Key performance indicators (KPIs) help nonprofits determine where they stand while pursuing their most important goals. But while your organization might be on top of metrics for fundraising and volunteer recruitment, there are other operational areas you can optimize—such as hiring.

Tracking hiring KPIs can be overwhelming, especially for nonprofits that have only recently started focusing on recruitment. Plus, collecting and drawing insights from the data is another matter altogether. 

In this guide, we’ll review the top KPIs nonprofits prioritizing recruitment should track, the talent acquisition tools needed to track them, and why they matter.

How to Track Hiring KPIs

Much like how you track donor data in a constituent relationship management system (CRM), you can manage your KPIs in Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and hiring software specifically made for nonprofits. JazzHR suggests looking for these ATS features to track KPIs properly:

  • Data-syncing between solutions and member profiles
  • Comprehensive, customizable, and easy-to-understand reporting
  • Automatic data hygiene features (such as removing duplicate records)

While adding another software to your tech stack might feel daunting, there are many budget- and beginner-friendly solutions you can purchase. To ensure you have the right hiring solution for your needs, determine your total recruitment budget and team experience level.

If you’re concerned about purchasing a dedicated hiring solution, you can stick with what’s been working for your nonprofit, such as using a spreadsheet. However, as time goes on and your nonprofit’s capacity expands, you may want to consider using a hiring platform made for small organizations.

Hiring KPIs Your Nonprofit Should Track

In terms of which KPIs to track, let’s take a look at the ones listed in Lever’s guide to hiring metrics.

1. Time to Fill

  • What it is: Time to fill tracks how long it takes your team to hire someone, from the moment the job is posted to when a candidate accepts an offer.
  • Why it matters: Nonprofits often struggle with turnover and may have numerous open spots on their team at any given time. Time to fill allows you to gauge your hiring process’s efficiency to help you fill vacancies quickly. 
  • How to track it: Using your ATS, log the date the job was posted and the date a candidate accepted the position. Then, you can average this metric across all your job postings to pinpoint patterns or bottlenecks.

2. Cost per Hire

  • What it is: Cost per hire is how much recruitment costs are spent on each person, including team time, external recruiter fees, onboarding costs, and marketing. 
  • Why it matters: Every dollar counts for your nonprofit’s mission. Reducing spending without compromising candidate quality will improve your outcomes across the board, both in the short and long term.
  • How to track it: Determine the value of your team’s time and add it to your recruitment, marketing, and other costs. Then, divide that number by the number of hires. 

3. Quality of Hire

  • What it is: Quality of hire measures the value a recruit brings to their team and your organization based on performance, workplace fit, and more.
  • Why it matters: Employee turnover can cost your nonprofit (both financially and in the time it takes to hire a replacement). In fact, it could cost you up to twice an employee’s annual salary. High-quality hires stay with your nonprofit longer, improving your workplace culture and contributing to your success. If you find your quality of hire metric is lacking, you’ll need to reassess your recruitment strategies.
  • How to track it: This is a more abstract KPI that takes longer to track, but you can still analyze it by adjusting your workflow. As employees progress through their first months at your nonprofit, send satisfaction surveys to the recruit, their manager, and other team members they work with closely. Then, average these point values to see their value as assessed by themselves and your other staff. 

4. Offer Acceptance Rate

  • What it is: Offer acceptance rate is the percentage of accepted job offers out of the total offers extended to candidates.
  • Why it matters: A strong reputation as an employer helps you secure long-term recruitment success. A low offer acceptance rate could indicate that competitors are driving harder bargains and taking qualified talent or point to flaws in your hiring strategy. 
  • How to track it: Divide the number of accepted offers by the total amount of offers extended.

5. Candidate Diversity Rate

  • What it is: Candidate diversity rate is the percentage of candidates who come from diverse or minority backgrounds in areas like gender, religion, and ethnicity.
  • Why it matters: Cultivating a welcoming, inclusive team can boost job satisfaction, employee engagement, innovation, and productivity. Plus, a low candidate diversity rate might indicate implicit biases in your recruitment strategy, which may lead to legal issues.
  • How to track it: Use demographic surveys in your recruitment process (after the initial resume review stage to prevent bias) and monitor your rates over time. Top recruiting tools can help mitigate bias by removing identifying information from a candidate’s resume so you can hire purely based on their qualifications. 

6. Retention Rate of New Hires

  • What it is: The retention rate of new hires measures the percentage of new hires who remain at your nonprofit over a certain period of time (usually a year). 
  • Why it matters: As previously mentioned, high turnover can greatly impact your ability to achieve your mission and remain financially stable. The first year is the most critical time to make a positive impression on recruits and keep them engaged. A low retention rate might indicate an issue in workplace culture or management.
  • How to track it: Record the number of new hires employed at your nonprofit after a year. Divide this number by the total number of employees acquired in this calendar year (this works especially well if you have a cohort of employees entering around the same time). To determine why new hires might be leaving, analyze their exit interviews for any trends.

Recruiting and retaining talent might not be immediately on your nonprofit’s radar. However, by taking a data-driven recruiting approach and using the right tools to analyze KPIs, you can start building great habits as an employer and putting together a stellar team that’s passionate about your mission.