Define your organization’s brand.
Learn how your employee value proposition can help your nonprofit stand out and attract the right candidates.
What is your employer brand?
Your employer brand is the way your nonprofit is perceived as an employer by prospective candidates. Without taking an active approach to shaping your employer brand, you may find candidates have a different impression of your organization than you’d like.
What is an employee value proposition?
As a nonprofit, you may not be able to offer the same kinds of benefits as corporations, which is why determining your employee value proposition (EVP) is important. An EVP is a clear outline of the many tangible and intangible rewards employees and volunteers get in return for their talent and time.
Your EVP can include:
Work-life balance
Outline ways that your nonprofit prioritizes employees’ work-life balance and well-being, like any flexible and/or remote work options available.
Growth opportunities
Showcase any professional development opportunities that your nonprofit offers, such as formal or informal mentoring, the potential for lateral moves, and any career growth possibilities.
Organizational culture
Speak to the core values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape the day-to-day experience of working at your nonprofit.
How are your EVP and employer brand different?
Your employer brand and EVP are separate, but they should complement one another. Think of your EVP as internal and your employer brand as external. Your EVP should inform your employer brand and align with it — otherwise, if people have a different experience than promised when they join, they may grow disillusioned and leave.
EVP
Encompasses the benefits, both real and perceived, of working for your nonprofit.
Employer brand
The way you define and position your organization to showcase its unique offerings to potential candidates.
How to define your EVP
Speak to your employees, volunteers, and executives.
Employees may view the benefits and experience of working at your nonprofit very differently than your executive team. Surveying some members of both groups allows you to gather a complete picture to inform your EVP. If you’re not already doing so, consider conducting candid exit interviews when a team member leaves to understand employee perspectives and help pinpoint opportunities for improvement.
Some questions you might ask:
• How would you describe your work-life balance (ex: after-hours communication, workload, ability to disconnect)?
• What do you like best about working here? What do you like least?
• How would you describe our culture and work environment?
Create an outline to help you define your EVP.
While you might have slightly different EVPs for different employee groups (ex: entry-level vs. executive), they should still reflect the same core experience.
Things to note in your outline:
- Compensation
- Benefits
- Organizational culture
- Work environment/work-life balance
- Career/growth opportunities
Use your outline to inform your EVP statement.
This should ideally be one paragraph that clearly and succinctly outlines why someone might want to work at your organization. Use “we/our” pronouns to make it feel warm and welcoming. Use your EVP statement to inform your job descriptions and employer branding materials.
Here’s an example of a successful nonprofit EVP:
We are a humanitarian organization with a 30-year history of helping people when they need us the most. Our supportive approach is reflected internally: we have built a culture that prioritizes transparent communication and personal and professional growth. We offer flexible schedules and summer Fridays to help you recharge and spend quality time with your loved ones. If you want to grow your career somewhere that allows you to make a difference every day and achieve a healthy work-life balance, you belong at our organization.
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