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Fair and competitive compensation plays a key role in attracting, motivating, and retaining talent — especially in mission-driven organizations. Yet many nonprofits lack access to reliable data when it comes to salary benchmarks and compensation structures. That’s why the Personio Foundation has created this report: to bring clarity and transparency to the nonprofit sector.
The 2025 Nonprofit Salary Report presents in-depth findings on pay ranges, bonus structures, benefits, and HR trends based on real data from across the sector. Whether you’re leading a small organization, advising leadership, or building out your HR function, this report provides the knowledge you need to align compensation with your values and goals.
Download now and use the insights to guide fair, future-proof people decisions.
Right this moment, the majority of nonprofits are being confronted with a host of HR-related challenges. The bad news is that these challenges are genuine and potentially damaging, but the good news is that they are avoidable. What nonprofits and donors need are the right data and insights. So, our team got to work.
Our report sets six essential takeaways for the road ahead for nonprofits to operate effectively and efficiently that hamper their capacity to deliver impact.
Nonprofits play a key role in delivering innovation of all kinds.
But, their impact is often hampered by specific HR challenges – most of which could be heavily mitigated or avoided entirely.
From our analysis, six major HR challenges have emerged.
Attracting talent, retaining talent, working conditions, tracking and fostering performance, a lack of HR management resources and tools, and complying with complex regulatory frameworks. While struggles like these are known in the private sector, they often require solutions tailored to the nonprofit sector.
Talent attraction and retention are top challenges.
While the general lack of competitiveness of salaries versus the private sector is well-known, nonprofits also lag in terms of compensation packages, working conditions, reward and recognition, and career progression.
Effective solutions to build strong organizations already exist.
They include measuring and rewarding individual performance linked to outcomes, providing non-monetary incentives such as training and career development, or fostering staff well-being. That said, these solutions are yet to become industry standard.
Donors have an essential responsibility and a large role to play.
In fact, donors should move beyond project financing to more strategic, sensible investments in various overheads (like people growth budgets) through unrestricted, multi-year grants and targeted capacity development programs.
Nonprofits could and should invest more in their employees.
They should seek to do this by supporting employees with both financial (when possible) and non-financial means, improving their working environments, and introducing more professional HR management policies and tools.
As we take you through the data and paint a picture of the road ahead, we hope this report lays the case for nonprofits to focus more on their people and for donors to empower nonprofits with the resources and means to make this transformation possible. We enjoyed putting it together, and we hope you enjoy reading it.
Applications open today for exceptional nonprofit organisations working in the fields of climate change mitigation and education to join Personio Foundation’s Impact Portfolio. Successful organisations will receive unrestricted multi-year grants, strategic support and access to Personio HR management software for free. Additionally, grantees have the opportunity to help co-create our Impact Accelerator and a shared community with other impact portfolio partners.
Personio Foundation’s mission is to support forward-thinking, innovative organisations working on climate action and education through its Impact Portfolio and HR Accelerator. Since launching in December, the Foundation now supports eight NGOs through its Impact Portfolio, while its HR Accelerator has begun producing content to help nonprofit organisations upskill in HR.
Hanno Renner, Co-founder of Personio and Chairman of the Foundation, said: “Launching the first worldwide call for applications to join our Impact Portfolio is a major milestone for the Foundation. With eight organisations already in the portfolio, we are looking forward to partnering with more non profits and supporting even greater impact in education and climate change. It has always been our ambition to link Personio’s success with tackling these pressing issues, so taking the Foundation to the next level is really exciting.”
Martjin Lopes Cardozo, CEO at Circle Economy, an organisation that aims to accelerate the practical and scalable implementation of the circular economy and an Impact Portfolio grantee, said: “We’re very grateful for the help from Personio which enables us to be bolder and faster in pushing toward our ambitious goals to double circularity in the next decade. Movement toward this is vital in saving greenhouse gas emissions.”
Applicants should meet the following criteria:
Personio Foundation was established in 2021 by Personio, Europe’s leading HR software company for small and mid-sized businesses. The Foundation is based on a commitment made when Personio was founded to set aside 1% of the company’s equity for good causes. This 1% stake is currently worth $85 million and will continue to grow until an IPO.
To apply, please visit the Personio Foundation website where the application link will be live from 22nd August until the 5th of September 2020.
At Personio Foundation, we are passionate about two things: excellent HR management and supporting nonprofits to maximise their impact. These passions informed our decision to build an Impact Accelerator to help non profits tackle the HR challenges they face on a daily basis.
