Financial Resources or Human Resources? The Real Obstacle for Developing NGO Activity in Romania

In our hyper-connected and globalised world, the pace of change is exponentially increasing in the private sector, public administration and the civil society sector. Organisations and networks face ever more complex environments that present unique challenges and opportunities for their development. This rings even more true for non-profit organisations, which work under ever-changing funding cycles or hostile political environments that make it difficult to attract and retain staff or grow. The aim of this paper is to answer the following questions: Are financial or human resources the greatest obstacles for growth and success of NGOs? How is large-scale emigration of young Romanians, potential NGO staff, affecting the recruitment and retention of staff? Are there less financial resources available for non-profit organisations? How do financial resources affect human resources, that is, how are NGOs able to recruit qualified, motivated staff that is creative and able to respond to fast-changing environments? Is there an ideal point where financial and human resources are in balance? We try to answer these questions through an exploratory survey administered to 129 national and international NGOs operating in Romania, providing a reasonable statistical base. We also conducted an additional eight interviews with Romanian non-profit leaders.