Findings from the 2011 national Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey conducted jointly by Nonprofit HR Solutions and the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research (University of San Diego) indicate that 60 percent of the nonprofit organizations in this years survey plan to hire in 2011 even though nearly one quarter of the organizations in this year’s survey trimmed staff in 2010. Findings from this year’s survey also revealed that turnover remains low within nonprofit organizations. Turnover rates for respondent organizations were calculated at 13 percent compared to last year’s rate of 21 percent.

Additionally, as in previous years the HR function is viewed as critical within many organizations. However it still remains a low priority for most nonprofits. Eighty-four percent of nonprofit respondents agreed that the HR function is critical to the success of their mission, but 52 percent of organizations do not have a dedicated HR professional.

In an era of new avenues to recruit talent, the 2011 survey is showing that it is still “who you know” when it comes to nonprofit recruitment. Nonprofits still primarily use in-person networking and newspapers to recruit job candidates. This is surprising considering the rapid growth and affordability of social networking tools over the past few years.