On Tuesday, October 21, Regina Birdsell, Executive Director of the Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM) presented an overview of their Compensation and Benefits Survey 2014 to an appreciative crowd at Antioch University’s community room. The full survey is available on their website at http://cnmsocal.org/product-category/2014-compensation-and-benefit-survey/.

Filling the gap of data.

CNM created the Compensation and Benefit Survey to fill the gap of data and information on current and local nonprofit compensation and benefits practices and trends. This survey has become popular with executive directors, human resources staff, chief financial officers, finance committees as a tool that helps determine and assure competitive salaries and benefit packages, as well as staying abreast of current trends.

There were 509 survey participants from the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, and Riverside. Next year they plan to include Santa Barbara County. Still, the findings are helpful since they provide information about the Southern California nonprofit sector.

Important survey findings.

Here are some survey findings that might interest nonprofit leaders:

• Salary increases will increase from 2% to 3% in 2014/15; an indication of healthy growth. More emphasis is being placed on rewarding performance through salary increases.
• 83% of participants offer health care benefits to employees, with 29% paying 100%; down from 51% in 2013.
• 57% are offering retirement benefits to their employees; down from 64% in 2013.
• Non-cash compensation such as professional development classes, conferences, and membership in professional organizations continues to be very popular.
• The decrease in staff layoffs continues to improve and there is renewed interest in hiring new staff.
• Many participants report difficulty in finding, recruiting, and/or retaining quality employees.
• Community needs continue to outpace organizational capacity with 76% experiencing an increase in demand in 2014.
• The top three organizational priorities are Diversified fundraising strategies, Improved marketing and communications, and Recruiting more engaged board members.
• The top three sustainability strategies are Strategic alliances, Developing new programs, and Building financial reserves.

For more information visit www.cnmsocal.org and www.nonprofitanswerguide.org.