50 Best Nonprofits To Work For 2013 - The NonProfit Times

2 APRIL 1, 2013 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com

“There’s a growing need (for the or-ganization’s work) and our staff is work-ing long hours,” Nardizzi said. “We needto take care of our staff so they are ableto give 110 percent to the organization’smission.”

WWP developed the program. “Wehave a staff with the expertise so we gotthem to help develop it,” he said. “Whynot rely on your own staff expertise tohelp you to help them?”

Development of the compassion fa-tigue workshop underscores why WWPin Jacksonville, Fla., again is at the top ofThe NonProfit Times’ Best Nonprofits to

Work For, both for large organizationswith 249 or more employees and for allnonprofits surveyed.

Best Companies Group (BCG) of Har-risburg, Pa., conducted the survey andprepared the rankings in conjunctionwith The NonProfit Times. Each nonprofitprovided information on such areas asbenefits and employment practices. E -mployees were given a confidential surveyof statements with which they could agreeor disagree covering eight general cate-gories: Leadership and Planning, Corpo-rate Culture and Communications, RoleSatisfaction, Work Environment, Relation-ship with Supervisor, Training and Devel-opment, Pay and Benefits, and OverallEmployee Engagement.

The average for all nonprofits thatparticipated was 85 percent favorablerating; for those making the Best Work-places list the average was 89 percent.

The best averages came in Work Envi-ronment, 92 percent for all nonprofitssurveyed and 94 for those making thelist; Relationship with Supervisor, 89percent of all and 92 percent for thosemaking the list; and, Role Satisfactionand Overall Employee Engagement,each with 88 percent approval for alland 90 percent for those making the list.

Training and Development rankedlowest, at 72 and 77 percent, respec-tively. The section included opportunity

for advancement, which especially insmaller organizations is limited.

Other category results were: Corpo-rate Culture and Communications, 86

percent and 90 percent, respectively;Leadership and Planning, 85 and 90, re-spectively; and, Pay and Benefits, 83 and87, respectively.

“Organizations that make the listhave been successful in creating uniquecultures where employees love to cometo work,” said Peter Burke, BCG presi-dent. “The leaders of the winning organ-izations understand their cultural valuesand they live their cultural values.”

Nonprofits differ from many for-profit or public sector businesses andorganizations, Burke said. “For the mostpart, they are led by and organized bypeople who have a very strong passionfor the mission of the organization. Thatcan’t be said for the public sector or for-profit organizations.”

Most large nonprofits on this year’slist show flexibility in benefits that allowthem to, in essence, practice what theypreach. WWP’s compassion fatigue work-shop is one example. Other examples in-clude five days annual leave for eldercare offered by the Alzheimer’s Associa-tion; wellness programs by the AmericanHeart Association; and, a discount onPatagonia apparel, described as “an eco-conscience brand that makes greatclothes,” offered employees of the Natu-ral Resources Defense Council. Suchben efits “absolutely set a tone for work-ing there,” Burke said.

The Alzheimer’s Association in Chi ca -go, Ill., launched the elder care benefitseveral years ago as it developed a “BestPractices” list for business and organiza-tions, said Angela Geiger, chief strategyofficer. “We decided to look inward. Fora long time we have had a school visita-tion day” but there was no benefit tohelp care for elderly relatives. Yet,Alzheimer’s disease is a disease usuallyassociated with the elderly.

“Elder care is becoming a huge issuein the workplace,” Geiger said. “One inseven adults report having to take timeoff to care for elderly parents. We seethis as a way of adding parity.”

She believes the elder care benefitpaid off in the Best NonProfits to Workfor survey, judging from the commentsshe read. “One of the things they cite is‘our commitment to our vision, living itevery day.’”

