In the last 18 months, the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield has cycled through four executive officers. Similarly, the Isabel’s House crisis nursery is on its third executive director in nearly two years.
High turnover is common among nonprofits, but industry experts say such shuffling at the top tier is unusual and unhealthy.
Andrea Vent, the Isabel’s House executive director appointed in October to follow Dottie Mullikin’s abrupt exit, said the stress of the job can be a problem for those who work directly with families dealing with physical or substance abuse, for instance.
“It is a challenge,” Vent said. “With those working directly with the children, with the families, they’re dealing with those immediate needs and the emotions involved. They are providing help, and sometimes they can see that be a success, and other times they can see the family continue to struggle. That carries an emotional weight.”
Springfield-based Alternative Opportunities Inc. CEO Marilyn Nolan said turnover is an issue among its entry-level employees, but not with its managers and administrators.
“While we have some young folks that turn over, because we work with a lot of adults with developmental disabilities, we really try to recruit people who are going to stay because they are going to be developing relationships with those folks,” said Nolan, AO’s CEO for nearly 20 years.
AO employs some 3,000 people across Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, serving those who could use a helping hand with a variety of programs. The organization, which has a roughly $100 million annual operating budget, assists people with developmental disabilities, mental health counseling, substance abuse recovery, and youth and families in the foster care system.
Nolan said turnover ranges from 10 to 18 percent among frontline employees.
Those committed to such potentially poignant work often are fueled by passion. Leading with passion opens the door to another challenge, said Dan Prater, director of The Center for Nonprofit Communication at Drury University.
“It’s hard to feed a family with passion,” said Prater. “The pay can be low with many organizations.”
Prater, who led research on Drury’s Nonprofit Impact Study released last month, said the vast majority of the 1,556 nonprofits identified in Springfield are small organizations, and roughly one-third took in no revenue. Pointing to the financial disparity, the study found the 10 highest-earning organizations represented more than 80 percent of all revenue earned that year by nonprofits in town.
With so many nonprofits in town, and only so much money to go around, the industry is fairly competitive, Prater said. The environment creates fundraising challenges and lower pay among many smaller nonprofits, which results in employee turnover.
“Oftentimes people who work for nonprofits are dealing with some pretty rough situations,” Prater said. “They could be dealing with extreme conditions like recovery from a tornado or a natural disaster or, maybe, they are dealing with people who have chaotic situations in life like extreme domestic violence or child abuse and neglect or drugs and alcohol. Those type of environments can take a toll on someone emotionally.”
Ozarks Food Harvest President and CEO Bart Brown said the local food bank, which serves 28 counties in southwest Missouri, works with roughly 200 area nonprofits to get food to people in need.
Challenges for the organization that distributed 13 million pounds of food in its last fiscal year include matching people in need with available food.
“Logistics are huge for us,” Brown said, noting eight trucks pick up and deliver food orders daily from corporate partners such as Dillons, Hy-Vee, Associated Wholesale Grocers and Kraft Foods.
Sometimes turnover at small organizations – such as food pantries and soup kitchens – can impede those efforts, and sometimes driver turnover is a problem. Some also don’t have the resources either in equipment or personnel to take all the food they could receive.
“Some of the smaller ones don’t have walk-in coolers,” Brown said, adding that a recent $250,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health is now funding equipment upgrades at agencies OFH serves across southwest Missouri.
Fundraising can be tough, Prater said, because many smaller organizations don’t have the money to put on the kinds of events that might attract big donors.
“Because there are so many organizations, it is a very competitive process to raise money,” Prater said. “Lots of groups have great causes. … So then it comes down to who can tell their story best.
“And it takes money to make money.”
Vent, who has 25 years of nonprofit experience, said the pressure to raise funds for operations is a common challenge.
“I’d say that’s an issue for most nonprofits. Fundraising and community dollars are your lifeblood,” Vent said.
As one of the area’s larger nonprofits, Nolan said Alternative Opportunities doesn’t face the fundraising challenges many smaller nonprofits do.
Still, raising funds for services is always top of mind, and AO has diversified its approach.
Since 2009, when Missouri Department of Revenue began accepting bids for management of its 180 motor-vehicle offices, AO has run five Springfield-area motor-vehicle offices as a way to generate revenue for programs. Recently, its leaders made the decision not to renew bids for those offices when the contracts expire this year.
Nolan said the proposition was too labor intensive and was drawing resources away from services.
Bontiea Goss, AO’s chief operating officer, said the group’s fundraising efforts are project specific, primarily to address any donor concerns that gifts won’t be used in their geographic area. AO draws roughly 5 percent of its funding from regional partnership grants and organizations such as The Walton Family Foundation, and 95 percent from state and federal contracts and insurance.
“When we are doing fundraising, it is specifically to build a playground at Carol Jones [Recovery Center for Women] or it is to fund some type of event that the youth or people we serve want to participate in. We don’t fundraise for operational dollars,” Goss said.
“Fundraising is feast or famine. If you depend on it for operations when the economy is struggling, it could literally impact your ability to serve.”
Community Foundation of the Ozarks President Brian Fogle said nonprofits in the area often run up against the challenge of donor fatigue. He said many of the same philanthropic families, such as the Darrs or the O’Reillys – who are known for big donations to Missouri State and Drury universities, respectively – can face a seemingly never-ending number of requests.
“I think donor fatigue is real,” Fogle said, but noting Springfield is relatively generous compared to other areas.
According to a recent How America Gives survey, Springfieldians donate 6.6 percent of their gross income to charities, making it the most generous metro area in the state. Donors in Provo, Utah – the most generous area in the country – give twice as much as those in Springfield, according to the survey.
Beyond fundraising, Prater said workers in the trenches can feel overwhelmed by the dire circumstances of the people they are assisting.
“You can get compassion fatigue, where you actually take on the symptoms of the people you are helping,” Prater said.
