Is it normal for a nonprofit to ask employees for donations?
Employers asking staff to donate money feels offensive and tone-deaf because employees already sacrifice higher for-profit salaries and go above and beyond with their time. Pressuring workers who cannot afford basic necessities like groceries creates deep discomfort and resentment.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since August 2026.
- This comes up 68.5× more often in r/nonprofit than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1complaining about the practice to colleaguesDid this help you?
- 2pushing to move the employee donation down to a symbolic amount like $1Did this help you?
- 3having leadership donate on behalf of staffDid this help you?
- 4Giving a minimal amount (such as $5) just to move past itDid this help you?
- 5Refusing to donate or participateDid this help you?
- 6Having contributions automatically deducted from paychecksDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Am I crazy to be offended by this? Like in any nonprofit, the staff is already generous with our time and everyone seems to go above and beyond for the org. It just feels so tacky to even ask staff to give back to their employer.”source ↗
“I would like to shoot this practice into the sun. No you cannot have my money when I can’t afford groceries”source ↗
“I also find this distasteful. I am already donating in-kind, essentially, the gap between what I make at a nonprofit and what I'd be making at a for-profit!”source ↗
“Are you expected to contribute to your schools annual fund each year?”source ↗
“Every year teachers get upset by this because we are so underpaid and already give 110% to the school.”source ↗
“We’re expected to. I never have.”source ↗
“I give $50, and I get it taken out of my paycheck.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to ask for money instead of gifts without looking rude
- 3How to handle inappropriate donation requests from individuals
- 4How do you start a peer-to-peer fundraiser with zero donor history?
- 2How to get employees to submit time tracking on time
- 2Is it okay to ask wedding guests to pay for their lodging?
- 4When should benefit deductions start for new enrollments?