Human Resources in Nonprofits: An Indicator of Managerial Preparedness or Program Needs?

Abstract This article examines whether a nonprofit’s reliance on staff and volunteers is associated with its program needs or its managerial preparedness to manage these human resources, or some combination thereof. Using the Statistics of Income (SOI) data sets provided by the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), we find that both a nonprofit’s purpose to deliver services and managerial preparedness within a nonprofit to be significantly associated with an increase in number of staff and volunteers; in addition, the association between the surge in program needs and the increase in number of staff and volunteers can be conditioned by the managerial preparedness of an organization. The findings underscore the need for nonprofit organizations and their donors, especially governments and foundations, to make deliberate efforts to ensure organizational readiness and the ability to manage and sustain the supply of human resources.