Paying for Living Wage Jobs
pic from Gregg from Gridd
The President of the United States is the highest CEO in the country. With the address to the country, will anger grow, or leadership prevail? For nonprofit organizations, leadership and passion are key to accomplishing one’s mission. The other key is bringing donors to want to be part of the mission to resolve the current problems of today.
Whether the donor is funding a cause, a need or supporting the efforts of a nonprofit to succeed in its goals and objectives, people directly or indirectly need to be supported. As an employee or people in need of services the basic survival life services are food (including water) shelter (housing), and clothing. To provide employees or people with sustainability means that with the three basic survival services comes the need for funds. In most societies that would mean using cash. The cash is obtained from employment or another source such as the government. To some degree, some societies use a barter system when cash is scarce.
Therefore, the first goal of nonprofits should be to adequately support the living wage of the society in which they are geographically helping. The salary of the highest paid employee should be proportional to the lowest paid salary. Donors should look to see if a nonprofit takes such a view as they consider funding a nonprofit. The more the question is asked the more it will become a standard. In the Northeast of the USA below is a sample budget to consider for deciding whether a nonprofit is paying a living wage.
Two Living Wage samples are presented below:
40 hour job at $11 an hour wage vs $16 an hour wage
What can a wage support per month?
Individual Family of 4
$22,880 $33,280
Mthly $11 hrly Yearly Costs Mthly $16 hrly Yearly Costs
$1,906.67 /$22,880.00 $2,773.33/$33,280.00
Expenses: Individual vs Family
Housing 45% $850.00/$10,200.00 45% $1,236.36/$14,836.36
Health Ins $480 ind $780 fam (80%/20% split) 5% $96.00/$1,152.00 6% $156.00/$1,872.00
Food $11 day ind $77 wk (fam x 2) 16% $308.00/$3,696.00 22% $616.00/$7,392.00
Transportation ($35 wk gas & maint) 7% $140.00/$1,680.00 5% $140.00/$1,680.00
Clothing 5% $100.00/$1,200.00 7% $200.00/$2,400.00
Utilities (phone,heat,electric) 13% $240.00/$2,880.00 9% $240.00/$2,880.00
Taxes state/city/federal/sales 6% $111.54/$1,338.48 6% $162.24/$1,946.88
Subtotal 97% $1,845.54/$22,146.48 99% $2,750.60/$33,007.24
Net for savings/flex spending 3% $61.13/$733.52 1% $22.73/$272.76
The reality of the chart is to show a donor whether it is realistic for nonprofits or any employer to pay a certain wage and expect that the individual or family will not need government or a nonprofit’s assistance to live and participate in the society. The chart further highlights that many people could be at a margin where any factor could suddenly cause them to need assistance. A small amount of a donor’s funding can make the difference for thousands of people. The increased cost of winter fuel, gasoline or a health premium changes everything.
