What r/nonprofit keeps coming back to
Complaints raised here by more than one person. One-off posts are not included.
62 recurring problems · 133 threads read · read since September 2026 · Reddit
Raised more than once here
Most people first.
- 72How to stop letting accounting stress ruin my life?“I was at a conference last week in a breakout session about HR issues and the discussion turned to burnout.”
- 29How to get an entry level job with no experience“One issue is that whenever I post an entry level job I get somewhere in the ball park of 1000 applications a week. I have to narrow it down somehow and looking for applicable experience is the obvious place to start.”
- 25Why do IT jobs require impossible skill sets?“I have to wear multiple hats which I know is the norm but at this point I have my hands tied with literally everything I’m the one manning the phone, I had to create the strategic plan 4 months in with zero help from the board.”
- 25Why do I feel so overwhelmed after starting a new job?“Hi all! I'm starting at a new organization soon. I started at my current org before my pre-frontal cortex was fully developed, in an entry level role, and have worked my way up to DoD.”
- 24Doing the job of a higher role without the promotion or pay“I quit! Without going into detail, I was performing many duties of a role above my pay grade for a couple years. When the opportunity came to promote me into the role, they hired external instead.”
- 19Why does fixing AI mistakes take longer than doing it myself?“Kind of shocked. What the hell are we paying for? He literally didn’t even proofread the AI results he sent us.”
- 16How to handle clients who demand refunds and bully you“I feel like these donor demands are breaking me.”
- 16Why do employers ghost you after a job interview?“I’ve just come out of nearly half a year of interviews with the Gates Foundation …multiple rounds, across time zones, with promises that “I’d hear back by Friday.””
- 16Should customer support live inside our CRM?“We currently mainly use excel spreadsheets to keep track of things (deadlines, reports, etc.) -I actually think it works fine, but my boss is set on using some more sophisticated software. We're trying monday.com but I don't find it particularly user-friendly, nor is it easy to export/import with excel.”
- 15Why do big companies require so many rigid formalities?“I still struggle with that tension between growing professionally and holding onto my individuality, especially in corporate and foundation culture.”
- 13How to quit a toxic workplace“My boss was being very hopeful, saying that if they got funding back, they’d rehire me. It bothered me a lot and I needed to cut this clean, so I told them honestly that I would be looking for other opportunities.”
- 12Why do I feel like a fake in my new management role?“About a year ago I joined a nonprofit because I wanted my work to have more direct impact. I knew I’d have fewer resources. I knew I’d wear more hats. I actually welcomed that.”
- 12How to stop copycats from stealing my designs and photos“another "non-profit leader" keeps taking the ideas I am sharing that my group is doing and using her connections to do them first and make it seem like her idea without including me.”
- 11How to deal with toxic leadership during company layoffs“Ya van 3 semanas y de verdad me arrepiento de estar ahí. Todo está súper desorganizado y siento que cada vez que intento contactar a mi jefa o a otros coordinadores es como hablar con mi ex (nunca responden).”
- 10How to handle HR and finance without any specialist support“Especially if you’ve moved from a role with a lot of specialist support, like HR and Finance, to a role without that expertise in-house.”
- 9How to handle expense reports without being good at math“Got asked the other day which grant covered a specific flight and I genuinely couldn't tell them, it took me like two days and even then I was reconstructing it rather than looking it up.”
- 8Why is there no CRM with native AI insights out of the box?“Want to find grants the Irvine Foundation made to AI research? Too bad! You'll have to sift through hundreds upon hundreds of pages of results from other grantmakers instead of limiting your search to one specific organization.”
- 7Why am I getting DMARC and SPF errors when emails deliver fine?“Recently, many of our org's emails to providers, donors, and vendors have been blocked or rejected :/”
- 6Regret getting a SHRM certification“Has anyone here completed this certificate? Did it help improve your work or help you get a promotion or a raise? I'm looking to enroll in this program because realistically its the most affordable I can find, and I'm wondering if it's worthwhile or if there's a better certificate you would recommend.”
- 6How to switch careers out of academia“I'm feeling disheartened because I feel like people see "faculty", "librarian", or "Professor", and immediately write me off.”
What this forum worries about more than the rest
How much more often a topic shows up here than across every forum we read.
nonprofit management42.2×management issues42.2×nonprofit sector42.2×workplace toxicity42.2×