In this job market, I'd hold off on asking for a raise when many organizations are implementing unpaid "furloughs," freezing salaries, postponing promotions and new hiring, and laying off staff. In a more normal, better functioning market, most organizations review performance annually and consider raises. If you've worked somewhere for two years and not had a review and an increase, and the organization hasn't announced a salary freeze or furloughs or cost cuts, you can consider asking for a review. You want to know what you are doing right, and where your manager thinks there is room for improvement or growth.

The right time to ask is when you've contributed something above and beyond your job description that had a measurable positive impact on the organization's revenue or profit margin or other measure of performance (an at-risk client saved, an expiring grant renewed, a fundraising event that exceeded its target by a high margin, higher voter turnout than was imagined, a successful implementation of a new computer system), but rarely in the first six months of the job when presumably you are still learning the ropes. It's not how many months you've warmed the chair you sit in-there are very few nonunion jobs today that actually offer "longevity pay." To earn more, you have to be worth more!

I completely love this blog :D totally gonna have to remember to add this to the list.