Sure, Your Nonprofit Cares … But Does It Care About You?

The Center for Companies That Care has released its 2008 honor roll, and a handful of nonprofits are sprinkled throughout the list. To make the honor roll, an organization must demonstrate 10 characteristics in its work environment:

1. Sustain a work environment founded on dignity and respect for all employees
2. Make employees feel their jobs are important
3. Cultivate the full potential of all employees
4. Encourage individual pursuit of work/life balance
5. Enable the well-being of individuals and their families through compensation, benefits, policies and practices
6. Develop great leaders, at all levels, who excel at managing people as well as results
7. Appreciate and recognize the contributions of people who work there
8. Establish and communicate standards for ethical behavior and integrity
9. Get involved in community endeavors and/or public policy
10. Consider the human toll when making business decisions

That’s a comprehensive list. One can easily see how a nonprofit could demonstrate some of those characteristics but not others. One can also see that operating according to all 10 principles would foster a tremendously fulfilling work environment that leads to a collection of employees do their damndest to advance the mission. How is your nonprofit doing with respect to these traits? | 501(c)

Tags: Center for Companies That Care, nonprofit human resources