Experience vs. Cost savings when Nonprofits Hire

With increased need for private funding, how do non profits go about recruiting and staffing for sustainable growth? Therein lies one of the major conundrums these organizations face: hire senior level, experienced and well connected individuals who may require higher salaries, attempt to function with the in-house resources they have and hope to achieve the results they so badly need or, more often than not, hire at the low end of the salary scale young and inexperienced fund raisers whose careers have been linear and focused on only one aspect of the outreach effort. By and large, the organizations that choose to implement the last two formats for their fund raising, are at best surviving within the status quo, not developing and growing to their potential. Why then, would organizations not pursue the first course and hire strategically?

There are several reasons that I have identified, but that have also been documented by articles and fund raising professionals with regard to the workings of non profits and their philanthropic endeavors: these reasons range from non profit Boards who place little or no value on having a strategic leader at the helm of their organization, to executives in charge who believe that siloing outreach efforts is more effective than having an overarching, visionary strategy focused on the end result. Oftentimes, lip service is paid by both these groups as to their desire to find and hire individuals that bring leadership and credibility to the organization's outreach, however, when the chips are down, the short-sightedness of $$$ spent now vs. long-term returns takes over and they choose the now. The ROI, as expected, is unsatisfactory.

How then, can we change this mindset? How can we impress upon those seeking to maximize support for their very deserving causes that investing in experienced, skilled, visionary and strategic professionals who have achieved tangible results in their past positions, is the most effective and in the long-run most profitable approach to hiring? I have no formula, and over the past year and a half, while on my job search, I have tried to "divine" how to get through the impenetrable wall of short-term vs. long-term strategic fund raising.

Nonprofit HR solutions:  “Nonprofit Employment Trends Survey, 2012”
http://www.nonprofitstaffingsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2012-Employment-Trends-Survey-Report.pdf