(ISF) Re: Salaries for nonprofit technology professionals

Just catching up on this list from my recent vacation, and I want to add a couple thoughts.

First, as other folks have noted, nonprofits often do better - and sometimes significantly better - than for-profits when it comes to benefits. For example, my paycheck may be lower, but I have 5 weeks paid vacation, paid holidays, and a solid organizational commitment to fully pay health insurance premiums for everyone on staff. I feel great about my job not only when I'm planning time away, but also when I'm talking with highly-paid friends in the for-profit tech sector trying to negotiate with superiors for additional vacation time under the table, so they can take off more than 10 days a year. In fact, time off is one of the biggest reasons I can't imagine working in the private sector right now.

This dovetails with the fundamental reason why I work where I work: I love what I do, I feel good about my work when I leave at the end of the day, I love telling people about the work of my organization, and I'm part of a social network - a family, even - at work that I'd have a hard time trading away.

In other words, the higher comparative salaries at for-profits (and even at some larger nonprofits) aren't without their tradeoffs.

Since I've lurked here for a couple years (!), a little about me: I work with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, a 14-person nonprofit in San Francisco. We do human rights organizing and advocacy work with women incarcerated in California prisons, as well as with formerly incarcerated people and their families and community members around the state. I split my time between IT (networking, websites, databases) and fundraising. We're a small enough NPO that I'm not working with bleeding edge tech (Twitter, for example), but I find the nuts and bolts discussions on this list invaluable. Thanks, everyone!

Sasha

Sasha Vodnik
Technology & Development Coordinator
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
1540 Market St., Suite 490
San Francisco, CA 94131
www.prisonerswithchildren.org
Join us in working for the human rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people - donate to LSPC!

-----original message-----
>&gt; Ok, here's the silly version: <http://lolnptech.blogspot.com/2008/04/kitteh-is-offered-tech-job-with.html> And here's the serious version: <http://www.nten.org/blog/2008/04/09/are-you-paid-what-youre-worth-nonprofit-vs-forprofit-salaries> What do you think? As for me, I'm worried that we could have a severe problem in the long run, if nonprofit organizations will drive out talented, dedicated technology professionals by not paying them adequately.>>

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I agree with the idea that nonprofits typically offer very good benefits for individuals and hence that is one reason why salaries differ.

My big issue is that a technology person within an organization is not viewed the same as a development or marketing director. I view someone who is able to effectively understand the complexities of technology usage in the non-profit sector as an extremely important asset. To many non-profits don't recognize this value and the importance of it. I think the best way to encourage individuals to stay in the IT nonprofit sector is to treat IT professionals the same as fundraising professionals. IT people are not geeks who sit in the back of the room pulling apart computers, they are strategic thinkers. I am a development person, understand fundraising concepts etc.. but I also happen to be able to use a computer and understand technology and I honestly want to be paid on par with other professionals in the office. Nothing wrong with that. Also, if more non-profits would collaborate more then the could afford to pay staff, I am a big believer that your staff is important and that they deserve to be paid what they are truly worth even if it means the dreaded cutting of a program.

Tory

-----original message-----
>&gt; First, as other folks have noted, nonprofits often do better - and sometimes significantly better - than for-profits when it comes to benefits. For example, my paycheck may be lower, but I have 5 weeks paid vacation, paid holidays, and a solid organizational commitment to fully pay health insurance premiums for everyone on staff. I feel great about my job not only when I'm planning time away, but also when I'm talking with highly-paid friends in the for-profit tech sector trying to negotiate with superiors for additional vacation time under the table, so they can take off more than 10 days a year. In fact, time off is one of the biggest reasons I can't imagine working in the private sector right now. This dovetails with the fundamental reason why I work where I work: I love what I do, I feel good about my work when I leave at the end of the day, I love telling people about the work of my organization, and I'm part of a social network - a family, even - at work that I 'd have a hard time trading away.In other words, the higher comparative salaries at for-profits (and even at some larger nonprofits) aren't without their tradeoffs.>>

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I run a non-profit and people that come here are very happy for the extra benefits that they get in helping a person or an organization in a foreign country. They like the experience and they value their extra time off as mentioned below. They also look forward to the on-site visits that we make every 3 years. Currently we have people abroad doing the training for us - but they were included in our seminal training. The stress is less, but when deadline arrive - it pick up. But the time in between is all brainstorming including the ICT/IT persons. We use Open Source and have a happy Group that have used Open Source before. We are just running low on our manpower due to the economic crisis and thus the shift into the private market place or their own business. I love working in a non-profit environment - the goals and ambitions are pure. That's just my opinion.

