THE NFP LEADERSHIP MARKET IS CHANGING. HERE’S WHAT WE’RE SEEING.

If you recruit managers and leaders in the NFP and for-purpose sector, you may have noticed something interesting about the market. It isn’t simply getting harder or easier. It’s becoming more nuanced.

Organisations are still recruiting, but many are being more considered about the positions they create and the capabilities they need. At the same time, managers and senior leaders are navigating a job market where job security is relatively strong, but salary satisfaction and career progression remain important considerations. 

So, what does that mean for organisations recruiting managers, senior managers, heads of function, general managers and executives?

We’ve looked at the latest workforce data, NFP sector research and the roles currently being advertised to see what’s changing — and what we think it could mean over the next six months.

The NFP workforce is still growing

The Australian charity sector remains a significant employer. The latest Australian Charities Report found that charities employed approximately 1.6 million people in 2024 — around 11% of Australia’s workforce. That was an increase from 10.7% in the previous reporting period.

At the same time, the sector generated $239 billion in revenue, while total expenses increased by 8.6% to $231 billion.

That last figure is important. Charities are employing more people while also facing increasing costs and demand for services. 

For organisations, this creates a balancing act: building the workforce and leadership capability needed to deliver services while maintaining financial sustainability.

And that is increasingly reflected in the types of management roles coming onto the market.

Management is not disappearing from the picture

The broader Australian employment outlook also points to continued demand for managers. Jobs and Skills Australia projects that employment in management occupations will grow by 7.7% between 2025 and 2030, adding approximately 143,400 positions. 

Health and Welfare Services Managers are projected to experience particularly strong growth, at 27.1% over the same period.

That matters to the NFP sector because health, welfare, disability, aged care, community services and related organisations make up a substantial part of the for-purpose workforce.

And when we look at the NFP jobs market itself, management roles are clearly not limited to the C-suite.

At the time of our research, EthicalJobs listed 312 management roles and 111 executive and senior management roles across the sector.

The current market includes roles spanning operations, fundraising, business development, people and culture, programs, finance, governance, risk, service delivery and organisational development. That breadth is important.

The conversation about the NFP talent market shouldn't just be about CEOs.

It needs to include the managers and senior leaders who actually make strategy happen.

So, what is changing?

1. The expectations placed on managers are getting broader

One of the clearest trends we’re seeing is that management roles are becoming less siloed.

A manager may still have a primary area of responsibility, but increasingly they are expected to understand what happens beyond their own function.

A Program Manager may need to understand funding, workforce planning, reporting and stakeholder relationships.

A People & Culture Manager may be expected to contribute to organisational strategy and workforce planning.

An Operations Manager may be responsible for systems, risk, compliance, governance and organisational improvement.

A Fundraising Manager may need to understand partnerships, digital acquisition, data and financial sustainability.

And senior managers are increasingly operating as part of the organisation’s broader leadership team.

The result is that technical expertise remains important — but it is no longer the whole story.

2. Organisations are looking for people who can turn strategy into action

There is a growing distinction between having a strategy and having the organisational capability to deliver it. That puts considerable pressure on managers.

They are often the people translating organisational priorities into:

• team performance

• budgets

• systems and processes

• service delivery

• stakeholder relationships

• measurable outcomes

• organisational change.

This is one reason we’re seeing roles asking for a combination of strategic thinking and practical delivery.

For example, a recent NFP Manager Business Operations role in Sydney sought someone able to move between strategic thinking and day-to-day operational management while overseeing operations, governance, reporting and organisational systems. That combination is increasingly valuable. 

3. Skills shortages haven't disappeared — but the market is more selective

The Australian labour market is not experiencing the same recruitment conditions as the extreme shortage period of 2021–22. 

Jobs and Skills Australia's August 2026 data shows that 50% of surveyed employers were recruiting, 45% of recruiting employers reported difficulty recruiting, and 20% expected to increase staffing levels.

The recruitment difficulty figure had increased by two percentage points over the month, although staffing-growth expectations were lower than a year earlier.

In other words, organisations are still recruiting, but they are operating more cautiously.

That creates an interesting environment for management recruitment.

There may be more candidates available for some positions than there were a few years ago. But finding someone with the right combination of experience, leadership capability, technical knowledge and cultural alignment can still be difficult.

Jobs and Skills Australia has also noted that recruitment challenges remain particularly relevant for higher-skilled occupations, with employers identifying qualifications, skills, experience, job design and the attractiveness and sustainability of roles as factors affecting recruitment.

4. The employee value proposition matters more when salary can't do all the work

This is particularly relevant for NFP organisations. The latest Hays research found that 66% of Australian and New Zealand professionals surveyed felt confident about their job security, but only 53% were satisfied or very satisfied with their roles.

Half reported feeling underpaid despite receiving salary increases, while only 20% had changed employers in the previous year.

Hays also points to career progression as an increasingly important lever for organisations trying to attract and retain people. For NFPs, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. Not every organisation can compete on salary. But an organisation can compete on the quality of the opportunity.

That includes:

Purpose. Leadership. Autonomy. Flexibility. Career development. Culture.

The opportunity to make a tangible difference.

And clarity about what the person will actually be empowered to achieve.

Those things need to be more than statements in a job advertisement. Candidates increasingly want to understand what the experience of working somewhere will actually be like.

