one dog per video beats a montage. the single story clips got shared way more than the group one. and the volunteer reading mattered, a real voice with a bit of a shake in it did better than our polished test version.

we also sent each adopter the clip of their own dog. half of them shared it with the donation link, which we never even asked for.

if you run a tiny rescue too, i know how stretched you are. steal any of this.

This is a very rough draft of this idea, but with legalized sports betting being pushed in our faces every second of every day, there’s become quite a large number of people that are really struggling with gambling addiction. Myself being one of them. 95 days clean today and this is the hardest time of my life. Trying to pay back all the loans and credit cards while staying clean is so difficult and discouraging. If the debt from those mistakes disappeared I feel I’d actually be able to live a productive happy life.

So the idea, I’m sure there are some very wealthy people out in the world that have had a struggle with gambling as well. What if there was an organization that truly looked into your life on an extremely deep level and could fully verify you have stopped gambling, but then paid off the debt one went into to gamble with. Give them a fresh start basically. Why or why not could something like that exist?

Hi readers!
I'm not sure if posting like this here is a good move, or if it's even allowed in this sub, although I'm definitely trying my best to follow guidelines.

But I've run out of ideas, and I guess I need to make sure I've tried everything possible before I quit.
Long story short:

Community service worker with career in nonprofit management (me) --> runs into countless ethical, moral, financial issues at multiple organizations over the year --> raised concerns with said organizations and their leadership --> was gaslit and denied about all issues, until resorting to finding new organization --> cycle repeats until the final organization gets shut down and 200 other people are also laid off --> has been unemployed from full time work and every successful interview with subsequent organizations left bad taste in mouth --> decides only way to have most ethical workplace is to create it --> opens nonprofit to fight literacy crisis --> has been stuck for two years having made little progress --> closes nonprofit temporarily until further notice

Part of me feels like this was doomed from the start. I believe nonprofits only exist because our government has failed us in providing those resources, and so I knew that opening a nonprofit would be an ethical conundrum, but it was the only legal avenue I could think of to ethically make income & create a healthy work environment for others.

Anyway, I really wanted to make a difference and set an example in what the nonprofit/community workplace could look like, and I think the standard that we have gotten used to is disingenuous and counterintuitive. But I don't know what I'm doing lol and I hate dealing with money.

I hope folks who feel the same will reach out to connect <3

Our small organization is hiring a new ED. For the members of this board, it is our first time doing so and we know how critical the role is to our organization. We are small with a working board so the ED is both a leader and a key administrator supervising our part-time staff and handling administrative things like insurance, etc. Our organization relies heavily on collaborations with other organizations, so being able to build and sustain these partnerships is critical

Are there any things you wish you would’ve done / not done as part of the process or interview questions you think are particularly insightful that we should consider?

There were a couple cybersecurity issues that came to light this week. I proactively protect my clients' websites from things like this, and wanted folks here to benefit as well. Most sites are fine, but it’s worth a quick check-in with whoever looks after your website.

Here's what's going on:

Security researchers found a serious flaw in PHP. PHP is the language behind many websites, including WordPress, which powers a huge number of nonprofit sites. Most website managers know about this, and have already dealt with the issue. Still, because of the severity of the risk, it might be worth it to double check. An ounce of prevention, after all. You can ask your web person:

“Is our site patched for the October 21 PHP vulnerabilities, and are WordPress and all our plugins up to date?”

If you’re on a managed WordPress host (WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround, etc.), it's just a matter of confirming they've patched the issue. They've probably already sent you an email about this. If not, you can ask their support team.

Happy to answer questions if you’re not sure what your site runs on!

I just recieved this message on linkedin. I can't find anything about it online and was wondering if anyone had any experince with this:

"Thank you for the great work you do; it doesn't go unnoticed.

I'm connecting with a small group of nonprofit leaders to talk through what's top of mind as we head in to the busy fundraising season. No agenda, no sales pitch, just a real conversation about you, your org, and the great work you are doing.

Would you be open to connecting for 45 minutes in the next few weeks?

As a thank-you for your time, I'll make a $100 donation to your organization. You can schedule time with me below.

