A Weakened Charity Work Force

Many charity employees will enter the new year under conditions ripe for burnout: 2009 was marked by layoffs, salary freezes, and other cutbacks in pay and benefits. Employees who have retained their jobs and taken on expanded workloads with no additional compensation will present management challenges for bosses as economic pressures continue into 2010.

Lester M. Salamon, director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies, says his research has found that many charities have yet to cut back on their service — even though they have reduced the size of their staffs. “Belt-tightening has its limits,” he says, “and at some point starts to damage vital organs.”

BEHIND THE TREND:

Trimming charity ranks. More than half of nonprofit employers cut jobs between the summers of 2008 and 2009, according to a Chronicle survey this fall of staffing trends at more than 1,000 nonprofit groups. Of the total, 850 groups reported new job losses of more than 6,000 — or 4.2 percent of their work forces.

Doing more with less. Of the 400 most-successful fund-raising charities polled by The Chronicle, 186 organizations said they had either cut or frozen salaries in the past year, declined to fill vacant positions or add new ones, furloughed employees without pay, or laid off employees due to the recession.

Hiring outlook. Despite the wave of layoffs, 28 percent of nonprofit organizations in a survey released last spring by the Bridgespan Group said they expected to hire people to fill senior-level positions this year, largely due to retirements. And layoffs of rank-and file employees appear to be tapering off: Only 9 percent of charities said they expect to trim more workers next year, according to The Chronicle survey. And 19 percent said they plan to hire in 2010.