5. Leadership capability is becoming an organisational issue, not just a recruitment issue

The latest Australian Institute of Company Directors NFP Governance and Performance Study highlights workforce planning and skills capability as continuing concerns for NFP organisations.

The study also identifies increasing complexity for boards, including emerging issues around AI, cyber risk, climate and changing governance expectations.

That has implications well below the CEO level.

Organisations need managers who can lead people through change. They need leaders who understand risk and accountability. They need people who can use data without losing sight of the human outcomes behind it. And they need managers who can develop the people coming behind them.

In other words, leadership capability needs to exist throughout the organisation — not just in the executive team.

6. Digital capability is becoming part of management capability

Technology is another area where the expectations on managers are changing.

PwC's NFP CEO research found that 67% of NFPs surveyed saw their organisations or services fundamentally changing because of digitisation, while 77% had shifted operations in response to beneficiary or supporter needs in the digital age.

The research also identified software, data analysis and analytics, teamwork and collaboration among the skills NFP leaders considered important for the future.

That doesn't mean every manager needs to become a technology expert.

It does mean managers increasingly need to be comfortable leading teams through new systems, using information to make decisions and understanding how technology affects service delivery, fundraising, supporters, staff and risk.

Our outlook for the next six months

No one can know exactly how the NFP employment market will behave over the next six months. But based on the current data and what we’re seeing in management and leadership roles, there are several trends we expect to continue.

We expect organisations to be more deliberate about the roles they recruit.

In a more cautious economic environment, organisations are likely to look carefully at whether a position is genuinely required, what it needs to achieve and what level of experience is actually necessary. 

That doesn't necessarily mean fewer management appointments. It means more attention to the business case behind them.

We expect capable managers to remain highly relevant.

The pressure on organisations to deliver services, manage people, meet funding requirements, improve systems and demonstrate outcomes doesn't disappear when budgets become tighter.

If anything, those pressures can increase. That makes effective management particularly important.

We expect more hybrid roles.

The boundaries between operations, strategy, people, technology, governance and stakeholder engagement are becoming less distinct.

Managers who can work effectively across those boundaries are likely to be relevant to a broad range of organisations.

We expect organisations to look harder at potential as well as previous job titles.

A candidate doesn't necessarily need to have held the exact same position in the exact same type of organisation.

Transferable leadership capability, relevant sector knowledge, evidence of delivering change and the ability to learn can all be important.

This can open up the candidate pool — particularly where organisations have been relying too heavily on a narrow definition of the “ideal” candidate.

We expect the candidate experience to matter.

Good candidates are assessing organisations too. They are asking questions about leadership, culture, flexibility, development, purpose and what success looks like.

A slow or unclear recruitment process can make an organisation less attractive, particularly to candidates who are already employed.

What does this mean if you're recruiting?

Before advertising a management or leadership role, it is worth stepping back and asking a few questions.

What problem are we actually asking this person to solve? A position description explains responsibilities. A good recruitment brief explains why the role exists. 

What needs to be different 12 months after this person starts? This helps identify the capabilities that genuinely matter.

Which requirements are essential — and which are simply familiar? There is a difference between needing a particular capability and preferring someone who has previously held the same job title.

What can we genuinely offer? Salary matters, but so do flexibility, purpose, autonomy, development, culture and the opportunity to make an impact. 

Are we recruiting for the organisation we have now or the organisation we are becoming? The answer can significantly change the profile you need.

The opportunity in a changing market 

The NFP and for-purpose employment market isn't standing still.

The sector continues to employ a substantial proportion of Australia's workforce, management occupations are projected to grow, and organisations continue to need people who can lead teams, deliver services, manage complexity and turn strategy into results.

At the same time, organisations are operating under financial and workforce pressures that make every appointment important.

For us, that makes the role of recruitment more than finding someone who ticks the boxes.

It's about understanding what the organisation actually needs, identifying the capabilities that will make a difference and connecting that opportunity with people who have the skills, motivation and potential to deliver it.

Whether you're recruiting a manager, senior manager, head of function, general manager, director or executive, the fundamentals are increasingly similar:

Know what you need. Be clear about what you offer. And recruit for where your organisation is going — not just where it has been.

About Social Impact Careers

Social Impact Careers works with organisations across the social impact sector to recruit people who can make a meaningful difference — from management roles through to senior leadership and executive appointments. 

If you're thinking about your next appointment, we're always happy to have a conversation about what we're seeing in the market. 

About the author

Lisa Morell is a trusted advisor, founder and people strategist with deep experience helping organisations make better hiring decisions — especially where the cost of a wrong hire is high. 

Lisa has worked closely with boards, executives and purpose-driven organisations to design recruitment processes that go beyond CVs and gut instinct, focusing instead on values alignment, cultural fit and real-world capability. She’s known for her practical, no-nonsense approach to interviewing — and for asking the questions others often don’t.

Lisa brings clarity, rigour and humanity to the hiring process, helping organisations find people who don’t just look good on paper, but genuinely belong in the role.

Get in touch

If you’d like support with recruitment strategy, executive hiring, interview design or related questions, Lisa would love to hear from you.

Lisa Morell

Director, Social Impact Careers

lisa@socialimpactcareers.com.au

0431 874 400