As a nonprofit, you know that your people are your greatest assets. They are the ones who help ensure your mission is a success, and they are the ones you count on to get the job done right and on time to support your organization and, more importantly, your organization’s mission.

The challenge is providing your people with the tools, support, and structure they need to thrive. A modern Human Capital Management (HCM) solution helps nonprofit organizations optimize labor costs, improve employee engagement, and create a workplace where employees can do their best work.

It all starts with a tool that brings order, efficiency, and insights to your workforce initiatives — so you can focus on the work that advances your mission.

Challenges Facing Nonprofits

Many nonprofit leaders are facing a common challenge: growing responsibilities with limited resources.

In 2025, Forbes wrote about “The Invisible Job Crisis” and how “America’s Third-Largest Employer Is Hemorrhaging Talent.” The article discusses “sector volatility,” which comes from “organizational instability driving widespread layoffs.”

The article also discusses role elimination and restructuring issues — challenges facing nonprofits of all sizes and backgrounds.

“When you combine that with the brain drain of people considering leaving the sector entirely, we’re looking at a crisis that threatens the fundamental capacity of nonprofits to do their work,” said Dr. Janaé Bonsu-Love from the Building Movement Project who facilitated the research. “The sector is hemorrhaging the very people who have the institutional knowledge and mission commitment we desperately need.”

Losing talent is one thing. Losing the experience to do important things like fundraising, manage volunteers with various levels of tenure, and show colleagues and volunteers how to handle critical situations is another.

And what about funding cuts?

A separate study from the Nonprofit Voice Project found that the majority of CEOs from nonprofits (60%) said acquiring funding has gotten harder from both foundations and the government .

Even though the concern for “workforce sustainability” dropped to 10% in 2025 vs. 17% in 2024, Urban Institute research shows that it is still one of biggest problems facing nonprofits after “financial health” and “programming.”

One respondent to the Urban Institute survey said, “We are increasingly concerned about staff burnout and organizational capacity.”

In a time when funding is already a challenge, paying to find and train new full-time and part-time workers to replace those who leave is an expense that most nonprofits cannot afford. The cost to replace a worker at a nonprofit can be 30% to 50% of the employee’s salary — and even more for leadership roles. 

While nonprofits, particularly charities are not allowed to offer excessive compensation packages, paid workers (full-time and part-time employees) make up a big part of a nonprofits’ budgets from salaries and wages, to vacation pay, bonuses, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, and more.

Not to mention unemployment rates are still relatively low at 4.3% as of July 2026, so there isn’t a lot of talent available right now in the market.

In challenging economic conditions, understanding workforce engagement is critical to keeping your most valuable employees engaged, productive, and committed.

Why Nonprofits Need a Comprehensive HCM Solution

A nonprofit HCM solution helps organizations gain greater visibility into labor costs, streamline workforce administration, and support their mission more effectively.

In other words, any company’s HCM is an essential resource for managing employees. It’s also a great tool to help with engagement and much more.

A modern HCM solution can help nonprofits with key management tasks such as:

• Scheduling
  • Irregular shifts from staff (paid and volunteer) can lead to scheduling volatility.
• Time and Attendance
  • Keeping track of who is working where and when is critical to ensuring the nonprofit is able to track hours correctly, especially if there are multiple funding sources.
• Labor forecasting
  • Staffing needs are constantly changing, so having a system that can show and help you fill in the gaps is critical.
• Leave management
  • Turnover is a big issue at nonprofits as we’ve mentioned, so that means retaining great employees and having the insights and tools needed to help monitor and control costs is crucial.
• Workforce analytics
  • Monitoring productivity and retention data helps give the nonprofit a better idea of sentiment and burnout trends.

Why Human Capital Management (HCM) for Nonprofits Matters

Every nonprofit must carefully balance its mission with the resources needed to support it. Leaders face the ongoing challenge of making decisions that strengthen their organization while advancing the cause they serve.

Labor is often one of the largest organizational expenses, so an HCM is essential to help improve accountability and efficiency, especially when the average hourly wage at a nonprofit is $32.29 per hour for professional and business services, $25.60 per hour for education and health services, and $18.31 for other services. Compare that to for-profits that average $25.09, $19.15, and $19.03, respectively, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

And since 46% of staffed nonprofits (with at least one full- or part-time employee) had vacancies in 2025, the need to help ensure paid employees are content and happy where they are is a critical part of a nonprofit’s long-term success.

Keep in mind that HCMs help with:

• Automating scheduling
• Simplifying time tracking
• Reducing manual approvals
• Centralizing workforce data
• Enhancing workforce forecasting
• Minimizing manual processes

How Vensure HCM Helps Nonprofits

Managing nonprofit workers and volunteers can be challenging, especially when organizations need visibility into scheduling, time tracking, onboarding, payroll, and compliance. Vensure HCM provides a connected workforce management ecosystem that helps organizations streamline HR, payroll, onboarding, reporting, and workforce operations with a single platform.

Spend Less Time Managing Processes and More Time Advancing Your Mission

Nonprofit organizations face constant pressure to accomplish more with less. An HCM for nonprofit organizations can help simplify administration, improve workforce visibility, strengthen compliance, and support better stewardship of your organization’s funding, allowing you to do more with less — but with proven results.

Learn how VensureHR can help your nonprofit streamline workforce management and more, and stay focused on what matters most: your mission.

Indeed, mission accomplished!