Anyone work in the charity sector?

[witnessprotection73]

Hi

I'm after some advice please.

I work in corporate sales and earn half decent money. ( well it feels less and less decent with COL). But I’ve had enough, it’s just horrible, full of toxic people and I want to do something I’m passionate about and where I’m making a difference.

I'm currently at final stage interviews for such a job with a lovely charity & the role is perfect. However I’ll be taking a 17k pay cut. I know in this sector I can’t expect the pay to match corporate & I’m ok with that but is it possible to negotiate? I really want the role and don’t want to appear ‘grabby’ but I’ve also got bills to pay! Furthermore they want me to commute to their office 1 day a week which is fine, ( I want to), but it’s quite far & so will cost me about £200 a month!

Any constructive advice welcome.

TIA x

I presume there must be many different contracts as there are so many different charities, but I have a family member who works for a charity, and (compared with her peers - people who have graduated in the last 10 years and mostly are working in the public sector) she is well paid for the work she does and the T&Cs she has. I don't think you can start negotiating pay. As a pp said, the jobs are paid £X. Why should one person be paid more than the person they are sitting next to, for doing the same work ? It was advertised as £X - if that isn't enough for you, then why did you apply for it ?
Same as asking for them to pay you £200 every time you go into the office. You chose to apply for a job you live nowhere near, so you would surely be expected to fund the travel (and travel in your own time).

If I were someone who donated to a charity that was paying for someone to get to work, when the office hadn't moved, I wouldn't be impressed, and nor would I if they agreed to pay over what was budgeted for a member of staff who presumably knew the pay range when they applied for the job.

I’ve worked in NFPs for 10+ years. Salaries don’t tend to be negotiable but you can ask! I would definitely get WFH written into your contract.

In terms of how I’ve found it: often very rewarding, sometimes deeply frustrating. Colleagues tend to be more motivated by values than ££, and several have become good friends. Sometimes the poor pay means you don’t get the best people. I’ve had some crap / unpleasant managers / colleagues but these have been the exception, most are very nice and want to make a difference.

I work for a large charity. Good things are:
-very good pension contribution (16%)
-decent holidays (30 days)
-hybrid and flexible working - have been really generous in terms of being able to do school pick ups etc
-feeling of doing something for a good cause

Bad things are:
-Pay for my role is probably 15% lower than in the private sector
-No performance related pay increases, bonus or any other rewards. The entire charity gets the same annual pay rise which really grates when you work hard
-No performance reviews
-Lots of inertia generally in the organisation
-Low budget/resources compared to if I was in the private sector

@Schoolrunmumbun if you know how to prospect, build, manage a pipeline & close I don’t see why not. In some respect what you do harder because in corporate the results are more tangible. It’s pretty full on though and I’m burnt out I think. however, I’ve had some brilliant years both in terms of people I’ve worked with and money earn’t .

chose carefully. Don’t be swayed by high OTE, go for a more established company and not a start up. I’d also go for a bigger company with a proper induction process.

Ive worked in charity finance for a few years.

Id say that salaries are more negotiable than suggested here and asking for a 10 percent increase on advertised salary isn’t unusual, although wouldn’t always be granted.

Coming from corporate I suspect that your biggest frustration won’t actually be the money. It’s more likely to be that the planning/infrastructure/organisation is shit in a lot of charities. When you pay significantly less than corporate roles for the same skill set you get a few staff who are ideologically driven, but you also get quite a lot who wouldn’t make it at that level in a corporate role.

My advice would be to steer away from charity roles which have a safeguarding or health element- much harder to ignore shit practice - and towards more business like charities both in terms of conduct and salaries- chances are they are doing a better job all round.

@Yesterdayyesterday to be clear the job was advertised as wfh. Then during the first stage they said 1 day in office and so that’s why I’m looking to negotiate. I do think I said as much & I’m not asking for £200 every time I go in, it’s £200 pcm.

I’ve received some brilliant advice on negotiating and the sector in general & I'm really appreciative of everyone who’s taken the time to comment.

I used to work for a charity. Originally it was 3days a week and then they wanted it to be 4. I wasn't keen so they agreed to pay my travel expenses for that day only.
I loved the actual job and I'm sad it no longer exists(poor council choices/spending) but the actual organisation was stressful. I had 3 managers whilst there and I wasnt there long. In house then external then in house again. Oct 2018 until march 2021. Office politics did my head in, 2 faced bitchy people who are only nice to you because you're making them look good i.e I was actually the one doing all the work!!

