More Philanthropy Professionals Are Working from Home

Back when people used pay phones, top philanthropy professionals often were rewarded with a reserved parking spot. But that’s no longer the case. More and more that choice parking space is located in their driveway.

According to a recent report on CNBC, the nonprofit/philanthropy sector is increasingly taking advantage of work-from-home arrangements. 

“Certain careers offer more remote jobs than others,” according to the report. “FlexJobs found that seven fields had high rates — more than 50% — of remote career opportunities over the last year.”

Of these “certain careers,” non-profit and philanthropy landed at No. 3 on a list of seven that saw high remote-job growth in 2018. “Sample job titles include senior national fundraising director, program director, policy manager, major gifts officer and partnerships manager.”

And why wouldn’t we lead the way? Remote work environments for philanthropy professionals allow several benefits that make constrained budgets go further:

  • Gift officers can establish a presence in a territory without an entire regional advancement office.
  • Team members can use their time to work on the mission of their advancement office rather than sit in traffic.
  • Working from home often leads to increased job satisfaction, which can reduce turnover in an advancement office.

The article references a report from Global Workplace Analytics that estimates for every employee who works from home just half the time:

  1. “A typical business would save $11,000 per person per year.”
  2. “The telecommuters would save between $2,000 and $7,000 a year.”

Way to go us!

Other careers that have seen high remote-job growth in recent years are Math and Economics, Insurance, Mortgage and Real Estate, Marketing, Engineering, and Project Management.

Go here to read CNBC’s article. Also, check out the report from Global Workplace Analytics that estimates the financial benefits of employees working from home.

By Kevin Bauman, Director of Philanthropic Initiatives, Capture Higher Ed