The charity sector has a pay problem!
With Shelter’s staff starting incredible strike action yesterday the latest in a raft of signs that all is not well in the charity sector, is it time for the charity sector to review its pay policies?
I regularly hear of charities struggling to fill posts, and the feedback and obvious issue is that the salary on offer just isn’t appropriate.
I’ve seen Head of Fundraising posts advertised at under £30k… this is the person tasked with bringing £100,000’s, even millions into the charity to perform its incredible work.
I’ve seen mid-level posts advertised under £25k – the key cogs in a charity, paying entry-level graduate wages.
And I regularly see minimum wage advertised for a plethora of skilled and pivotal roles.
I get why this sometimes happens – charities have to show value for money, and that they’re spending donors’ money wisely, but paying these hugely marked-down rates will only lead to under-qualified people working in your charity.
This isn’t value for money, this is poor management. It’s letting your charity down. Badly.
No one wants to see huge, unnecessary swathes of a charity’s money going into admin and running costs, but the reality is, if you invest in your people and pay them appropriately, you’ll generate more money, you’ll reduce your staff turnover, you’ll have happier staff and a much better charity.
The impact on your charity will be huge.
So, please STOP cutting costs in the most important element of your charity.
The people you employ ARE your charity.
Invest in them.
Get Involved!
We’re trying to put together a collaborative campaign with charity leaders and organisations to try and address some of the issues raised by this post on LinkedIn.
First stop – if you’re a charity person, or work with charities, please can you spare 5 minutes to fill in this quick google form.
And if you’re interested in being part of the steering group for this project – please get in touch with Chief Bear, Chris