Aylesa Swanson, senior associate di-rector of direct marketing for the organi-

1 Wounded Warrior Project, Jacksonville FL 290 2 SightLife, Seattle WA 92 3 AHC Inc, Arlington VA 63 4 New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, 39 Roseland NJ 5 Partnership for Public Service, Washington DC 62 6 The Center for Effective Philanthropy, Cambridge MA 36 7 Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Daytona Beach FL 91 8 Brighton Center, San Antonio TX 91 9 Alzheimer's Association, Chicago IL 337 10 The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Washington DC 26 11 DoSomething.org, New York NY 4012 Arts Midwest, Minneapolis MN 2213 Better Business Bureau serving Central, Coastal, 70 Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin, Austin TX14 The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Washington DC 4615 National Industries for the Blind, Alexandria VA 15816 Children's Law Center, Washington DC 7717 Natural Resources Defense Council, Chicago IL 38518 Earth Force, Denver CO 1619 The LIVESTRONG Foundation, Austin TX 9620 Jumpstart for Young Children, Boston MA 12021 Harlem RBI, New York NY 7122 NOLS, Lander WY 19523 Career Path Services, Spokane WA 9124 Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands, Omaha NE 2225 PENCIL Inc., New York NY 2726 Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, Tucson AZ 7227 Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, Tucson AZ 11028 Pathway Homes, Inc., Faifax VA 9129 NeedyMeds, Inc, Gloucester MA 1530 Make-A-Wish Illinois, Chicago IL 3931 American Heart Association, Dallas TX 2,71232 Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), Alexandria VA 9133 Caring Voice Coalition, Inc., Mechanicsville VA 5834 Human Rights Campaign, Washington DC 14435 The New York Stem Cell Foundation, New York NY 5036 Aspell Recovery Center, Jackson TN 2837 Year Up, Boston MA 289

39 Cross-Cultural Solutions, New Rochelle NY 4240 Dogs for the Deaf, Inc., Central Point OR 3041 PRS, Inc., McLean VA 6742 PENCIL Foundation, Nashville TN 2443 Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Mountain View CA 11044 Kessler Foundation, West Orange NJ 9445 Kaboom!, Washington DC 8546 American Councils for International Education, Washington DC 15547 iMentor, New York NY 8448 The Mission Continues, New York NY 3849 National Communication Association, Washington DC 1550 Masonic Homes of Kentucky, Inc., Masonic Home KY 510

38 Summer Search, San Francisco CA 105

Top 50U.S. EmployeesRank Organization Listing

NPT’s BESTNONPROFITSTO WORK FOR

2013

Alzheimer’sAssociation

Natural ResourcesDefense Council

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BestPlacesToWork_2013_Layout 1 3/22/13 11:49 AM Page 2

APRIL 1, 2013 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com 3

1 Wounded Warrior Project 209

1 Wounded Warrior Project 290 2 Alzheimer's Association 337 3 Natural Resources Defense Council 385 4 American Heart Association 2,712

6 Masonic Homes of Kentucky, Inc. 5105 Year Up 289

Large Organizations (250 or more Employees)

U.S. EmployeesRank Employer Listing

zation, knows firsthand the value of theelder care benefit. She has used it to as-sist in the care of her mother, who hasParkinson’s disease. “It helps you feel se-cure about your job” while still tendingto the needs of her mother, Swansonsaid. “It helps to keep you healthier bynot having to worry about your job.”

The benefit is very flexible. Employeesmay use anywhere from half an hour tothe complete 7.5-hour workday at a time.Some days you might only need an houror two, Swanson said, while other times,such as when her mother has a neurologyappointment, can eat up the whole day.

The Alzheimer’s Association also hasa flexible scheduling that allows employ-ees to work from home on occasion.Swanson has used that and half a day ofelder care to help her mother.

Elder care is one of several factorsthat contribute to Alzheimer’s Associa-tion’s corporate culture, Geiger said.First, “we have a very clear mission,strategic plan. All of our employeesknow their role and how they contributeto that mission, from top to bottom.”Second, the association believes in beingflexible in working with their employ-ees’ personal needs, a “recognition ofthe hard work and long hours employ-ees often work.”

