Charity job salary vs private sector

[Dreamsofus]

I volunteer at a local charity which is quite a significant size for not being a national charity.

A job will become vacant as someone who is salaried but doing the pretty much the same as me (ECommerce Assistant) is leaving so I looked at the job advert.

It’s paying £18,525 for either a 37.5 or 40 hour week depending on which is correct as the advert and the job description differ. One calculates to exactly minimum wage of £9.50 and the other £8.91. I’m quite shocked that for what is involved in this work is paid so low but is this typical for charities to pay so low? I’ve looked at salaries for the private sector in this type of work and it’s starting at £23k+.

I get job alerts for my area daily and I see so many other jobs getting paid more than this (that you can often train on the job ie carer, supermarket staff etc). I’m a bit disappointed as I was thinking of applying but won’t now - I knew it would be a lot lower than my job that I left after Mat Leave (was on £28k) but not that low which is a shame as I like it.

I think that sounds fairly typical, I work in the charity sector and could probably earn more in other sectors but for me, my job isn't just about what I earn (yes, I appreciate I am fortunate to be in that position). I love what I do, believe in the cause I work for and like to believe that I am 'doing something worthwhile'. Many of my colleagues have worked for the charity for years ... yes, we have the occasional grumble about salaries but few actually leave.

The charity sector is notorious for this. If they could afford to pay better, they would probably be criticised by some members of the public for excessive administration costs. I don’t agree with this but some people can be unrealistic and that’s what tends to happen.

Are there other benefits beside the salary? Doing something truly worthwhile has to be taken into consideration, although of course it doesn’t pay the bills!

Growling makes a very good point, look at the outrage when charity sector senior management salaries are published ....

Thank you @Ragwort - I have worked in private and charity sector and in my experience the latter workforce feels less diverse. Probably

Because a lot of us really need the higher salaries to live so end up in the private sector.

Yeah - I earn about 15% of the ordinary private sector wage for my job. I have chosen to do this along with all the leadership at the charity I work for, but realistically I can't now do it long term as I have financial commitments and the inflation is eroding my income rapidly. So I'll have to get a normal job and hope a posh hobbyist can step in.

In my sector they are desperate for workers so it's not exploitation by the charity any of us can just walk into a better paid and easier job tomorrow and we've made a personal decision to work here. It's a very specialised charity and we have highly marketable niche technical skills. At the same time, I do think there's naivete in the public about charity wages in highly specialised and technical roles like scientific R&D - you can end up basically forcing the charity to hire either only the independently wealthy or incompetent people, simply because they can't afford to end up on the 60k register.

ugh the strikethrough thing strikes again!

I know it's not always the case but I've had two jobs in the charity sector (entry ish level) and have had better benefits than Any of my other jobs. Both charity jobs had increasing full sick pay up to 6m and full pay for may leave for 6m.

You should consider travel costs because that can eat up the difference.
I would go private because charity sector is so unreliable due to funding and people tend to stay for ages if their role is good so harder to climb up the ladder.

It’s true charity sector pay is less than private. However in many cases it can be balanced by other benefits, better work life balance, work satisfaction, improved working culture (my charity has well-being days, which everyone is encouraged to take if they’re just getting tired and stressed for example). Sometimes better Mat benefits, flexible working etc.

I’m generalising of course, every charity is different, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

A lot of charities have been hit hard by Covid. My friends sister is the manager of a local service for the charity Mind. They struggled so badly over covid that they had to make people redundant. The number of people needing help increased at the same time. They're advertising positions that pay less than they did a few years ago so none of the experienced staff will want to come back but anyone is better than no one at the moment,

I think it is sadly true that a lot of charity jobs are filled with people who can afford to accept a lower salary, like the 'posh hobbyist' referred to above - and I absolutely recognise that I am exactly one of these people . So we are not attracting a wide diversity of employees.

The wages will be less but working in the private sector is far far more stressful and demanding

Thanks for the responses and I agree it is a catch-22 between offering salaries that are realistic and provide a reasonable standard of living vs the public who can get outraged at charity admin costs. People want the services of a charity but don’t want the charity to pay people a decent salary to provide them.

@Ragwort I am also in a position where I can afford to take such a salary cut due to DH’s salary being a very high earner, however it being minimum wage just feels a bit too low.

@GrowlingManchego I can walk to the office from home so no commuting costs, and it says the annual leave is generous but doesn’t state how many days. The existing three staff in this particular department work from home occasionally so this would be a possibility I guess, and although I know this is a trend many people want I do actually like going into an office after being off work for a few years. But the flexibility would be good.

The other main thing that would definitely go against me is that they want you to be a car driver (I’m not) so that you can visit their charity shops occasionally, however the job spec doesn’t state why you would need to visit them or how often.

Years ago I tempted for a large national charity in London and the cost-cutting in the office was a shock compared to the private sector - my team shared one stapler and a hole punch, had one pen and highlighter each etc, no printing allowed unless absolutely essential, there was a staff fridge and boiling water and that was it. I would imagine many private sector workers wouldn’t like working like that yet I guess the public in general want their services and think the staff should work in a bare-bones environment for little £££. No easy answer I guess except to vote with your CV.