Asif.

-----original message-----
>&gt;nonprofits typically offer very good benefits for individuals and hence that is one reason why salaries differ. My big issue is that a technology person within an organization is not viewed the same as a development or marketing director. I view someone who is able to effectively understand the complexities of technology usage in the non-profit sector as an extremely important asset. To many non-profits don't recognize this value and the importance of it. I think the best way to encourage individuals to stay in the IT nonprofit sector is to treat IT professionals the same as fundraising professionals. IT people are not geeks who sit in the back of the room pulling apart computers, they are strategic thinkers. I am a development person, understand fundraising concepts etc.. but I also happen to be able to use a computer and understand technology and I honestly want to be paid on par with other professionals in the office. Nothing wrong with that. Also, if more non-prof its would collaborate more then the could afford to pay staff, I am a big believer that your staff is important and that they deserve to be paid what they are truly worth even if it means the dreaded cutting of a program.&gt;>

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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

In a competitive market you get what you pay for. You're in a
competitive market for IT professionals. Hire and pay for IT
professionals the same way your hire and pay for accountants and
lawyers. If you pay accountants and lawyers with non-tangible benefits
and get good professional services that way, you can also hire competent
IT professionals the same way. You can get some trade-off between lower
salary and non-tangible benefits. But as a former professor of mine used
to say, "Non-tangible benefits don't feed the bulldog.&quot;

You probably come out much better by outsourcing your IT support than
you will by hiring someone who is willing to work for or a non-market
salary and intangible benefits. If your roof leaks are you going to hire
a roofer who works at competitive rates, or a roofer who will do the job
at a much lower rate because he/she values the services you provide?
Same thing with plumbers, electricians, and other technical and
professional services.

From: Information_Systems_Forum%40yahoogroups.com">Information_Systems_Forumyahoogroups.com
[mailto: Information_Systems_Forum%40yahoogroups.com">Information_Systems_Forumyahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
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Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 5:03 PM
To: Information_Systems_Forum%40yahoogroups.com">Information_Systems_Forumyahoogroups.com
Subject: (ISF) Re: Salaries for nonprofit technology professionals

I run a non-profit and people that come here are very happy for the
extra benefits that they get in helping a person or an organization in a
foreign country. They like the experience and they value their extra
time off as mentioned below. They also look forward to the on-site
visits that we make every 3 years. Currently we have people abroad doing
the training for us - but they were included in our seminal training.
The stress is less, but when deadline arrive - it pick up. But the time
in between is all brainstorming including the ICT/IT persons. We use
Open Source and have a happy Group that have used Open Source before. We
are just running low on our manpower due to the economic crisis and thus
the shift into the private market place or their own business. I love
working in a non-profit environment - the goals and ambitions are pure.
That's just my opinion.

Asif.

-----original message-----
>&gt;nonprofits typically offer very good benefits for individuals and
hence that is one reason why salaries differ. My big issue is that a
technology person within an organization is not viewed the same as a
development or marketing director. I view someone who is able to
effectively understand the complexities of technology usage in the
non-profit sector as an extremely important asset. To many non-profits
don't recognize this value and the importance of it. I think the best
way to encourage individuals to stay in the IT nonprofit sector is to
treat IT professionals the same as fundraising professionals. IT people
are not geeks who sit in the back of the room pulling apart computers,
they are strategic thinkers. I am a development person, understand
fundraising concepts etc.. but I also happen to be able to use a
computer and understand technology and I honestly want to be paid on par
with other professionals in the office. Nothing wrong with that. Also,
if more non-profits would collaborate more then the could afford to pay
staff, I am a big believer that your staff is important and that they
deserve to be paid what they are truly worth even if it means the
dreaded cutting of a program.&gt;>

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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