This guest post was generously provided by Valentina Kibedi of Laridae (see bio below).

 

Engaged employees keep your nonprofit running strong. These passionate employees are ready to put in the hours, produce quality work, and go the extra mile to ensure your nonprofit fulfills its mission to the best of its ability. But how can you engage your employees?

 

Employees gain and lose motivation for all sorts of reasons. Maybe an improvement in management style boosts motivation, but too many long hours during a busy season bring it back down. These ebbs and flows are normal, but there are ways nonprofits can ensure motivation is high more often than not. In this guide, we’ll explore a few of these strategies:

 

  1. Connect work to impact.
  2. Provide skills training.
  3. Offer VTO.
  4. Maintain transparency.
  5. Create a strong culture.

 

What motivates your employees depends on your unique team, but these best practices are a worthwhile starting point for most nonprofit workplaces.

 

1. Connect work to impact.

 

Your nonprofit carries out meaningful work, but don’t assume that this alone will always keep your employees motivated in their roles. After all, the coordinator planning your holiday fundraising event might never interact with the program side of your nonprofit and thus not understand the true impact of their fundraising efforts.

 

When creating new initiatives, assigning tasks, or hiring new staff, be clear about how this work contributes to your organization as a whole. Not only will this make employees feel fulfilled in their day-to-day responsibilities, but this also keeps your entire team pushing toward the same goal, making for a cohesive work environment.

 

2. Provide skills training.

 

Like at any workplace, nonprofit employees want to improve their skills and move up the career ladder. 360MatchPro’s guide to employee engagement suggests a few professional development opportunities that can motivate employees, including:

 

  • Training and certifications. If your nonprofit has specific responsibilities that require certification to complete, help ambitious employees accomplish the necessary training to receive those certifications. For instance, you might offer to pay for online, cohort-based courses that allow employees to learn with and from nonprofit peers.

 

  • Mentorship programs. Promote internal advancement and foster a sense of community by having senior employees mentor new ones. This gives new employees opportunities to ask questions about their daily tasks and understand what a future at your nonprofit looks like. Additionally, consider implementing reverse mentorships, where new employees offer advice and provide fresh perspective to senior ones

 

  • Conferences. Professional conferences are an opportunity to meet others in your field and expand your knowledge. Encourage employees to attend conferences for nonprofit professionals so they can bring back new skills to your organization.

 

Meet with your employees to learn about their professional development goals and create plans to help achieve them. Performance reviews are ideal opportunities to check in on employees’ progress, offer encouragement, and listen to employees’ thoughts on their progress.

 

3. Offer VTO.

 

Your nonprofit needs volunteers, and volunteer time off (VTO) can bring in vital help. However, you can also offer VTO to your nonprofit’s employees so they can donate their time to other causes they care about. After all, your employees are likely compassionate people who want to support many causes beyond yours.

 

To create a VTO program, establish guidelines for:

 

  • What is considered VTO. Clarify what types of activities count as VTO and what employees will just need to use regular PTO for. For instance, you might exclude volunteering with religious organizations, so if an employee wants to take time off to help with a church fundraiser, they would need to request PTO.

 

  • Request submission process. Write out directions for how employees can request VTO. This should include any forms they need to complete, how far in advance VTO should be requested, and when employees can expect to see approval for their VTO.

 

  • Who is eligible for VTO. Many organizations that offer time off policies like VTO provide it to all employees, but some make it available only for full-time or senior staff. Decide your nonprofit’s approach and communicate it clearly in your office policy book.

 

When employees return from VTO, they’ll feel recharged and ready to dedicate their focus to your nonprofit. This is why many businesses offer volunteer experiences. While programs like VTO may cut into work hours, employees often have increased productivity and motivation when they’re back “on the clock.”

 

4. Maintain transparency.

 

While employees don’t need to know every little decision leadership makes, being transparent about why certain choices are made is essential for cultivating a loyal, motivated workforce. For example, leadership might share updates with the rest of your team about:

 

  • Future goals, such as how your nonprofit intends to fulfill its mission programs or strategic plan

 

  • Current standing so employees know what obstacles your organization is currently facing and how financially stable your nonprofit is

 

  • Upcoming changes, such as team changes, policy updates, or mission shifts

 

Whenever a major change happens or is expected to happen soon, announce it to your team and allow them to ask questions. Even during challenging times, maintaining transparency ensures employees trust your nonprofit and feel committed to its success.

 

5. Create a strong work culture.

 

Work culture is the general feeling employees have when working at your organization. Your organization’s work culture can incentivize teamwork, transparency, dedication, or any number of other values.

 

However, an unhealthy work culture can unintentionally reinforce negative behaviors. For instance, if employees are harshly criticized for minor mistakes, that organization might develop a work culture of dishonesty as employees opt to hide accidents rather than resolve them.

 

You can prevent this scenario and motivate your team by building a strong work culture around your nonprofit’s core values. A few ways you can accomplish this include:

 

  • Involving leadership. Employees are far more likely to do something if their managers are also doing it. When implementing a new work culture policy, managers and leadership should model it so their directs will follow suit.

 

  • Working with a consultant. Consider bringing in a consultant to rework your organization’s culture. Laridae’s nonprofit consultants guide advises nonprofits to look for human resources, governance, and equity, diversity, and inclusion consultants who specialize in nonprofits. Businesses also hire these types of consultants, but a consultant who works solely with nonprofits can provide unique insights into your organization’s specific practices and strategies.

 

  • Encouraging appreciation. One way to foster a positive work culture is to encourage appreciation. This involves directing managers and leadership to express their thanks to direct reports and giving employees the tools to appreciate their colleagues. For example, one popular peer-to-peer recognition tool is eCards, which employees can use to celebrate co-workers they notice demonstrating your nonprofit’s values, like in this example:

 

Alt text: An eCard that celebrates the value of reliability.

 

As a nonprofit, your mission statement likely involves helping others, showing compassion, and promoting respect. When your work culture embodies those same values, employees are far more likely to buy into your mission and feel passionate about their work.

 

Motivated employees are essential to your nonprofit’s lasting success and impact. Keep your team strong, productive, and loyal by creating a positive work culture where they feel valued and that their work is meaningful. To jumpstart your employee engagement strategy, survey employees, create new workplace policies, and work with a nonprofit consultant to make strategic improvements as needed.

 

 

About the authors:

 

Valentina Kibedi: Director of Learning Services at Laridae

 

With 10+ years of experience in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, Valentina has built a career dedicated to community development and partnership building. Valentina is passionate about helping mission-driven organizations create actionable strategies, develop resilient teams, and transform their cultures.

As Director of Learning Services at Laridae, Valentina develops custom solutions for building organizational capacity by facilitating leadership development and management training courses and coaching nonprofit professionals.

Valentina holds a degree in Criminology from York University and has volunteered for a variety of nonprofits in Ontario.