2018 Nonprofit Talent
Management Priorities Survey

With our second annual Nonprofit Talent Management Priorities Survey, we sought to discover what the nonprofit sector was most concerned about in regards to talent management moving into 2018. More than 350 nonprofit leaders and HR professionals across the country participated in the survey. Half of organizations surveyed indicated having a dedicated HR function, or at least one individual on staff solely responsible for HR. Organizations spanned a diverse range of budgets, staff sizes and missions, but we found that their priorities in areas such as learning and development, talent acquisition, culture and performance management were largely very similar, with some differences in areas like total rewards and talent analytics.

These results help us and others who serve the nonprofit sector determine how to respond to organizational needs. They should also inform your organization's efforts around talent and culture this year.

Scroll on or click below to explore key findings in more depth. Below, you'll find the three top-ranked priorities in each area of focus, as well as the percent of respondents who selected each priority as their most important.

• Talent Acquisition
• Culture & Engagement
• Performance Management
• Learning & Development
• Total Rewards
• Talent-Related Analytics
• Primary Obstacle
• Primary Differences
• About the Survey

Talent Acquisition Priorities

Attracting and hiring diverse talent holds the top talent acquisition priority slot for 2018. At a close second, building a diverse and inclusive workforce entered the top three priorities this year. With 61 percent of respondents selecting diversity and inclusion initiatives as their top priority, diversity continues to be top of mind for nonprofit talent leaders, and for good reason: organizations with diverse teams are more effective in developing creative solutions to serve their communities and achieve their missions.

As your organization strives to achieve better diversity among talent, remember that true diversity encompasses more than gender, race and orientation. Your organization should also seek diversity in thought, background and perspective. Also, it's not enough to hire a diverse group of people; the most successful organizations prioritize equity and inclusion for those individuals as well.

Culture & Engagement Priorities

For the second year in a row, 34 percent of respondents said improving organizational culture was their top culture and engagement priority. Assessing organizational culture remained in the number two slot with 31 percent of respondents indicating it was their top priority, up two percent from last year. In third, 13 percent said influencing leadership to prioritize culture management was their top priority.

Recent events and the #MeToo movement have put a magnifying glass on the way women (and others) are represented and treated in the workplace in every industry, including the nonprofit sector. This overall cultural shift will put even greater pressure on nonprofits to improve internal culture & engagement policies and practices into the coming year and beyond.

The data suggests that in 2018, nonprofits will place a greater emphasis on using metrics to measure and improve cultural practices, especially those related to gender and harassment. Additionally, leadership teams will be expected to play a larger role in organizational culture management.

Performance Management Priorities

Implementing training and development initiatives aimed at strengthening managers' skills around giving and receiving feedback rose to the number one performance management priority for 2018. In second was last year's top priority: restructuring existing performance management systems and programs. Shifting from a traditional, event-driven performance management model to a continuous feedback model came in at number three.

These results suggest that millennial preferences and broader corporate trends for giving and receiving feedback in real-time are clearly influencing performance management priorities within organizations. However, in the coming years, these models and other talent practices may shift with the influx of generation Z talent. As you develop or redevelop your performance management strategies in 2018, consult your team for their input. Their preferences will be crucial when finding the feedback methods that work best for your organization.

Learning & Development Priorities

Creating a learning and development strategy or program remains the number one priority for learning and development at nonprofits for 2018. In a close second and third, organizations have indicated a desire to expand investments in developing and strengthening teams and their leadership development programs.

The desire to expand investments in people and knowledge shows that nonprofits are beginning to understand that their talent and that talent's growth is their livelihood and requires prioritization in operating budgets. The millennial workforce also desires continuous learning and development opportunities, so these programs will be crucial for recruiting and maintaining that talent. As you expand your offerings to staff, consider mentorship programs, workshops and learning and development goals for your team.

Total Rewards Priorities

The top three priorities for total rewards, or compensation and benefits, have stayed the same in 2018 as with 2017. The top total rewards priority remains benchmarking existing total rewards practices, especially in organizations with a dedicated HR practice. Among those organizations, almost 40 percent of respondents named benchmarking as their top priority.

Offering competitive compensation and benefits as recruitment and retention tools remains a challenge for nonprofits. However, as you develop your formal total rewards strategy in conjunction with your budget, you can look to additional ways to invest in your talent like prioritizing culture and encouraging self-care and appropriate work-life balance.

Talent-Related Analytics Priorities

Overall, implementing HR and talent metrics reporting moved from last year's number two talent-related analytics priority to number one for 2018. This was especially true for organizations with dedicated HR functions, 35 percent of which selected implementing metrics as their top priority. Meanwhile, benchmarking existing HR and talent metrics moved from the top slot to number two.

Implementing balanced scorecard or a similar scorecard initiative moved into the top priorities this year, with 21 percent of organizations naming it their top priority for 2018. Interestingly, 34 percent of organizations without HR functions indicated this was their top priority, while only 10 percent of organizations with HR functions named it.

These results point to greater desire to not only gather talent-related data in nonprofits, but to actually analyze that data to create actionable, strategic talent management plans. These are excellent priorities for all nonprofits to pursue. Implementing and benchmarking talent-related metrics can help you improve organizational development, employee effectiveness and competitiveness as an employer.