The Power of the Nonprofit Workforce - with Dr. Lester Salamon

Too often in our sector, nonprofit leaders are discussed as if we are walking, talking deficits -- empty vessels needing to be filled with competencies, skills, and knowledge. The truth is that the nonprofit workforce is one of the greatest assets available to our organizations, our funders, and our society! Despite all the challenges we face, nonprofit people are powerful, skilled, visionary, determined, and enduring. Our workforce is a significant part of our economy and our society. During Season One of this show, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the human strength in our sector as a baseline for discussing our challenges and the solutions to these challenges. So in this episode, we talk with one of the premier scholars on nonprofit employment and economics: Dr. Lester Salamon, Director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Civil Society Studies. Professor Salamon shares how he came to this unique research focus, and discusses the latest research on the strength and stability of nonprofit work, as well as initial estimates about the impact of the pandemic recession on nonprofit employment.

Listen in to hear more from Professor Salamon on:  

• His journey to becoming a scholar in the nonprofit sector, the evolution of 40 years of study
• The key findings from the latest report out of Johns Hopkins on the overall strength and stability of nonprofit work
• Initial estimates about the impact of the pandemic recession on nonprofit employment
• Data that supports nonprofits as a major contributor to employment in America, and to the quality of life in America.
  

Links Mentioned:

• 2020 Nonprofit Employment Report: The 3rd Largest Employer Faces the COVID-19 Crisis
• Dr. Lester Salamon Bio
• Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies
• Nonprofit Economic Data (“NED”) Project
• All Publications from NED Project (includes both national and state-focused reports)
• Nonprofit Works (an interactive database on nonprofit employment and wages)