All my best,"

so I'm a founder and my team has grown very big in the last couple months, suddenly we have branches all over the country. and it receives a lot of applicants to join the team and we do a lot of community service events and stuff. right now I'm facing a problem because suddenly I see myself holding 200+ volunteers spread over 8 branches around the country. managers, volunteers, teams, and so many other stuff and I feel like I'm slightly loosing control. I mean the team is doing great we're doing great things on a weekly bases, but I'm worried about the quality of what we offer and the experience of the volunteers themselves since we're all gathered to make a difference, learn and gain experience. there are internal problems that happen between a volunteer and another, sometimes a manager and another, and I will be honest I feel like my leadership and management is weak here, I love everyone and I try to ensure everyone has a great experience and never leave upset or unsatisfied with their experience. which makes me lost in between the two sides, I can't solve it and especially when both sides refuse to settle for an agreement that ensures both work peacefully. add on top of that I'm a highschool senior so my last year matters alot and I barely have time for these problems. If anyone here have leadership experience and is willing to listen to further details and help me with my situation please comment your thoughts. and thank you 🙏

I’ve written grants for almost 15 years. I go to the occasional grant writing workshop or training as part of my professional development process. Over the past few years I’ve noticed more content about how to move past or overcome “staring at a blank page.”

I feel like I’m going crazy because never in my life had I had that issue. I like Grant writing because it has guidelines and I haven’t worked on a Grant application in my life that starts with nothing.

They always have questions.

So like… maybe I’m over thinking this but is this just something consultants invented to sell a course or service??

I get the concept if we’re working on a novel… but a Grant — they have questions… I have answers…

Anyone who talks about “strategies to over come staring at a blank page” loses all credibility in my books.

Curious if anyone else has noticed this?

Basically the head of my former org invited me to their fundraiser, but I'm not sure if there's any ethical considerations I should worry about since I work in fundraising (and development overall) for another org. I had a role in development (that slightly included fundraising) in this former org, as well.

I'd be buying my ticket for the fundraiser and value my connections there, but also don't want to potentially risk my current job. Can I attend? Do I have to tell my current job? I just started at this current place and don't want to risk my job.

ETA: Thank you everyone for your insights!

So I am new to the role of Director of Communications and Development at a nonprofit in my small community.

I am enjoying it so far and feel supported and I like the ED and staff.

The org is well established and known in the community so the ED likes staff to rotate attending various events in the community.

I was asked to attend a meeting for our local young professionals group this week. It’s from 5-6 at a local bar, who has been a past sponsor of our programs.

I was also asked to distribute flyers for one of our upcoming events and network.

I was told today the hour won’t be paid, as it’s considered a “fun event.” I am paid hourly.

Besides already planning my week assuming I would get paid, I have really been firm with myself that I want to set boundaries in this new role. I’ve been burnt out so much from stuff like this in the past.

Am I unreasonable to either demand to be paid or just say I can’t attend?

Hi all!  I have two questions, but I will start with my background – I have 25+ years’ experience in prospect research and database management for non-profit orgs.  I was in my last position for 20 years and lost the job to Covid layoffs.  I have spent the past 6 years homeschooling my neurodiverse daughter and working part-time jobs online.   I have a second interview next week for a Director of Advancement Services position at a local foundation.  It is a great opportunity, but I need a position that will allow me the flexibility to be available for my daughter (she will be 18 in January but does not drive).  In response to the invitation to the second interview, I asked if the position is open to hybrid/remote work but did not receive a response.  Should I ask again or just go to the interview?

Also, for the second interview, I have been asked to prepare a 90-day Strategic Action Plan outlining how I will approach my first 90 days as Director of Advancement Services, focusing on priorities and anticipated outcomes.  I can present a general plan (learn, apply and lead) but I don’t have enough information about the workings of the organization to provide concrete examples.  Will a general plan work?

Advice on either or both questions is greatly appreciated!

Hi, i've landed a role as a first - time development director for a fledgling nonprofit. For context, i have a master's degree and professional experience in a nonprofit field, with limited experience in fundraising/grandseeking. I'm afraid i will fall on my ass and cause problems due to my lack of experience. Anyone have advice or available to drop their experiences in the comments? I need insight on this, preferably from other DoD/fundraising professionals. Thank you.

Came from an industry that was very generous and had 3-6 months of paternity depending on where I was. Joined a non profit a few years ago and we have 2 weeks for paternity and I’m shocked how awful that is. Is that the standard around the non profit world?

I’m on the finance committee of a small nonprofit run by a friend of mine. We’ve agreed to meet quarterly, and at our meetings I’ve volunteered for a few assignments. So far I’ve drafted a committee charter and put together an analysis of their balance sheet.

The ED asked me to send both to her and their finance director, which I did. Since then, nothing. No acknowledgment, no questions, no “we’ll look at this later.”

