Often overlooked in the business world, the nonprofit sector contains nearly two million organizations, provides jobs for 10.7 million people, and is the third largest employer in the United States. Nonprofit organizations seem immune to many of the hardships that have affected traditional businesses over the past decade, and their future looks even more promising. According to the 2015 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey™, half of the existing nonprofits plan to create new positions in 2015 while a mere 4% plan to reduce their staff size. These numbers are far more positive than those of their private sector counterparts, making the nonprofit sector a welcoming avenue for many job seekers.
Nonprofits also focus on a diverse array of topics including education, politics, human rights, animal welfare, art preservation, and environmental issues. Workers with a wide range of interests and experience can find careers in a field they feel passionate about, and often at a higher pay rate than wages offered in the private sector. Social and community service managers, for example, who often work for nonprofit organizations, earn salaries that are nearly double the annual median wage for all workers, and the U.S. Department of Labor projects employment in this job category to soar 21% between 2012 and 2022.
