It is simple truth that non-profits have very tight budgets and because of these constraints, finding and keeping talent can be a tremendous challenge for any HR department. It is not uncommon for some non-profits to hire great people, only to lose them after a year or two when they’ve gained marketable skills to move onto bigger non-profits or altogether into the for-profit sector.

The uniqueness of non-profits hiring, is not that the vacancies are quite robust. There are definitely vacancies, but that is not indicative of growth. Up to 20% of those vacancies are backfilling position from people who have left.

While attracting and motivating non-profit employees can be difficult, it is not impossible to keep them working hard and stay committed to your organization.

Let’s deal with a couple basics first before we look at a few motivational steps. If you are searching for the key recipe to make this happen, you will be searching for quite a while. There is no exact recipe. What there is, is dedication and a commitment of time, given by your managers, to explore opportunities to engage and motivate employees. Having managers set aside time to coordinate motivational programs, benefits both productivity and general morale.

Research has shown that by doing a quick examination of the types of potential hires you are searching for, you will discover that to each type, differing requirements need to be considered.

For instance, let’s look at millennials. If you haven’t hired any in while, you will need to know that millennials are motivated mostly by purpose and passion. They are looking for meaningful purpose to work and a feeling of what they do is rewarding. Keep in mind this is most but not all. There will be outliers to this outlook. In other words, discuss what motivates both new hires and your current teams.

There are some who enjoy public praise and attention. At the same time, you will have other employees who take criticism and are motivated by it while another set will take it personally. While it is at times not an easy road, knowing what types of employees are in your teams, will help you determine which motivational tactics you may wish to use and when.

• Document what you want to do
  • Create your company employee retention policy. It does not need to be a complicated document. The goal is to put on paper, your leaderships support, agreement and commitment to strategies and activities planned. Not only will you show the employees they are valued, you will also be able to show boards of directors how each retention expenditure is tied to goals and results.
• Communication
  • Let your employees’ voices be heard. Allow them to give opinion on forthcoming plans, perhaps making suggestions on current items or even being there as a sounding board.
  • Keep them in the loop. Employees are more committed knowing the purpose of their input and how what they do has affected the non-profit outcomes. Transparency is key here.
• Walk the Talk
  • Show your teams you are dedicated and believe 100% in what you do. Show your teams you are dedicated to each of them. You cannot be committed to the organization without the same given to each of your employees.
  • When faced with challenges and issues that arise with your employees, show fairness when it is time to deal with the issue at hand.
  • Show you trust your teams. Something as simple as saying to an employee that you have their back will go a long way.
  • You have a meeting coming up. Take the time to show one of your team (you can rotate this as well) how to run the meeting. Let them take the lead to show how you do value their efforts.
  • Gamification rules. It is no surprise we live in a game-based era. Whether it is apps on a phone or using real world objects, creating tasks with a gaming component with rewards to each task, may be a hit.
• Targets
  • While the organization has the big goals, it is always good to make smaller goals for your teams. The praise and reward for these will be equal to or maybe even better than when the large goals are achieved. You can make weekly goals here to start.

Much of what you decide on the above depends on the size or your non-profit. You may try one or more to see what works. There is the one key to the program to motivate your teams and that key is your company’s formal employee retention policy. Less than 20% of companies in the United States have one but those that do, have proven its worth.

If you have a motivational suggestion that you’ve used successfully, please do not hesitate to comment below.