ABSTRACT
Nonprofits face a variety of challenges that necessitate distinct labor and management skills, including the ability to work with stakeholders in government and the private sector, but also skills that accommodate the diverse industries in which nonprofits operate. While many perceive the nonprofit sector to be focused exclusively on the charitable sector, other industries, including energy and technology, for example, are seeing expansion among their nonprofit counterparts. Recent studies show the nonprofit sector employs the third largest number of paid workers in United States, with almost 1.5 million nonprofit organizations employing nearly 11 million people (Salamon, 2012; Salamon, Sokolowski & Geller 2012). The industry produces revenue that totals over $2 trillion and constitutes 5.4% of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) (McKeever, 2015; Nonprofit HR, 2016). As the nonprofit sector has expanded in size and scope over the past several decades, so has its share in the labor market. Diversification of the sector merits ongoing monitoring of how employment and human resource management (HRM) is evolving. This sector is often misunderstood, yet is dynamic in its composition and scope of work as well as providing a sufficient number of challenges with regard to high-quality data collection practices across the sector, leading to difficulties in analyzing employment trends. One such challenge includes the diversity of organizations included in this sector, from very small, community-based agencies to large, internationally recognized agencies with a global scope. As such, the HRM needs will vary greatly and may have very different implications for each type of employer. This chapter provides some insights on current issues and trends in nonprofit employment.