The association solicits employeefeedback and suggestions. One such ve-

hicle is an “innovation box” that encour-ages the staff to suggest ways how thingscan be done better or to improve under-standing of the mission and then impactof the organization’s work.

Geiger said one employee noted thatthe organization sponsors an annualAlzheimer’s Association conference ofleading researchers on the disease. “Cansomeone go to experience it and comeback and report on what it feels like tobe in the middle of our mission, to be in

the midst of all these researchers?,” theemployee asked.

That “innovation” was quickly imple-mented, Geiger said. “I think it’s madethem more part of the work we do thatthey don’t get to see every day.”

One sign of the corporate culture’ssuccess is the “more than 100 percentparticipation of employees” in fundrais-ing and awareness efforts. They not only

participate in at least one of the annualprograms, “but they recruit their familiesand friends, too. That demonstrates thatAlzheimer’s Association isn’t just a job;it’s something they are passionateabout,” Geiger said.

The American Heart Association inDallas, Texas, offers employees a well-ness program called “It’s All About Me,”which includes 12 healthy living pro-grams, personal health coaching, physi-cal activity and nutrition tracking tools,

and quarterly challenges. Those who par-ticipate in the voluntary program receivewellness credits that can be used for in-centives such as prizes or paid time off.

AHA also sponsors American HeartUniversity, aimed at improving staffmember’s performance through onlineclasses and in-person workshops.

“When we provide employees the re-sources to improve their own health and

drive our mission, we find they are moreproductive, more engaged, and moresatisfied at the office,” said KatherineNeverdousky, vice president of humanresources.”

At the Natural Resources DefenseCouncil, leaders figure they need topractice what they preach – care for theenvironment and ecology. The organiza-tion’s offices in New York City are in a“green” building that has a compostingstation on the grounds, said MercedesFalber, human resources director. NRDCdiligently recycles as a natural way ofdoing business, gets milk from a dairy,and has copiers that automatically printon each side of the paper. The organiza-tion also works with Patagonia, consid-ered an eco-friendly clothing line, toprovide discounts for employees.

Not surprisingly, a person who typi-cally applies for a job at the NRDC tendsto “have a vested interest in our mis-sion,” Falber said. The work environ-ment and culture reinforce that sense ofunified mission, something Falber thinksis visible to those who deal with NRDC.

“It’s important to be seen that way,”she said, “even when we rent cars, werent hybrids.” NPT

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BY GARY MORTON

One of PRS Inc.’s best re-cruiting tools happens tobe its own employees.Some 30 percent of all

hires are from employee referrals to theMcLean, Va., nonprofit that works withindividuals with mental illness, emo-tional and behavioral disorders.

“In my experience, the higher the re-ferrals by employees the better,” said Vir-ginia Tischner, director of humanresources. “Employees who value theirwork, who work for a good organiza-tion, are willing to tell their friends orprofessional acquaintances about theopportunities we have.”

PRS nurtured such an atmospherethrough its efforts to not only hire the rightpeople, but to ensure those hired fully un-derstand their jobs and how they relate tothe PRS’s overall goals. A new hire under-goes an entrance interview between threeand six months after they start work. Theorganization wants to gauge how accu-rately the work was explained during thehiring process, orientation and training;determine initial job satisfaction; and, dis-cover areas that may need improvement.

“Our on-boarding piece has dramati-cally changed” because of feedback fromthe entrance interviews as well as fromexit interviews and employee surveys,Tischner said. Now “we know that everyemployee is getting the same informa-tion in the same way,” in a manner thatrelates to each specific job, she said.

Wendy Gradison, president and CEO,said all the agency’s top managers par-ticipate in the orientation so each newhire understands the role of the organi-zation and how it fits into the commu-nity, PRS’s operations and services, the

agency’s financial picture and how eachindividual role affects that picture.

“We think it’s very important thatevery employee understand that every-thing they do helps not only the client,but also helps PRS met its goals.”

