Many Charities Lack Sufficient Workers to Deliver Services Effectively, Study Finds

Nearly 40 percent of American charities say they have too few staff members to deliver their programs or services effectively, according to a new survey conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, in Baltimore.

The survey—part of the Listening Post Project, a research effort to examine issues facing nonprofit groups—also found that about one in three nonprofit groups has reduced the size of its staff in recent months and that many more have taken other austerity measures.

The results are based on answers from 526 nonprofit organizations and cover the six-month period from October 2009 through March 2010.

A similar Listening Post survey—covering October 2008 to March 2009—also found significant job losses and other employee cutbacks.

“The pressures on nonprofits have accelerated and are clearly taking their toll,” Lester Salamon, the report’s author and director of the Johns Hopkins center, said in a statement. “Organizations have shown enormous resilience and commitment to their critical missions, but this has come at a price.”

Adding to Duties

To weather financial difficulties in the weak economy, nonprofit groups have taken other steps that strain their resources, the report says.

Nearly half of the organizations surveyed said they had refined job descriptions, often a euphemism, the report says, “for increasing employee workloads and assigning responsibilities of laid-off staff to the remaining employees.”

Nearly 40 percent of the respondents had instituted a salary freeze, and 36 percent had postponed filling new positions. About one-quarter of the groups had increased employees’ hours, and the same proportion of respondents had reduced benefits or cut them altogether.

The survey also found that many charities are leaning on volunteers and contract or part-time employees. Well over half of all the arts and culture groups surveyed said they had increased their reliance on volunteers, compared with 34 percent of all groups.

However, the report says, overall employment among charities increased by 0.4 percent from October 2009 to March 2010. That finding contrasts with the overall 0.4-percent decline in all nongovernment jobs nationwide in the same period, says the report.

Indeed, 23 percent of nonprofit groups added jobs during the six-month period and 46 percent reported no change. Only 21 percent of the respondents say they expect to cut their work force over the next six months.

A free summary of the survey results is available online at http://www.ccss.jhu.edu.