Chinese non-governmental-organizations, especially the grassroots charities, have been facing a severe shortage of talented staff due to a lack of money.

A recent survey shows that 65.7 percent of the 451 NGOs plan to hire more people in 2011. But many vacancies cannot be filled by qualified people, due to the low pay and the lack of opportunity for career development.

Currently only 45.4 percent of the NGOs have staff responsible for fundraising and communication, whereas 30.1 percent for research, according to the survey jointly conducted by Tencent Foundation, Narada Foundation, and Liu Hongru Financial Education Foundation

It says 90 percent of the people working for NGOs earn a monthly salary of less than 5,000 yuan (about 750 U.S. dollars).

Tian Chen, CEO of the organization to popularize science, the "Hi Science" Center, which just received approval from the local civil affairs department, agrees that low paying jobs are a big problem.

"When interviewing job applicants, we will clearly inform them that they cannot rely on the salary to feed a family or live a decent life," she said.

The organization currently has seven full-time employees and a lot of work, including making Powerpoint slides for guest speakers, videotaping lectures of scientists, and collecting and analyzing responses from audiences, which have been done largely by volunteers, mostly "mobilized" through their personal connections.

"But it's not sustainable," Tian said, adding that at their current stage, they have no choice but to spend all of their money on organizing activities, as it's difficult for them to raise funds.

The organization does not have its own foundation, as the initiative fund requirement in China to establish a foundation is at least two million yuan.

"That's too much for us," Tian says.