PRS ranked 22nd on this year’s The

NonProfit Times’ 2013 Best Nonprofits

to Work For list of medium-sized organi-zations (50 to 249 employees). The em-ployee referrals, entrance interviews andorientation for new employees, indicatea strong focus toward “Training and De-velopment” and “Corporate Culture andCommunications,” two of eight areas in-cluded in a survey of employees of par-

ticipating nonprofits.Training and Development proved

the weakest category, across the board,for nonprofits. Results showed the per-centage of favorable responses (AgreeSomewhat or Agree Strongly) across theboard as 72 percent among all medium-sized nonprofit employees surveyed and75 percent for those chosen for the list.Statements to which employees wereasked to confidentially agree or disagreeinclude: “This organization provided asmuch initial training as I needed” and“This organization provides enough in-formation, equipment and resources Ineed to do my job well.”

Corporate Culture and Communica-tions received an 86 percent favorablerating among all medium-sized nonprof-its surveyed and 90 percent amongthose that made the list. Its statementsinclude: “I can trust what this organiza-tion tells me” and “I have a good under-standing of how this organization isdoing financially.”

The emphasis is on corporate cultureat SightLife, a Seattle, Wash.-based non-profit that focuses on eliminatingcorneal blindness in the United Statesand worldwide. Part of that emphasiscomes at every board or staff meeting,when a letter from a recipient of a do-nated cornea and another from the fam-ily of a donor are read. The pool for suchletters is large. SightLife and its partnersprovided more than 10,800 corneas fortransplant during 2011.

The letters “keep our people engagedin mission” and show the outcome ofthe organization’s efforts, said RussellKelly, chief marketing officer.

Since SightLife is “very mission-ori-ented,” Kelly said the organization putsan emphasis on recruiting and keeping“top talent” people who fit into the cor-porate culture. Some of the steps to findthe right person may at first seem almostghoulish. For example, since SightLifeharvests corneas for donation, someoneconsidered for that position must go outto a morgue to salvage one. “Generallywe do it late at night because that is usu-ally the pattern the people will work in,”Kelly said. “We want to make sure theyfully understand the role they go into sothey will be happy and successful.”

Troy Win’E remembers the night in2006 when SightLife officials called himat 2:30 a.m. to go to a Seattle-area hospi-

Employee Referrals Gets JobsFilled, Challenges Keep Them Going


1 SightLife 92 2 AHC Inc 63 3 Partnership for Public Service 62 4 Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida 91

7 National Industries for the Blind 158

6 Better Business Bureau serving Central, Coastal, 70 Southwest Texas and the Permian Basin

5 Brighton Center 91

8 Children's Law Center 77

10 Jumpstart for Young Children 1209 The LIVESTRONG Foundation 96

11 Harlem RBI 7112 NOLS 19513 Career Path Services 9114 Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse 7215 Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona 110

17 Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) 9118 Caring Voice Coalition, Inc 5819 Human Rights Campaign 144

21 Summer Search 10520 The New York Stem Cell Foundation 50

22 PRS, Inc. 6723 Silicon Valley Community Foundation 11024 Kessler Foundation 9425 Kaboom! 85

27 iMentor 8426 American Councils for International Education 155

16 Pathway Homes, Inc. 91

Medium Organizations (50 – 249 Employees)


SightLifeBrisbane Lab PRS Inc.



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tal to recover a cornea. “It’s a real situa-tion the first time you go in and performa cornea recovery or observe one,”Win’E said. “I was pre-med before and Ihad worked in cadaver labs so I waspretty used to it.”

Not all recovery staff are as preparedas he was on his first recovery mission,said Win’E, now recovery services man-ager who oversees the hiring and train-ing of most recovery staff members. Herecalls one applicant, an emergencymedical technician he accompanied on arecovery mission who fainted.

“It makes very clear what certain as-pects of the job are and gives themsometimes the worst aspects of the posi-tion so they can determine if they wantthis job,” he said.

