Practical, innovative benefits: nonprofits attract and retain employees with extras.

The Cross Road Retirement Community debunks the myth that there's no free lunch. Indeed, a free meal is one of the benefits the organization provides staff at its Asheboro, N.C.-based retirement living facility.

Executive Director Steve Rumbley sometimes will use the free meal as a negotiating tool when hiring new employees. In short, he tells them a free meal a day usually puts more money in their wallet than if they worked elsewhere for a little more money but had to buy meals.

"We try to tell people to figure that in," Rumbley said.

The organization has offered the perk since it opened in 1993. "In the early years of operation, we didn't have the financial ability to offer a lot of other benefits," Rumbley said. "The board decided that was one they would offer to the staff."

Nonprofit employers surveyed for this year's salary report listed innovative benefits that had a recurring theme of practicality. Some tailored benefits to meet employee needs specific to the organization.

Simply getting certain employees to show up for work as scheduled can be a challenge for Cross Road Retirement Community employees. To that end the organization motivates employees with a bonus program that bolsters a person's pay 10 cents per hour for each week they meet specific requirements, explained Rambley.

At year's end employees receive a guaranteed bonus of 1.5 percent of their gross pay that could grow to as much as 3 percent based on attendance throughout the year, he said.

Cross Road's roughly 120 full- and part-time employees also get first crack at putting their children in a five-star child care center on the Cross Road campus, Rambley said. Staff receive a 25 percent discount on the child care services, he said.

Organizations such as Volunteers of America (VOA) enhanced their mission through perks. VOA gives employees paid time off for volunteer work. Beginning July 2004 full-time employees with at least six months of service were given four hours a month (non-accumulative) paid time to participate in volunteer work, said Jane Cohen, director of benefits and compensation at Alexandria, Va.-based VOA.

"Part of our mission is to reach and uplift others," Cohen said. Headquarters staff don't always see the work VOA people are doing, she said. This benefit provides volunteers the opportunity to do that, she added.

One employee used her hours to help coordinate people to raise money and do a walk for a homeless shelter, Cohen said. Employee-picked charities must meet VOA standards.

Roughly 10 of 140 headquarter employees have taken part in the program as of December, according to Cohen. Program costs weren't significant because most of the eligible employees are salary-based. There has been talk of rolling it out to others in the system, she added.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services in Monessen, Pa., created a sliding-scale pension match for its workers. The nonprofit's percentage match increases depending on employees' years of service and willingness to increase their personal contribution, according to Maurice B. Wade, director of human resources. Employees are eligible for the plan after one year of employment. They become vested after three years of plan participation, he said. The minimum match is 3.65 percent of the employee's annual gross salary, he said. After five years the employer match increases to 5 percent if employee raises the contribution, too. After 10 years, the employer match goes to 7 percent, after 15 it hits 9 percent, he said.

Wade estimated that 98 percent of the more than 400 eligible employees take part in the plan.

"It's a good plan," Wade said. He added that it's a "contributing factor" to employee retention.

On any given day social workers at Any Baby Can Child and Family Resource Center in Austin, Texas may have to fend off drug dealers and witness violence on their way to meet with families in need. Many of Any Baby Can's roughly 70 full-time and part-time employees are front-line staff who deal with families in dire circumstances, according to Lila Carl, executive director. The trauma can lead to burn out.

Employees find some respite through a worker's assistance program and annual mental health coverage of up to $5,000, according Carl.

Through the worker's assistance program, employees and family members can receive up to six counseling sessions for one problem, Carl said. The $5,000 mental health coverage is offered in addition to the assistance program.

The two programs and other steps, such as hiring more experienced and educated staff, have helped decrease the organization's turnover rate from past highs of 60 percent, Carl said.

Several nonprofit employers listed child care accommodations as one of their most innovative benefits. For instance, one organization allows new mothers to bring their infants to work up to three months of age, another provides emergency child care for employees when schools are closed during holidays or snow days.

Other benefits were:

* AAA membership and oil changes;

* Theater ticket discounts;

* A staff support group;

* The ability to redeem for cash up to two weeks of unused sick time every year;

* Telecommuting options one to two days a week;

* A 25 percent pay supplement in lieu of benefits, paying 80 percent of employees' health care and 50 percent of dependents' health care, and a Sam's Club membership.

Good medical coverage continues to be a practical, but effective nonprofit benefit. Through its affiliation with United Way, which offers member nonprofits the ability to purchase healthcare insurance, the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center in Indianapolis, Ind., offers "awesome" healthcare coverage for employees, according to Anne-Marie L. Predovich, executive director.

INRC pays 80 percent of employee costs and 50 percent of employee family members' costs, according to Predovich. The organization has seven full-time employees. Six participate in the plan that covers medical healthcare coverage.

"As a nonprofit that maybe isn't able to offer the top range of salaries, that's an added benefit," and one the board is "conscientious" of providing, Predovich said.

Someone picking the employee and children plan pays $111 bi-weekly, while the organization pays $352, she said. When INRC conducted a search recently for an outside company to handle its human resources, one of the first comments was "the richness of the plan," for a small nonprofit, she said.

The bottom line is that nonprofit salaries may not be as competitive, so many nonprofits make up for it by offering more creative benefits, she said.