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At 10x, we’ve been lucky to work with various nonprofit organizations since our inception in 2012. Nonprofit organizations will approach 10x with outdated technology that needs to be rebuilt or updated, and they often lack the time and resources to recruit engineers on their own. In our experience, nonprofits approach 10x to gain rapid access to trustworthy, bright, and reliable freelance developers.
Engaging freelance developers is a fantastic strategy that allows nonprofits to be nimble and stay modern, especially when recruiting for full-time developers can be a challenge. Let’s explore some of the reasons that nonprofits may struggle to hire and retain talented full-time developers, and outline why vetted freelance talent is particularly compelling for mission-driven organizations.
1. Salary Competition & Pay Cuts
Let’s start with what may be the most “obvious” reason that nonprofits might struggle to find top tech talent. Through no fault of their own, nonprofits simply lack the budget that for-profit organizations, particularly in the tech sector, are willing to spend to attract top tech talent. As one writer in Medium put it, “the competition for talent is fierce between startups in Silicon Valley. The mean salary for a software engineer is more than many nonprofits pay their Executive Directors.” Simply put, tech workers in the nonprofit sector earn less.
In fact, according to the White Paper, Canada’s Nonprofit Tech Workforce, “tech workers in nonprofits earn on average more than $30,000 less annually than tech workers in other industries. This means that tech workers are taking a pay cut of 33% by choosing to work in the nonprofit sector.”
How Freelance Engineers Can Help
Nonprofits can protect against the pay gap by highlighting the mission of the organization in their recruiting process. If programmers feel a connection to the organization, that feeling can go a long way (maybe not the entire way) to attracting talented developers and mitigating the lower overall pay. It feels good to feel good about your job!
Engaging qualified freelance developers is a fantastic way to also maximize the value of your budget. With freelancers, you pay for the services you need, when you need them. Plus, freelancers are not on your regular payroll, meaning once the project is complete, there are no severance costs.
2. Technology May Not Be a Top Priority
At nonprofit organizations, so much energy is devoted to sustaining the mission, gaining devoted followers, and fundraising, that upgrading and modernizing technology often takes a backseat to propelling your cause forward through technology. In a 2010 survey of 1,100 nonprofit organizations, “nearly all nonprofits report making use of technology to further their mission, [yet] two thirds of those respondents reported that technology was underutilized within their organization.”
This is an unfortunate reality, since having efficient technology reduces costs for nonprofits. According to Business Wire, “organizations that report having a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for finance and HR indicated better efficiency across a number of factors.”
Tasks like organizing, fundraising, and marketing are easier for nonprofits when technology is seamless.
How Freelance Engineers Can Help
When nonprofit organizations recognize the significant advantages afforded by advanced technology in a world that emphasizes speed, agility, and adaptability, the reasons to invest in freelance technologists become clear. The limited commitment and flexibility that freelancers provide nonprofit organizations is an enticing scenario; with the advent of remote work, you have access to a national or international pool of talent with immediate availability. Working with vetted technologists also reduces your time recruiting.
Conclusion
Nonprofit organizations may be at a disadvantage when it comes to offering high compensation to developers. Nonprofits may also lack the internal investment in technology that for-profit companies prioritize. Regardless, there are a number of ways to mitigate these differences. First, prioritizing the validity of the mission can go a long way toward enticing talented developers to take a pay cut. Further, engaging freelance developers and designers provides nonprofits with more flexibility and agility to upgrade technology and tackle important projects in an immediate fashion.