Since people die around the clock,the recovery technician’s work mightjust as easily come in the middle of thenight, as during the application process.“The ultimate goal is to make sure thecornea is transplanted successfully. Theearlier we can get that cornea the moreof a chance for success,” he said.

SightLife ranked as the best place towork among medium-sized nonprofitsand second overall, behind WoundedWarrior Project.

One of the challenges for SightLife isits reliance on part-time or per diemstaff. “They’re not as connected to themission,” Kelly said, “so we have to findways of engaging them to the missionand keeping them abreast of what isgoing on in the organization.”

SightLife has developed ways to pro-vide some benefits for those employees,such as involvement in the retirementprogram. “That was a big change forthem; they felt they were not just a part-time worker but a part of the organiza-tion,” Kelly said. SightLine also isdeveloping an e-zine about what the or-ganization does globally and is studyingother communication tools.

Not all the communication effortshave to be major undertakings. SightLifealso sends minutes of staff meetings toits employees. “It was one of those ‘Aha’moments,” Kelly said of that decision.“Why do they feel disconnected? Oh,they’re not coming to staff meetings.”

Partnership for Public Service inWashington, D.C., ranked third on themedium-sized nonprofits list. It places astrong emphasis on staff developmentand leadership. According to Max Stier,president and chief executive officer,“mission alone is not enough. Missionwithout good management does not getyou very far.”

The Partnership, a nonpartisan organ-ization that encourages young peopleinto public service and works to revital-ize the federal government, provides staffreviews three times a year. Before the in-dividual reviews, the senior managementteam reviews the entire staff as a groupto decide on specific focus areas andwhat the personal reviews should cover.The reviews go beyond the individual,though, to include the team to which the

individual is assigned. The emphasis is toidentify the strengths and weaknessesnot only of the individual but the team aswell, and to identify the talents of indi-vidual team members that could be usedby other teams as well.

Part of the staff development includesa SPARC (for Strategy, Participation,Alignment, Results and Culture) teamwhere junior staff members haveworked on such projects as developingan organization-wide training curricu-lum, identifying the “organizational effi-

ciencies,” and planning the annual staffretreat. “All of this ties in to our staff sur-vey, which identified these issues asbeing important issues of focus for thePartnership and for SPARC,” Stier said.

The emphasis on staff developmentand communication touches on at leastthree of the eight categories discussed inThe NonProfit Times survey: the men-tioned Training and Development, andRelationship with Supervisor and Over-all Employee Engagement. Among allmedium-sized organizations surveyed,

89 percent of respondents expressedgeneral satisfaction in their RelationshipEngagement the scores were 88 percentfor all medium-sized nonprofits sur-veyed and 90 percent for those makingthe Best Places list.

“The bottom line,” he said, “is a laserfocus on the fact that our success de-pends upon our people.” NPT




BY GARY MORTON

Blair Edwards took the staff ofThe National Society of Col-legiate Scholars to view anexhibit titled “1001 Inven-

tions” at the National Geographic Mu-seum one day earlier this year.

When they returned to their Washing-ton, D.C., offices, Edwards, the society’sassociate vice president for strategic en-gagement, led an “innovation workshop.”As part of the exercise, teams stacked plas-tic cups as high as they could. Some usedpyramid-type stacks atop a table. Othergroups took less conventional approachesto the assignment. One person held abase stacked with cups over her head asshe stood; another hopped onto a tableand built a tower of cups over a base ofupside-down postal service baskets.

The day provided an example in howinnovation happens. “It’s usually a smalllittle tweak,” Edwards said. Afterward thestaff discussed innovations they mightlike to see in the society’s operations.

The National Geographic exhibit re-inforced the culture that society officersencourage. They want an interactiveworkplace where anyone’s suggestionswill be considered. The coordinator ofmember engagement alerted Edwardsthis past fall that many campus chaptersscheduled service projects in November.She suggested that the national officerecognize the month. “I said ‘Let’s do it.’November became our ‘Let’s Do Service’month,” said Edwards.

