Yes, You CAN Negotiate Salary at a Nonprofit. Here’s How.
For those of us working in the mission-driven nonprofit world, negotiating for a higher salary can feel awkward at best—self-serving or icky at worst.
But the reality is that nonprofit staff at every level deserve not just fair, but generous pay.
Nonprofit employees deserve to be able to support their families, pay for housing, afford groceries, and even (gasp) take vacations!
So, let’s talk about exactly how to negotiate your nonprofit salary.
*Disclaimer: Any advice I give in this article, like all my content, is my opinion only, and you must decide for yourself what will work. I am not giving any one person advice.
Nonprofit Salary Negotiation: Getting Ready
There are three main situations when people commonly negotiate their salary at a nonprofit:
When you receive a job offer from a nonprofit organization where you are not currently employed.
When you are offered a raise or promotion at a nonprofit where you are currently employed.
When you are negotiating a raise or promotion at a nonprofit where you are currently employed, simply because you believe it's time and you’ve earned it.
Across these scenarios, the single most important thing you can do to increase your nonprofit salary is to know your worth. This requires preparing your mindset, research, and marketing materials (your resume and LinkedIn profile).
Prepare Your Mindset for Nonprofit Salary Negotiations
Mindset for nonprofit salary negotiation is about knowing your value and believing that your value should be recognized with generous pay.
To understand your value, take a good look at your career, your accomplishments, training, education, and skills. Write this down! Consider your accomplishments in the context of your peers and in your sector. If you are modest or timid, struggle with imposter syndrome, or are operating from a mindset of scarcity—as many of us in the nonprofit sector do—you might undervalue yourself.
If you undervalue yourself, so will your employer. Focusing on your concrete accomplishments and value-add can help you through this—as can coaching.
Another common mindset hurdle is understanding that higher pay for yourself and others is NOT “taking away” from the organization or mission. You are the mission. You are the work. A true picture of what the work costs must be a priority for nonprofit leaders. Sometimes, a well-paid staff of five does better work with less turnover than an unfairly paid staff of seven.
“Sometimes, a well-paid staff of five does better work with less turnover than an unfairly paid staff of seven.”
Conduct Nonprofit Salary Research
The next step is to honestly put a price on your labor. This is where research and data are vital for nonprofit salary negotiations.
Most employers think about salary in a number of ways.
Geography: What do people pay in this geographic region (Detroit or Tacoma)?
Pay Bands: Entry-level folks make X, managers make Y, and directors make Z (with ranges for each level).
Peers: What are similar roles in similar organizations paying? This cuts across geography, looking at organization size, budget, and sector.
There are salary reports galore available for sale (and some nonprofits in your network may already have a copy). If you can’t get access to published salary reports, then simply poll organizations and peers in your region or sector to see if you can get a baseline.
If you are an executive director, I recommend checking out my in-depth article on Executive Director compensation and my free Executive Director Salary Calculator.
Once you know what similar people in similar situations are making, you can use this information to come up with a target salary range for yourself and your role.
Spend Time on Your Resume and LinkedIn
With the right mindset about your value and data to inform your strategy, it's time to market yourself BEFORE you start negotiations. You’re going to want to focus on two areas: your resume and your LinkedIn profile.
Prep Your Resume Before Salary Negotiations
Your resume may be one of the only places in the world where you are expected to brag, and it is socially acceptable. You have control over the resume. It is YOUR publication and your intellectual property, so use that digital real estate to tell your story.
However, don’t make the common mistake of just regurgitating your job responsibilities. Explain what problems you solved and what accomplishments you achieved.
People hire people to solve problems. Use your result to show how you do that.
“People hire people to solve problems. Use your result to show how you do that.”
Prep Your LinkedIn Presence Before Salary Negotiations
LinkedIn is a powerful and free tool that allows you to tell your career story and enables recruiters and employers to find you. LinkedIn is often one of the top hits for your name when searched online. It makes sense to keep it up to date and fill out every field you can in your bio.
There are a million tips online about how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, so we won’t cover those here, but do make sure everything is up to date and accurate—and engage your network for endorsements and accolades now, before you need them.
If you work with me directly, I can give you custom feedback, tips, direction, and insights into how to structure your resume, LinkedIn page, and salary strategy.
Salary Negotiation Tactics in the Nonprofit Sector: What Works Best
Now that you’re prepared to start your salary negotiations, here are the top five tips to help you land the nonprofit salary you deserve.
Tip 1: Be confident during nonprofit salary negotiations
Just like in fundraising, if you are meek, timid, or unsure of yourself, you will have less success in asking for the salary and compensation you want.
Remember, asking won’t always get you what you want, but you miss 100% of the swings you don’t take. Even rejections are good practice, and they send a message to management about your ambition.
The prep you do before salary negotiations is also essential to building your confidence and thus increasing your chances of success. If you are not sure of your value or your accomplishments, and you lack the data to justify your ask for a higher salary, you are much less likely to get the salary you ask for.
