In a nonprofit organization, the mission, not the profit is the driving force behind the organization. Many of the smaller nonprofit organizations usually also have a founder’s leadership and vision to keep in mind, fiscal constraints and fewer opportunities for career advancement simply due to their size. To many these conditions may be perceived as a negative, but this is what makes nonprofits excellent training grounds for millennials, women and/or sector switchers who want to add some skills to their career toolbox, or advance to a leadership role.
There are always LOTS of tasks and roles that need to be filled and completed. However, there is often not enough human capacity on staff or someone with the right skills to get the job done. This is a great opportunity for a staff person to stretch their skills, volunteers to assist, a consultant to be hired and/or for someone to get some valuable hands on training in that area to ensure that the organization is able to get the work done. I truly attribute my many talents to working in the nonprofit sector and having to learn on the job or during a time where we did not have enough hands on deck to do things I never thought I’d ever have the chance to do (or want to do for that matter) and glad I had the opportunity. Continue Reading »
Are the nonprofit and private sectors really that different or just doing the work differently?
As a career coach focusing on millennials, women, entrepreneurs and sector switchers, I get asked about my experience working in
the nonprofit sector all the time, from all kinds of people. They are either curious, interested in changing their career path or trying to find out if the various things they heard about the nonprofit sector are true.
If you have never worked in the nonprofit sector, you might not know how different a career experience in the nonprofit sector can be from one in the corporate world—both in culture and in structure—but depending on the type of organization and position you desire, you’d be surprised just how similar they can be. Most people who come from the private sector don’t believe that you can make money in the nonprofit sector and those from the nonprofit sector believe that just about anything that is not nonprofit is evil or the “dark side.” Continue Reading »
…Are You Ready to Make the Switch?
There are many ways to switch sectors and transition with ease; however, I am going to focus on switching from the corporate to nonprofit sector. A number of roles in the corporate and nonprofit sectors are quite similar, and many functional skills are very transferable.
Someone who works in public relations can transfer their skills to a development, grant writing, marketing and/or communications position. A person with an operations or finance background can find similar positions in the nonprofit sector, also in development, and in roles like director of finance, chief financial officer or even director of operations. Continue Reading »
People ALWAYS ask me how I became a Master Networker…and honestly, I think it has a lot to do with my personality—I will talk to just about anyone and just about everyone talks to me. That does NOT mean that they become a part of my network, but that there is a comfort zone, a trust value I have in people and confidence I have about myself to always want to help others.
There is no magic equation or one specific way to network—which is why there are so many books, articles (including this one) and workshops that help people learn the art of networking. Those of us in this business simply hope that some of what we do and have gotten results from will help those of you who attend our webinars, events, become our clients and read our blogs. Continue Reading »
As part of my consulting work as a career consultant and nonprofit business developer, I participate in board development, executive searches and leadership recruiting. While every organization is different, there are several traits that are always on the “must-have” list for leadership roles within any organization or company.
Whether you’re a seasoned nonprofit leader, corporate manager or a member of the rising next generation, the list of traits below may help you assess your own leadership style. It will give you a glimpse of your strengths, as well as identify areas that are challenging and could be an area for professional development. Continue Reading »
In a highly technological age where sharing too much of one’s life activities is the norm, we shouldn’t forget that being transparent may be a GREAT thing. With the birth of Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, came the need to not only know what our friends were doing but where they were doing whatever was on their mind. Thank you, Facebook!!! We ALL have those friends who tell a bit too much, too often and too many details…but hey—we can choose to follow or not. Geotagging or geo-location has become the “thing” for social networking gurus and enthusiasts, and there are many applications to choose from.
Two of the most popular applications are FourSquare and another widely used app—Gowalla. There are more and more applications being built for specific target markets and purposes—so keep your eyes open for them. If you are new to the geo-location world like I am, go for it and have fun!!! Here’s a simple definition I like to use when explaining to others just what geotagging is: Geolocation (geotagging): is the practice of associating a digital resource with a physical location. Still don’t get it? Let’s say I went to Community Food & Juice for brunch, as I often do; while there, I can ”check in” at the location to let my friends/followers/fans know that I am there for brunch. If I really want to share my location, I have the option of sharing my coordinates. A lot of information over-kill, privacy issues, etc. right? It doesn’t have to be, geotagging can be useful if you use it properly. Continue Reading »
There are now nearly 200 million blogs on the Internet, however, most nonprofits do not enter the blogosphere because they either do not have the human resources to dedicate to a blog and/or are not convinced at all that anyone will even read or care if they have a blog. Similarly, most nonprofits also don’t consider blogging because they think they need to blog everyday and it is too time consuming, or they have no idea what to blog about. Well… you only really need to blog about once a week, minimum—you can ALWAYS blog more often, but remember to be consistent because people will expect it; so start off slowly.
Within a few months many nonprofits see the benefits of blogging and realize that it can be a vital part of their online communications, recruitment and fundraising strategies. The positive results from blogging can be HUGE due to an increase of webinar registrations, new donors, new members, purchasing of event tickets and/or donations that result from their E-blast Announcements, E-Newsletters, and blogging have increased the number of daily hits and subscribers (which usually take years to build) to hundreds or thousands per month depending on the size of the nonprofit organization!!! It is GREAT to create and increase your E-Newsletter following, but then you MUST be able to have additional content and activities for them to get more involved with your organization. Continue Reading »
Social media is one of the most talked about topics in the personal and professional lives of most Americans, if not the world. It’s the new normal for communication and brand engagement. While it may seem like everyone and every company is doing it, nonprofits are still lagging in social media movement, partly because, they do not know how and why it is important to their overall brand.
In a previous blog, I shared tips for using social media in the nonprofit sector, however, there are some things that work and some that don’t in regards to using social media to engage your target audience. Below are some dos and don’ts when utilizing social media in the nonprofit sector. Continue Reading »
Gone are the days of typewriters, snail mail, landlines and fax machines. Those days have been replaced with iPads, PDAs, text messaging in the workplace and especially relevant to nonprofits today—social media.
Social media allows users to share information instantly with practically anyone in an online platform. While most websites and media outlets provide a one-way communication, social media provides an interactive experience for users. It allows for users to create informational content, provide motivational postings, comment on others’ thoughts and photos, and even communicate and pry into the private lives of strangers. The forms of social media are vast, ranging from blogging, posting videos, networking and providing information for various search engine sites. Continue Reading »
In a nonprofit organization, the mission, not the profit is the driving force behind the organization. Many of the smaller nonprofit organizations usually also have a founder’s leadership and vision to keep in mind, fiscal constraints and fewer opportunities for career advancement simply due to their size. To many these conditions may be perceived as a negative, but this is what makes nonprofits excellent training grounds for millennials, women and/or sector switchers who want to add some skills to their career toolbox, or advance to a leadership role.
