Someone asked entrepreneur Marie Forleo about motivating employees in a not-for-profit organisation, which she answered in a YouTube video. The question went like this:

I’m a founder of a non-profit and we’re in a huge growth spell right now, so we’re starting to hire, and I want to bring the right people on board. I want to invest in my team, but this seems hard with a nonprofit because donors want their resources to go towards programs, not payroll.

I know taking care of your team is how you thrive as an organisation. Can you suggest incentives outside of profit sharing that help you grow and retain talent?

Getting and keeping the right people on board is crucial to one’s success in business, especially in today’s world of low employee engagement and high turnover. More than that, teaming up with the right people makes work more fun – and something you can actually look forward to.

Interestingly, non-profits have an advantage when it comes to motivation. A 2014 study of U.S. employees show that making a positive impact is the most important measure of employee success.

It’s then followed by, in this order:

• Doing work you love.
• Good work/life balance.
• The pay.

Here are five more incentives that you should consider:

Incentive #1: Flexibility

Employees crave more control over their own schedule because in life, things happen. People get sick; and have special events they don’t want to miss.

Plus, putting the emphasis on results rather than who’s at their desk at what hours gives people more control over their day and makes them feel trusted, which is important.

Of course, there are roles where you need to be at your desk at certain hours, but in those cases you might want to consider having people cross-trained or having a few part-timers instead of one full-timer.

Incentive #2: Time off

People want more time off. Marie shares what she provides in her company:

• 6 weeks of paid vacation
• Paid holidays
• Inspiration days (paid time off to do something fun and inspiring)

Incentive #3: The best tech

Make sure your employees have the latest laptops, software, and phones. You don’t have to upgrade every time something new comes out (that would be impractical). However, the best tech helps people be more productive. It also builds company pride and morale.

This incentive does cost money, but non-profits can negotiate a discount or a donation.

Incentive #4: Challenge them to grow

You need to expect a lot from your employees and really challenge them to gain new skills. Why? Because if they don’t see a growth path ahead, they’re not going to stay.

What Marie does sometimes is assign “missions” to people so that they can figure out solutions to problems, where 99% of the time it’s about something that her team has no experience in. And somehow, her employees always succeed in completing the mission.

“And always, someone always rises to the challenge,” says Marie. Doing this transforms employees in a way that’s both exciting for them and for everyone else.

No one rises to low expectations. A-players want to step up, not level out.

Marie Forleo

Incentive #5: Appreciation and acknowledgement

This is one of the most important things you can do to attract and retain talent. It’s also one of the most underrated ways to do so. You need to make appreciation a part of your company culture to celebrate and publicly acknowledge people for their hard work.

For example, if someone in Marie’s company hits a milestone, performs great on a project, or gets something monumental done, they pour on the specific and sincere recognition for each person.

To how her appreciation, Marie took her team on a vacation to Mexico to celebrate. But if that’s too expensive for you, start simple. Do something like a company brunch. Anything where the only agenda is connection and having fun.

Here’s Marie’s complete video:

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