Tip 2: Practice your pitch for a higher salary
Planning always goes better than winging it. Jot down some notes or points for why your requested salary is deserved and in line with your nonprofit peers. Focus on making your case clear and simple. For example:
“Hi, Margaret. I wanted to talk about compensation. I think you know how passionate I am and how hard I work, but most importantly, I am getting results, and I deliver a lot of value around here. (Add 1-2 examples). I hope you agree. I have reviewed the data and would appreciate a 5% raise to ensure we are keeping pace with the region, sector, and inflation.”
Part of your salary pitch may include knowing what peers within your nonprofit organization make. Most employers benefit from information asymmetry (them knowing more than the workers). But if you know what others on staff earn, that can work to your advantage in your pitch.
Tip 3: Anticipate multiple responses to your salary request
Even the most prepared workers sometimes forget to anticipate multiple scenarios. What if it's a yes and they offer you more than you asked for? What if it's a firm “no” with no explanation? What if it's “let’s wait til your review or til the economy settles down”?
Before starting salary negotiations with any nonprofit, sit down and map out how you would respond in each scenario. This helps you approach the negotiations and responses with calm and confidence.
Tip 4: Use anchoring in your salary negotiations
Anchoring is a technique that helps focus the conversation on the number you want it to be centered around. If your boss says, “Well, we were thinking of 4-5% raises this year.” You should immediately anchor the conversation at 5% by saying: “5% is a great start. I’d love it to be higher to really show appreciation for our work.”
Anchoring works in many situations, so be sure to check out our in-depth article on how to use anchoring naturally and successfully.
Tip 5: Know what’s negotiable (BEYOND salary)
Many nonprofit leaders and staff forget that you can negotiate more than just salary.
For example, would you want to negotiate flexible work hours or a four-day workweek? Can you get tuition reimbursement, professional development, maybe have your cell phone bill reimbursed? Maybe the most valuable change for you is a better title or reporting to someone different.
Knowing the full scope of what is negotiable puts you in the drivers’ seat during salary and compensation negotiations.
Because of state and federal law, and each organization’s employment manual, there are some things that must be the same for all workers at an employer, like health insurance or matching retirement plan contributions.
But, in general, there is far more up for negotiation as a nonprofit employee than most people realize. I advise many clients on this, and I’d be happy to work with you, too. Just schedule a call with me.
What Does NOT Work for Nonprofit Salary Negotiation
The first thing that does not work when negotiating your nonprofit salary is waiting and hoping you’ll get a raise. Waiting is luck. You need to make your luck happen by taking charge of your compensation requests.
The second thing that does not work in nonprofit salary negotiations is threats. Believe it or not, some workers use their position or access to critical data or processes as leverage to almost blackmail employers. “If I left this place, it would fall apart, so you need me here.” This rarely works, and most executive directors I know would immediately start looking for a replacement for the role.
The third thing that is risky in salary negotiations—and that will likely only work once at any nonprofit—is using another job offer to negotiate a higher compensation package. If you aren’t careful, your tactic could fail or backfire; I have seen people let go shortly after this tactic is used. So, if you truly want to work with a specific employer, be very careful when using competing job offers. You may not get what you want.
Sample Script for Your Nonprofit Salary Negotiation
Here is a sample script for an executive director negotiating a higher salary. You can adapt the language for your specific situation and role. Be sure to include the key elements that demonstrate your data-backed value.
It has been one of the highlights of my career to lead this organization, and my plan is to help us be successful for years to come. We can both agree that I continue to meet or exceed my goals and primary responsibilities in all the organization's major areas.
In the past [Number] years/months, we have achieved significant milestones, including [List 2-3 key achievements with specific data or examples]. For instance, we have [Quantifiable achievement, e.g., increased fundraising by X%, expanded our services to Y number of new clients, successfully launched a new program that resulted in Z].
My leadership has been instrumental in these successes through [Mention specific actions you took, e.g., developing a new strategic plan, securing major grants, streamlining operations].
As you may know, the job of an executive director is way bigger than any job description and there are many things that quietly get done around here to keep us growing, improving, and avoiding unnecessary risks to our reputation.
I believe it is time for a step up in my compensation package. Given the data on similar executive directors of nonprofit organizations with similar budgets in this region and my level of responsibility, I am asking for a [X]% raise, which would bring me to X salary. My compensation should send a message of my value in the marketplace, but also my value to this organization and our stakeholders.
After Nonprofit Salary Negotiation: What Happens Next
Whether it’s with a new employer or at your current employer, starting salary negotiations with a nonprofit can be scary. Just remember: know your worth and the value you add.
When you successfully negotiate a higher nonprofit salary, you are likely raising your lifetime earnings and savings, as you are setting a new income bar for the future. Salary negotiations that go well also build your confidence for all future positions and negotiations in life. Plus, you’re helping ensure that donors and stakeholders understand what it really costs for nonprofits to employ top-flight talent.
Now, not every nonprofit salary negotiation ends up with the outcome you hope. If you don’t get an increase, don’t give up. Some salary negotiation experts will use a “no” as a challenge. They may ask the manager to promise a raise in three or six months if the employees achieve certain benchmarks. This can work. In nonprofits, one of the most common reasons for denying or delaying a salary increase is the budget. So, if you can demonstrate that you can raise the money, that may help set you up for future success in salary negotiations.
If you’re interested in brushing up on your fundraising or leadership skills, I offer several coaching and training options. Book a sales call to work with me!
