three employees working together around a table

Updated May 2024

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) typically pay very low salaries to their employees and fill in their services by making a great deal of use of volunteers who work for free. Moreover, as NPO employees gain skills, they are likely to move on to higher-paying jobs, leaving the NPO with perpetual vacancies.

This means having to train new staff every so often and covering gaps when all the work is not being done until a new appointee has been found.

It is as important, if not more so, to motivate and engage employees in an NPO versus the private sector. Many individuals are drawn to NPOs because they want to do meaningful work and be a part of an altruistic organization. While there is no single measure that motivates all employees equally, by knowing your staff members, it is possible to determine which strategies to use with each individual. Motivation is also better than dealing with poor work performance and staff turnover from employees who feel neglected and unappreciated.

Let’s take a look at how you can motivate your employees in a nonprofit organization.

Tap into their Desire to Have a Purpose in Life

Many people find their life’s meaning and purpose in non-work areas, such as raising a family or participating in volunteer work, for example, animal rescue. However, everyone needs to feel that they have a purpose in life and many of the individuals who join NPOs as employees find their meaning in these jobs.

Millennials, especially, are motivated when they are passionate about something and feel that it has a purpose that is bigger than their own lives. They want to know how they can make a difference and may be less motivated by money than purpose. NPOs naturally attract employees who are passionate about a cause and want to play a meaningful role in helping others with disadvantages, such as in areas of poverty, terminal illness (e.g., cancer), and education initiatives, to name a few.

Use this desire for meaning and purpose to motivate your NPO employees. Share the organization’s vision and mission constantly in conversation. Encourage positive discourse, even if you have to initiate it in the beginning. Celebrate all the organization’s successes, even the small ones, and grieve the losses together. This will ensure that your employees feel connected to something immense and worthwhile beyond their lives.

Foster Employee Engagement

Employee retention is very much a factor of employee engagement. The extent to which employees are involved in meaningful work and allowed to express themselves as members of a shared purpose will go a long way towards employee motivation. Staff members will want to feel appreciated and that they play an important role in the team. Here are some ways that you can encourage employee engagement:

Treat all employees equally and make an effort to include everyone’s contributions.
Display your own dedication to your shared mission and be openly enthusiastic about the work that you do.
Be transparent and include employees in the loop with all new information and changes.
Hold frequent meetings to ensure that everybody is on the same page.
Encourage staff members to share their views and ideas, and incorporate these, when possible, or explain why it will not work.

Provide Autonomy

NPO work lends itself towards shared objectives. This means that employees may not have ownership of any of the projects that they are involved in. Most employees have a need for autonomy in at least some aspects of their work where they have total ownership. Look for opportunities to provide your employees with autonomy.

Instead of coming and asking them for feedback, which may make them feel that they are being monitored despite being capable of the tasks, ask for a weekly feedback report on an employee’s duties and projects. Encourage them to include their own ideas for improving areas that are not working as well as they could or could be taken from satisfactory to outstanding.

Be sure to respond to these reports, whether by email or in a meeting, so that there is a clear feedback loop that motivates them to complete their reports on time.

Identify Mastery

A sign that an employee has mastered the requirements of their job is boredom. The employee could display this by asking for additional work. People need to keep on learning. Find suitable courses for your top employees to attend so that they can keep on growing, such as learning about website accessibility or board management. You can also help them look at ways to reinvent their jobs but make sure that there are clear guidelines and milestones.

You can further motivate employees by providing loyalty gifts for employees to reward long service. Additionally, you can reward initiatives that brought in money or contributed to the objectives of the organization. (Be sure to consult with an attorney before engaging in any kind of monetary incentive program tied to fundraising results.)

Look for opportunities to reward your non-profit employees and show appreciation. In addition to the mentioned strategies, recognizing and celebrating your employees' hard work and dedication is also essential. Consider enhancing morale by choosing to buy custom awards that reflect the unique contributions of each member. These symbols of appreciation can significantly uplift their spirit and motivation.

Have other ideas? Let me know your thoughts on how to keep your nonprofit employees motivated!

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