At the end of the day happiness is important and the only way is to try it and see. Good luck

My main advice is don’t work for a founder. They often have founders syndrom where they want to control the charity according to their wants and it’s often not in the best interests of the organisation. Much better it’s run by someone who has come in independently

Ah founder symptoms yep agreed n. But trustees can be a headache usually retired we had a couple in their eighties, some seventies only one in his sixties a business man who threw in the towel. It was so frustrating when you've slogged away creating a project involving loyalty cards, done deals with businesses costed everything only falling at the trustee meeting following the presentation when one trustee retired solicitor in his eighties with memory problems declared that it might be illegal. The fundraiser resigned over that 🙈

I worked in the charity sector for just under 10 years. Never again. I hated it. I now work in education.

I love working in the charity sector. Burn out is always a risk though and I've just returned to the sector after 18 months in private orgs and I am happy to be back.

I work with quite a niche client group and feel I am making a difference. I have a demanding role and long shifts but honestly I love being at work. I never know what my day will entail and it's very reactive. It suits me very much.

The role I'm in now, I negotiated a higher salary. I knew I was well suited to it and that they wanted me to accept. I was earning more in my last role, and happy to take a drop, but felt my skills and background warranted a better offer, so asked for one and got it. If any of my colleagues were to feel resentful of that, well that's on them really, they don't share my background and experience. Perhaps some of them did, and are on even better salaries than me anyway

Do what makes you happy. Keep your boundaries and don't work outside of your hours.

Please just don't do it

Thanks OP. Good luck to you too

I work at a lovely charity. Best people and culture I've ever worked with. I've also worked for a terribly badly run one, so in summary they are as different as private companies. Ours has a salary scale and funded projects wouldn't be negotiable easily.

I’ve worked in charities all of my professional life and I wouldn’t leave. However I am now very selective of both cause and type of charity! No to Founder led, no if the CEO has been there more than 10 years, no if it is heavily dependent on LA funding. Small charities are the worst IMO for poor leadership and toxic culture because they can be so insular - I worked for one where the CEO was personal friends with at least 3 trustees. There is more accountability in large charities in my experience. There is normally very limited scope for negotiation on salaries, either because the role is funded at a specific level, or because the salary range has been factored into the budget and signed off by trustees / SLT, often a painful experience for the hiring manager! My salary is lower than it could be but I only work in international charities now and have a lot of travel opportunities which, while they are required (and can be tiring and stressful!) I also find are enriching personally, and are helping me professionally. So I am comfortable with that balance. What I would say is if you find the culture of the org unpleasant, leave as quickly as you can, because change in charities is incredibly difficult.

No to Founder led, no if the CEO has been there more than 10 years, no if it is heavily dependent on LA funding.

With bells on and an extra No to Founder led. And look carefully at whether there is any kind of HR, and if so, what is it? If potentially very small/ contracted out - be careful.

Issues I have found are the expectation of relatively sophisticated expectations - I'm thinking around technological skills, particularly hybrid style operations - without any understanding or accountability from senior roles. In my case, the senior roles have been used to having an IT department in their former or current professional organisations to deal with all this, and they think it is normal or easy and achievable just with 'tech stuff', not with skills, something that can be a leaky pipeline in the demands on funds. There is a major sense of some roles seeing themselves as there only for the expertise and not concerned with any of the reality of those that make things happen, so people who are good at the practical become frustrated at not being listened to, and often leave gaps that lead to restructures or sea changes in strategy due to the work going so far and the charity not having much choice.

The 'advertise remote role - no, let's make it 1 day a week in' kind of approach doesn't come as a surprise; there's a lot that's relatively minor and not an issue to those that make the plans, and could be fairly inconsistent in the longer view of (say) comparable job roles, but would have an impact on affordability for the post holder. Things like 'an intern could do X, on student work hours', then a quick change of heart to 'Let's have a freelance project manager instead on a year's contract' - it's easy to do but neither is very well thought out for the reality of what and how long, and what skills are needed.

Agree with every word. Check out the bios of all the SMT to be happy they’ve good experience. Check the trustee bios too and avoid any where the majority of them are old and retired. They should have some of working age with really strong professional backgrounds such a sales HR finance and some with lived experience of the cause. Also look for diversity in staff and trustees

@Whyohwhywyoming thanks for the advise. Why do you say ‘no if the CEO has been there more than 10 years’? The CEO of this charity has been there 8 years. isn’t longevity a positive?

So I got the job! I got 1k towards travel & can come in later so I can travel off peak. Really excited and hopeful this will finally be the right move.

Thanks for all who gave opinions, ideas & suggestions x

Congratulations @witnessprotection73 ! That’s fantastic news. Well done!

Well done, hope it’s a good move for you.

Quite an old post but I’d love to know more. I’m trying to move from corporate sales to a partnership/fundraising role. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Hey, happy to have a chat if you want to message me

Thank you :) I’ve sent you a message.