Nonprofit Leaders Cite Workforce Shortages and Hiring Difficulties As Top Challenge in New Study

By Amanda L. Cole

Nonprofit programs can suffer as a result of staffing and volunteer shortages. Economic uncertainty can further affect nonprofit budgets if small-dollar donors reduce their charitable contributions — or worse, stop giving altogether.

The fact that there are staffing issues in the nonprofit sector is not news. However, it is concerning that lack of resources has become nonprofit leaders' No. 1 concern, surpassing donor acquisition, as we anxiously anticipate a recession in 2023.

As the number of donors dwindles and a larger share of total donations continues to come from a smaller pool of donors, it becomes more difficult for nonprofits to know where to set their priorities for the year ahead. That’s why NonProfit PRO, powered by NAPCO Research, conducted the “2023 Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study,” which is sponsored by Foundant Technologies.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the study, which was conducted in November 2022:

Major gifts. More nonprofit leaders cited major gifts (44%) over direct mail fundraising (43%) as their top revenue fundraising source.
Online fundraising. Digital communications remained their top donor engagement strategy, yet the majority of nonprofit leaders (78%) cited their digital fundraising revenue as half or less of total fundraising.
Donor data. For 28% of nonprofit leaders, their organizations continue to struggle with capturing the correct data to adequately engage donors.
2023 priorities. Looking ahead, nonprofit leaders are focused on corporate partnerships, recurring giving and data-driven decisions.

For more results and insights from our “2023 Nonprofit Leadership Impact Study,” download the full report here.