Starting to Build a Nonprofit Team – And Who You Need to Hire First

Not enough time.

Way too much to do.

Unable to devote energy to donor relations.

Having to learn software in order to market or fundraise.

Deadlines that loom and keep us up until 2am (or later!)

Working most weekends and sacrificing family time, vacations and holidays

All of these are classic symptoms of running a nonprofit with too few resources. There is no shame in it, and if you were to ask most entrepreneurs, they’d tell you that they either go through or went through the same challenges when they started their companies. 

But the reality is that this is not sustainable. It simply won’t get better on its own nor will your organization make the progress that it should. You are doing a disservice to those you serve as well as your donors and funders by under-delivering on services and programming. 

So what can you do to fix this?

My suggestion is to hire someone as soon as you possibly can. Hire someone with very different skills to your own so that they can complement your work, experience and effort. You don’t need another you! And hire someone to do the work that is critical but that you simply cannot get to. Typically that would be a fundraising or development manager or director. Money needs to be coming in constantly and someone must be soliciting donations and stewarding donors continuously. 

The other role that is crucial is an assistant. You will probably not be able to find one person who can effectively do both development and administrative work – I’ve tried and it has never worked out well. In my experience, these are two different individuals but both are very important. Having an assistant will free up your time so that you can focus on the board and strategy, both critical areas that require ongoing attention. The options when it comes to hiring assistants range from someone employed who comes into an office to work with you, to a remote assistant who only comes in as needed but works mostly from home, to a true virtual assistant (my favorite) who may not even live in the same city, state or country as you! (if you are interested in a nonprofit certified VA for your nonprofit, please take a look at www.nonprofitassistant.com – full disclosure: I am a co-founder of this company.)

So, should you hire an Employee or 1099? This decision depends on whether the individual is going to work as a true employee or contractor for you. My preference is to start by hiring a contractor and this is especially important if you have never hired anyone before. A contractor will establish their own schedule, use their own equipment and will produce a work product for you as assigned. If you are thrilled with the deliverables and their productivity, you can always look at an employee relationship with them. I’ve done this many times and it allowed me to get to know the work style and productivity of the individual before putting them on the payroll as an employee.

Recruiting/onboarding tips : 

1. Hire fast and don’t be afraid to cut the person loose if it isn’t working out. 
2. Be kind, but clear and firm. Set the expectations very early in the relationship. 
3. Don’t put up with any nonsense. Lying, showing up late, or concealing mistakes are simply not acceptable.  
4. Encourage open dialogue and lots of questions.
5. Be patient – training someone to do things the way you expect them to be done can take weeks and even months. 

My takeaway is that you must get yourself some help as soon as you can. Your sanity and the organization’s future depend on it.

PS I was a headhunter for about 12 years and I did a lot of recruiting. In the coming weeks I will share my top tips for interviewing, hiring and checking references.