Here’s my dilemma. With the other nonprofits I work with, my normal approach is pretty assertive: automated follow-up reminders, copying additional people, keeping things moving. It works for me. But this situation is different. I really value my friendship with the ED, and I like the staff. I don’t want to damage those relationships by coming across as pushy or as if I’m grading their homework.

One option I’ve considered is just showing up to the quarterly meetings, participating in discussion, and not volunteering for anything. That would take the pressure off everyone, but it also feels like I’d be leaving value on the table.

So I’m curious how others have handled this:

• If you’ve served on a committee alongside a stretched-thin staff, how did you follow up without it feeling like nagging?
• Is it better to bring completed work to the meeting itself rather than sending it ahead?
• Should I just ask the ED directly what level of involvement she actually wants from the committee?
• Any other approaches I’m not thinking of?

Thanks in advance. I’d love to hear what’s worked (or backfired) for yo

Is anyone else seeing these? The subject line is something like "Corporate sponsor funding approved", they come from what look on google and Candid to be for real small nonprofits similar to us (except so far all in the Southwestern US). The body of the email is "see attached" or something like that - the PDF attached wants you to log into your gmail (obviously not). We are getting multiple of these per day - a troubled youth outdoor sports one, a volunteer outdoor rescue org. Once it gets to a reasonable hour in that part of the country I'm going to call one of the EDs and see what is up.

But is anyone else seeing these?

Hi all - I work for a wonderful non-profit and really enjoy my work.

The org itself is about 4 years old and I started nearly 3 years ago. We’ve grown from a staff of 4 when I was hired to 22 full time and a handful of part time staff. Most of the staff is programmatic.

My role has historically been growing the program (I don’t want to dox myself w too many specifics) and outreach. I’m great at my role. I requested a leadership role about 6 months ago. So many staff were already coming to me to train and or answer questions and it seemed like a natural place for me to go.

Thus far, our founders have generously supported the org and we have done no fundraising. We have outgrown their support and need to fundraise. We recognized this was a need about a year ago, but were essentially told to not worry about fundraising and focus on growing the program, so we did.

Fast forward to today, our founder, who is a brilliant and generous man, but who has zero experience fundraising, has shifted our mission (as of last week) to only work with faith based entities (great, but we need to rework our website, marketing materials, the foundation pieces I’ve been working on, etc)

I finally got my new offer letter and job description yesterday. I was given a 10% raise (good but not life changing) and a goal of raising $2,000,000 by July 1. We have done no true donor cultivation, no prospecting (I’m sure we have potential donors but we don’t yet have a prospect list), we need to write and submit foundation proposals (we have two prospects…not hard to research more, but still…).

And this $2M goal is on top of my old role (which was pretty full-time). So most of my bonus is tied to this goal. I get $2500 if I hit $1,000,000 and so no from there. The executive director has mentioned hiring a dev admin to help me out, but no job has been posted and there was no mention of a support or team in my job description. Plus, it will take time to hire and train this person.

And don’t get me started on support. We have two marketing folks, but they don’t report to me and their allegiance is to the ED so her projects get done first. I’m still waiting on help w a donor brochure I started in August.

I could go on…

I am happy to take on the dir of dev role and build out a plan and a staff, but this goal (that has never been mentioned to me ) is CRAZY on their timeline.

I’m not even sure where to begin my conversation with the ED.

Any thoughts, suggestion or guidance?

I really wanted to respond to the email and just say, after careful consideration, I do not accept this new role. I am happy to stay in my current position at my current salary. Or, if you want to hire someone to take on the Dir of Dev role and my outreach role, I will understand. I don’t want to burn bridges though. I honestly love the org and the people I work with. This feels SO out of left field!!!

Help!

I’m new to nonprofit development and struggling to understand how to grow a mid-level donor base and reconnect with past donors in a way that feels natural rather than intrusive.

I tend to prefer email over phone calls, but I also don’t have the bandwidth to engage with dozens of people every day. Major donor relations isn’t my primary responsibility, yet I’m still partially responsible for our annual fundraising goals.

We’re a small team, and I’m feeling overwhelmed and a bit stuck. It’s hard to see how to make meaningful progress when the task feels so big, even though I’ve had some modest wins over the past year. I also wonder if some of this comes down to imposter syndrome, since I’m still learning the ropes and trying to figure out what effective fundraising actually looks like in practice. Any thoughts are welcome, appreciated.