Many major industries are grappling with a talent and skills shortage, with the charities sector being hit the most. Data from CIPD shows that charities struggle to fill 81% of vacancies and find it difficult to retain 75% of their staff. The struggle is real.
No charity can make any progress on its cause without the people they need to race forward. So whilst the world is focused on inspiring people to donate and volunteer, the challenge to convince the world’s most talented people to commit their careers to these causes is the ultimate need.
Behind the scenes, the third sector (not-for-profit) is quickly rising to become one of the largest employers and industries in many major economies. The John Hopkins Institute in the US reports that this is the 3rd largest employer in the USA with over 12m employees. But the rapid scale of growth which is 10x faster than in for-profit businesses, shows that future jobs growth can and should come from the third sector.
Whilst it’s near impossible to accurately measure both the direct and indirect contribution to GDP, data shows that the third sector on average makes up 5% of GDP for major economies. To put this into context this equates to the same as most construction industries in the same economies.
The challenge is that this remains a closely guarded secret and stops people understanding the scale of the opportunity in pursuing a career in it.
Most not-for-profit organisations are machines when it comes to hiring incredible fundraising talent. Year on year these organisations manage to further their efforts and do more for the causes they support. But the rules of the game are fast changing, with the landscape turning digital the competition and noise has massively intensified.
Data from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NVCO) shows that 75% of charities have very few digitally skilled people. This also supports data from CIPD of finance professionals in the third sector also being really difficult to retain.
Building an employer proposition that is compelling enough to inspire the best talent away from the for-profit sector in these key areas is critical to these organisations thriving.
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