FINANCIAL SECURITY AND CAREERS
Financial Security and
Careers in the Nonprofit
And Philanthropic Sector
Provided by TIAA-CREF
Background
In the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession,
many individuals worried about their
short-term and long-term financial security.
In the nonprofit and philanthropic sector
(hereafter referred to as “the sector”),
there is speculation that such concerns
among its workers are undermining the
sector’s ability to attract and retain the
new talent required to be successful,
while simultaneously preventing senior
leaders and older employees from
retiring. Anecdotal evidence indicates that
sector employees feel unable to prepare
financially for personal goals, such as
comfortable retirement or an “encore
career.”1 But objective data is lacking
to evaluate the scale of such sentiments
and resulting impact. The sector faces
additional pressures with demand for
services rising at a time when public
and private contributions have fallen.
Collaboration
The TIAA-CREF Institute and
Independent Sector collaborated to
examine the issue of lifelong financial
security among the sector’s workforce
and its impact on the leadership and
effectiveness of nonprofit organizations.
To that end, the TIAA-CREF Institute
and Independent Sector developed the
Survey on Financial Security in the
Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector to
better understand the perspectives of
full-time employees regarding their
personal finances and its impact on their
job satisfaction and career decisions.
In July 2011, 1,000 full-time employees
in the sector were surveyed by phone.
Respondents identified themselves as
working for a nonprofit organization,
such as a charity, foundation, museum,
endowment or philanthropic organization.
The demographics of those surveyed appear
in Figure 1, on page 13. The sample was
evenly distributed ac ɽ