As we learn how to best support non profits with their challenges related to HR, we believe it is important to better understand the specific nature of these challenges. Early in 2022, Personio Foundation surveyed a sample of non profits globally and conducted a number of in-depth interviews with HR professionals in the sector. The key findings that emerged formed the basis of this whitepaper, findings we hope to build on as we have the opportunity to survey more and more non profit organisations.
Our whitepaper sets out the 6 key challenges that limit non profits’ ability to grow, to operate effectively and efficiently and that hamper their capacity to deliver impact.
Attracting talent
Whilst nonprofits need highly skilled profiles, they often do not have the resources to pay competitive salaries or invest in HR. Donors’ focus on project funding and unwillingness to fund overheads is a key factor.
Retaining talent and managing turnover
Most surveyed NGOs report exceptional turnover – financial compensation and benefits play a part, as well as arduous working conditions, lack of training or career development. Some non profits focus on the sense of purpose and different lifestyle to retain staff.
Difficult working conditions
Whether it is the harsh reality of the social issues they are trying to tackle or poor infrastructure, working conditions in some non profits can be difficult. What’s more, burnout is common amongst non profit professionals.
Tracking and fostering performance
Lack of staff performance management can directly impact retention as non profit staff don’t feel sufficiently rewarded or recognised for their performance.
Complying with legal and regulatory issues
Complex legal, tax and regulatory environments can pose difficulties for non profits, particularly when they lack expert support. Some non profits also operate in environments that are openly hostile to their existence.
Lack of HRM processes and resources
The vast majority of NGOs would appear to lack dedicated, professional HR staff and the lack of tools, templates and processes renders HR management highly labour intensive.
Personio, Europe’s leading HR software company for small and mid-sized businesses, has today announced the creation of Personio Foundation, an independent and not-for-profit organization offering financial and business support to NPO’s and social enterprises. The Foundation will focus on education and climate action, two of the most pressing issues facing the world today, with Covid-19 having wiped out 20 years worth of education gains, and climate change goals significantly below target.
Personio Foundation is based on a commitment made when Personio was created to set aside 1% of the company’s equity for good causes. This 1% stake is currently worth $63 million and will continue to grow until an IPO. An additional $3 million in cash donations from Personio’s founders, investors and the company itself will drive immediate progress.
The founders of Personio – Hanno Renner (CEO), Roman Schumacher (CPO), Arseniy Vershinin (CTO) and Jonas Rieke (COO) – will be closely involved in strategy and are advised by Nicola Crosta, founder of Impact46, former United Nations official and a recognised expert in foundation management. Day-to-day operations will be managed by dedicated staff, bolstered by expertise from Personio employees on secondment, while selection of grantees will take place via a robust screening process supported by external consultants.
Hanno Renner, Co-founder of Personio and Chairman of the Foundation, said: “The Covid-19 crisis has significantly increased educational inequality around the world and we are the last generation that can change the course of climate change. Personio Foundation will help to drive change in these vital areas that require immediate action and are close to the hearts of employees and founders.”
“We want to live up to our core value of ‘Social Responsibility’ that has been an important part of our business since day one. We are grateful that the hard work of the entire team at Personio, the trust of our customers and the continued support of our investors has put us in the position to launch Personio Foundation.”
Based in Europe but open to worldwide applications, Personio Foundation will offer financial and non-financial support via two flagship programs. Grantees in the Impact Portfolio will receive unrestricted financial grants and collaborative mentoring. The Impact Accelerator addresses a key challenge for the sector by providing knowledge and HR advice to help social purpose organizations grow their biggest asset – their people.
The first group of grantees will be directly sourced and selected by the Foundation’s team. Applications will be assessed based on ten criteria covering the robustness of each organization and its potential impact. Later in 2022, a global call for proposals will launch through the Foundation’s website and social media.
The launch of Personio Foundation is the latest in a number of initiatives by Personio to give back to society. Recently Personio.org was launched to offer improved access to its HR services for organizations such as NPO’s, universities and public sector employers. This includes discounted pricing for organizations with nonprofit / charitable status to support the sector beyond the organizations that will directly benefit from Personio Foundation.
Hanno Renner continued: “We already serve hundreds of organizations that operate in the education, nonprofit and public sectors, and are always considering how we can help them maximise their impact. Personio.org makes our services even more accessible for organizations that work for the good of society and supports our mission to democratize HR software.”
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