“If someone has a great idea, regard-less of what their level is, we’re going totry it,” she said. “If it goes wrong, we’reable to learn from it and go on to an-other idea.”

The openness to new ideas and en-couragement of staff members to makesuggestions helps make for a satisfied

work force. The National Society of Col-legiate Scholars placed third amongsmall organizations (15 to 49 employ-ees) on The NonProfit Times’ list of Best

NonProfits to Work For.

If the society and the two other top-ranking small nonprofits are any example,a focus on employee relations and ontheir needs is vital to creating a favorablework environment. The New Jersey Soci-ety of Certified Public Accountants inRoseland, N.J., which ranked first, placedan emphasis on training and developmentthis year, after citing that area as a majorconcern following last year’s NPT survey.The Center for Effective Philanthropy,which placed second, developed newcommunications systems several yearsago after an employee survey showed thatmembers of a newly opened San Fran-cisco office were less satisfied than thosein the central office in Cambridge, Mass.

The National Society of CollegiateScholars’ innovations day suggests thatthe organization values its Corporate Cul-ture and Communications, one of eight

ual advance his or her own skills, whetherinside or outside the office.”

This year’s survey showed a markedimprovement, she said, with employeesatisfaction rising from 74 percent of re-spondents last year to 85 percent. Theaverage for all small organizations thisyear was 74 percent satisfaction and 78percent for those that made the bestplaces listing.

The emphasis on training makessense for practical reasons, as well as forimproving employee morale, McSherrysaid. “The world is changing. What was agood skills set 10 years ago isn’t neces-sarily a good skills set now.”

One of the society’s strengths, a long-tenured staff with an average employmentof about 12 years, might have resulted in aweakness in staying up with technology.Four retirements during the past threeyears brought in new blood, which McSh-erry called “exciting because with socialmedia coming into play -- video market-ing, professional education -- we neededdifferent skill sets. These newer peoplecoming in are bringing them.”

The society does not want to solelyrely upon the newcomers in technologi-cal areas, so long-time employees arebeing retrained. Every Thursday in Feb-ruary, for example, employees attended a90-minute session on various elementsof social media -- Facebook, Twitter, etc.Each employee had a photograph takenby a new staff person who does all of thesociety’s video work. The pictures willgrace the employees’ Facebook and Twit-ter accounts, through which they are en-couraged to stay in touch with memberCPAs throughout the state.

The organization lacks the glamourappeal of many nonprofits, such asWounded Warrior Project, which natu-rally attracts certain types of workers who

general categories in which employeeswere asked to agree or disagree with a va-riety of statements. The innovation dayseemed to fit particularly well into twostatements in that category, “The organi-zation treats me like a person, not a num-ber” and “I believe there is a spirit ofcooperation at this organization.”

Overall small nonprofits scored highlyin this category, with 88 percent favorableresponses (agree somewhat or agreestrongly) from employees of all small or-ganizations participating in the survey;those named on the Best Places list aver-aged 92 percent approval.

The innovation project also tied in withat least one statement in Role Satisfaction,“I feel I am valued in this organization.”

The New Jersey Society of CPAs issmall, with only 40 employees, “so there’snot much room for advancement” whichis one of the components covered in theTraining and Development section of thesurvey, said Ellen McSherry, chief operat-ing officer. That led the executive team tofocus on “how we can help each individ-

Small Can Come Up BigWhen It’s Employee Relations



1 New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants 39 2 The Center for Effective Philanthropy 36 3 The National Society of Collegiate Scholars 26 4 DoSomething.org 40 5 Arts Midwest 226 The Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia 467 Earth Force 168 Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands 229 PENCIL Inc. 2710 NeedyMeds, Inc 1511 Make-A-Wish Illinois 3912 Aspell Recovery Center 2813 Cross-Cultural Solutions 4214 Dogs for the Deaf, Inc. 30

