The nonprofit workforce shortages crisis is one of the, if not the, greatest challenges the charitable nonprofit sector faces today. Government policies and practices affecting nonprofit grants and contracts exacerbate that crisis; nonprofit managers and employees can’t operate efficiently or effectively when forced to deal with partial payments that don’t cover full costs, significantly late payments, and unnecessarily burdensome application and reporting requirements. These challenges have been documented in the past but are now getting greater attention because of a sense of urgency in fixing the workforce shortages crisis.
Thanks to nonprofit advocacy in advance of the 2023 legislative sessions, state senators and representatives have been introducing myriad solutions to the workforce challenge out of concern for the sector. Of particular focus has been reforming government-nonprofit grants and contracting policies and practices that hurt nonprofits, the people they serve, and taxpayers. Such a deep-in-the-weeds focus area is no accident; nonprofits have been building to this point for months and years.
More than a decade ago, the networks of the National Council of Nonprofits elevated concerns about those broken “systems” and successfully championed reforms at the federal level and a few states that were open to change. New data shows that many of the challenges and problems today remain largely the same. Learn more about Government-Nonprofit Contracting Reform. In particular, check out the menu of 16 proven solutions.