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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2003
Why Nonprofits Need an HR Conference
Whats so special about nonprofit human resources?
Idealist.org asked that same question a couple of years ago; the answer convinced Idealist to host the first-ever nonprofit HR conference, being held in Philadelphia from June 11-14.
Back in 2001, Idealist.org launched a series of nonprofit career fairs. "We began career fairs to introduce job-seekers to the nonprofit world, said Russ Finkelstein, Idealist.orgs Associate Director. "There wasnt an established route for job-seekers to find a career in the sector, so we decided to create one.
"But what we discovered was that the employers — the recruiters at the career fairs, the HR people themselves — also lacked support networks. And their needs were just as pressing as the job-seekers needs."
Russ convened nonprofit HR meetings around the country, from Seattle to Denver to Washington, D.C. From these gatherings, Idealist got a sense of the unique challenges in nonprofit HR: high turnover; nontraditional employee incentives; unique government regulations; a wide variety of budget restrictions imposed by boards, foundations, or donors; understaffed HR departments; and many other issues.
According to Marcia Metlin, a nonprofit consultant who will speak at the conference, "Nonprofits constantly struggle with having enough resources — human, financial and otherwise — to stay alive and to provide the services they care about.
"Because these resources are scarce, some nonprofits must spend them on resolving immediate, short-term issues: making payroll, affording adequate benefits, and other basic needs. This translates into a firefighting mentality, dealing with whatever crisis presents itself."
The unique problems of the nonprofit sector arent addressed by traditional HR resources, so Idealist.org has stepped in to fill the void and to develop solutions. The conference in Philadelphia will be Idealists starting point, a place for HR professionals to learn from experts (over fifty experts will be speaking at the conference) and to lay the groundwork for a nonprofit HR network.
Who will attend the conference? There are two basic types of nonprofit HR professionals: executive directors of smaller organizations, for whom HR is just one of many duties; and experienced professionals at larger organizations, whose primary job is HR.
You might think that an ED would have a different set of concerns than the director of a five-person HR department. But because almost every nonprofit has a budget crunch, the needs of these two groups are pretty similar. They all need:
 staff training, and ways to get it done on a shoestring budget
ideas about nontraditional compensation
more recruiting tools to compete with corporations
methods for dealing with high turnover
a nonprofit HR network, to help find quick solutions to sector-specific problems
Currently, there is no national support system for any of these needs. "Putting People at the Center: The First National Conference for Nonprofit Human Resources" will tackle all of these issues, primarily focusing on nonprofit recruiting, compensation, training, and regulation.
This June in Philadelphia, Idealist.org is founding a national network of nonprofit HR professionals. Come be a part of it.
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