16 The Mission Continues 3817 National Communication Association 15

15 PENCIL Foundation 24

Small Organizations (15 – 49 Employees)


National Society ofCollegiate Scholars

New JerseySociety of CPAs



have a passion for the mission, McSherryacknowledged. Her organization com-pensates by helping employees under-stand why their work is important and byshowing the society’s concern for them,which involves several tactics. Once a yearthe society has a pot-luck luncheon.Recipes are compiled in a public folderfor all employees to view and use. Birth-days are celebrated with gourmet offer-ings. And, each summer the organizationtakes a field day. Staff members havetoured Ellis Island and the MetropolitanMuseum of Art, attended a wine tasting,played miniature golf and cruised aroundManhattan. A team of five or six employ-ees plans the day’s activities.

“Those of us who don’t do the work(organizing the outing) truly benefit be-cause we’re treated like royalty that day,”McSherry said.

NJSCPA Outreach Coordinator LaurenMatullo said tips she picked up during theFebruary social media training are alreadypaying off, especially in her responsibilitiesas Next Generation Outreach Coordinator.She previously relied on mail, email andface-to-face contact. “I’ve been able tomake more contacts with Twitter andLinkedIn,” Matullo said. “When studentsget an email, if it doesn’t catch their atten-tion right away they delete it.”

Before the social media training, “Iwas up-to-date with Facebook but moreon a personal level,” Matullo said. Shelearned such media as Twitter and Pin-terest and discovered that “while I wason LinkedIn, I wasn’t using it to the bestability.” She’s noticed an increase in stu-dents registering for those events aftershe announces it on LinkedIn.

The training impressed on Matullo asense that the NJSCPA managers see thebenefit in letting staff “connect with society,use our social media to their advantage.”

The Center for Effective Philanthropyissued a report this past December “Em-ployee Empowerment: The Key to Foun-dation Staff Satisfaction.” A news releasequoted center President Phil Buchanan assaying: “If you’re a foundation leader, thebottom line is that you have the power toincrease your staff ’s satisfaction. It does-n’t have to cost you money or involve areduction in staff workload. Our datashows that you can empower your em-ployees by providing clear direction,showing devotion to your employees,and giving useful performance reviews.In other words, it’s all about leadership.”

He said, “There’s no reason to be-lieve that that would be particularly dif-ferent for nonprofits.”

One of the advantages of a small or-ganization such as Buchanan’s is the in-teraction it allows between the leadershipand the staff. “We’re small enough, with38 people, that I try to make opportuni-ties to work on projects with most of ourpeople,” Buchanan said, something othermembers of the leadership team also tryto do. “We try to make sure that the orga-nizational structure doesn’t get in theway of interaction.”

He’s learned to pay close attention to

employee surveys. “There’s alwayssomething, and usually two or threethings where we say, ‘You know, we cando better on this. Let’s figure out how.’”

A survey several years ago, after thecenter opened a San Francisco office,uncovered signs of growing pains, hesaid. At the existing office in Cambridge,Mass., everyone knew and interactedpersonally with each other on a dailybasis. Those in the San Francisco officewere aware of that culture in Massachu-setts, which apparently made them feel

at least partially left out of the loop.Leadership viewed it as primarily a com-munications issue, Buchanan said, sothe center began a Yammer account (aTwitter-like media for intra-organizationcommunications) for sharing both com-pany and personal information.

People in each office were designatedto gather and compile from fellow em-ployees water cooler-style informationabout what was happening in their lives;that information was shared with theother office.

The strategy apparently worked. “Thenext time we did a survey, we saw therewas no difference in ratings between thetwo offices.”

All it took was a leadership that showeddevotion to its staff and provided a cleardirection to overcome the challenge. Or,as Buchanan put it in the December newsrelease: “It’s all about leadership.” NPT

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50 Best Nonprofits To Work For 2013 - The NonProfit Times