What is fractional support?
Nonprofits with fractional support engage one or more people on a fractional basis.How It Works →
How It Works →
How It Works →
Nonprofits aren’t limited to hiring full- or part-time employees. They can hire people to fill those roles for a fraction of the time — often as little as four or five hours a month.
People who work this way are fractional professionals. Their responsibilities look identical to those of someone filling that role full time. In fact, they’ve held the role at other organizations, bringing at least 10 years of experience with them. They aren’t there to give you a deliverable by a deadline. They roll up their sleeves as a member of your team and do that work for a targeted number of hours a month.
The idea of working fractionally emerged partly because of budget constraints, but more because we recognized the need for talent to be right-sized to the organization. A smaller organization doesn’t need a full-time person in each role, but it does need most of the same work done.
Nonprofits with fractional support engage one or more people on a fractional basis in roles ranging from an administrator to a development director and everything in between. The organization can adjust the level and combination of talent as their needs change.
How Fractional Support Compares
Experience
Where a volunteer may not have the nonprofit expertise you need, a fractional professional has typically spent at least 10 years in their role.
Focus
Where a volunteer needs to find spare time around their full time job and other commitments, a fractional professional is a paid, embedded member of your team.
Implementation
Where a consultant can diagnose a problem and give you a plan, a fractional professional will roll up their sleeves and implement it — and if they're a director, adjust the plan when the strategy changes.
Permanence
Where a temp comes in to keep someone’s seat warm until they return, a fractional professional isn’t a placeholder. They're filling that role for as long as it makes sense for it to be fractional
Paperwork
Where full-time employees require benefits, overhead — and all the paperwork that comes with both — a fractional professional does not.
Flexibility
Where employees require a formal process for changing or eliminating roles, a fractional professional can be adjusted as your organization changes more easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes! Any role can be filled by a fractional professional. They can bring experience in the role to your organization and fill it for a fraction of the time.
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No. A fractional professional does the work of their role. If you hire a director or chief, you may find that their time goes toward strategy or team oversight rather than direct execution because that’s what those roles do.
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Many nonprofits have work they need done, but that work doesn’t add up to a full time role. Rather than packaging everything and the kitchen sink into a unicorn role no one can effectively fill, hiring fractional professionals gives the organization access to the range of talent they need right-sized to their organization.
