Compassion. Integrity. Responsibility. Forgiveness. As a not-for-profit professional there’s a good chance you hold these character traits dear. As the leader in your organisation, they may also make you up to five times more effective.
Almost 80 percent of Australia’s community sector workforce are women, so when the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) surveys its members, it’s keen to know what motivates women at work. Last year a new section called ‘The Environment’ was added to CPSU’s annual What Women Want survey, to explore how work and home life […]
Decades of psychology research show that humans have a deep-seated desire to find meaning in what they do. For many, that desire is what draws them to a workplace or a particular job. They want to contribute to something bigger than themselves – by improving lives, supporting communities or protecting the environment.
But that sense of purpose in NFP workplaces isn’t always guaranteed. When job demands increase, teams evolve and day-to-day responsibilities become more routine, it’s easy for the bigger picture to fade into the background.
So how can NFP leaders and HR teams keep that sense of purpose alive for their employees as the day-to-day work becomes familiar?
Are you ready for a cyberattack on your organisation’s website? How about a key staff member resigning and taking years of organisational knowledge with them? Floods? Fires?
Most NFP leaders don’t need to be told that unexpected things can go wrong in their organisation on any given day. But how ready are you for what might go wrong tomorrow?
This post explains the essentials of risk management and how – whatever size your organisation is – you can begin understanding and addressing your biggest risks thoroughly and systematically.
As the Australia debates whether our intake of refugees is the “right” number, ACOSS has noted that “20,000 refugees per year is . . . just three to five per cent of arrivals.”
But the heated debate over numbers obscures the enormous contribution refugees make to our economy – including as employees, often in regional areas or in less popular jobs that can be impossible to fill otherwise.
Refugees often arrive in Australia with valuable skills but without recognised qualifications and sometimes with challenges that are a result of their experiences of displacement.
For organisations looking to fill vacancies or skills gaps – and potentially make an additional impact by helping some of the most vulnerable people in our community – employing refugees might be an option you haven’t fully considered.
Right now, a dedicated case worker who’s spent years supporting vulnerable people is quietly updating their résumé – not because they’ve lost their passion, but because rising living costs are making it harder to make ends meet.
It’s a familiar story across the NFP sector, where 1.6 million employees are feeling the squeeze of rising living costs, and many organisations are unable to ease the pressure through pay rises alone.
But pay isn’t the only lever employers have to financially support employees. So, what does good financial wellbeing support look like when employers can’t provide a salary increase? We spoke to Helena Jakupovic, General Manager of the WA-based Financial Wellbeing Collective to find out.
Generative AI has quickly made its way into almost every organisational workflow, and left the door open for a range of ethical grey areas to become potentially serious issues. From privacy breaches and the misuse of sensitive data, to biased outputs, misinformation and reputational risks – the risks that AI use pose to NFPs are new, varied, and often invisible until something goes wrong.
(And if you think your organisation’s employees aren’t really using AI, then think again – as many as a quarter (21-27%) of all employees are using AI tools secretly at work.)
So where should you start when it comes to writing an effective AI policy for your organisation, and what elements should one include?
With 2026 underway, we’re kicking things off with a look at what the year ahead might hold for the NFP sector workforce. And yes, as you might expect, AI will continue to have an impact on the sector this year.
But it’s far from the only thing NFP leaders should be on the lookout for this year. Here are our four predictions for the workforce trends the NFP sector will see this year.
Change can often make people feel stressed and uncertain of where they stand, which can lead to dissatisfaction, low morale, increased absenteeism and presenteeism – and, eventually, high staff turnover. It’s an issue that affects many organisations, with change often being a constant in NFPs. So how can you ensure your organisation can keep your staff on […]
More than six years ago the Australian Human Rights Commission launched the “Racism. It Stops with Me” campaign under then Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane. Since then more than 400 organisations have pledged their commitment to anti-racism.