Nonprofit Newbies: Advice for Those Entering the Social Sector

I am going to be chatting with members of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (NLA) next week, and it got me to thinking about young people entering the nonprofit sector.

While some college grads will immediately jump into starting their own nonprofit, many will start out as entry level employees. And while there’s plenty of information out there for founders and executives, there isn’t a lot for entry-level staff. As a Certified Nonprofit Professional through NLA and someone who has worked in this industry for about a decade, I want to share some things that I wish someone had shared with me when I first started out.

1. Use your time in nonprofit to learn

You probably won’t get paid much, so make sure you add value to your time by learning everything you can. You can do this in several ways:

Take on more responsibility
Nonprofits are often understaffed and under-resourced, which means they can use all the help they can get. Volunteer to take on projects and be proactive in solving problems. People who work in big corporations often have very narrow job responsibilities, but you will have the opportunity to learn a lot about different roles.

When I worked as an Executive Assistant, less than half of my time was spent assisting. I took on things like event management, program development, grantwriting, and marketing. This ultimately made it very easy for me to move up in the organization and explore different functions until I landed on what I liked to do most.

Network
Don’t forget to get out of the office as well. Saying “I work at a nonprofit” is almost as good as saying “I’m a student” when trying to get in front of someone. Use your status as a “do-gooder” to get meetings with people you might normally be afraid to reach out to. This might be funders, or executives, or anyone who is doing something of interest to you. Most will do what they can to help you.

And while you’re learning and networking, don’t focus solely on learning about all things nonprofit. The working world is global and interconnected. Reach out to for-profits and government officials or anyone who is doing interesting work.

Ask for professional development
There is usually a very small budget for this, and it often goes to the higher ups, but ask anyway. There are a lot of inexpensive ways to learn things, from online options to having a volunteer come in to speak. You might get turned down, but ask anyway.

2. You’re in all departments

In my book, Start Your Engines: Nonprofit Management Made Simple, I compare the nonprofit organization to a car. All four tires (Administration, Governance, Development, and Programs) need to be properly inflated and balanced to get from A to B efficiently and effectively.

All staff are responsible for this balance. Often you’ll hear employees (of any type of organization) say something along the lines of “That’s not my job.” And while that may be true in some cases, this is not a good mindset to have. You should have at least a few responsibilities within each function of an organization. Your title means you will spend the majority of your time doing one thing, but a portion of your time should be spent in collaboration with other departments.

In my book, I lay out a structure for nonprofits to consider when creating job descriptions that emphasizes the need for each employee to be at least partially involved in all functions. A sample looks like this:

Your organization is unlikely to be crafting job descriptions like this currently, which means that you should do the legwork for them. Take the time to think through and write down what work you do for each function.

This will not only help the organization, but will also give you the opportunity to grow (most senior level staff are thinking holistically like this), learn (see #1!!), and increase job satisfaction.

3. Find a peer group

Create a community of people that you can talk to about work issues and ideas. This should be a group that you feel comfortable with, can learn from, and is diverse, but shares commonalities like age or place in life.

This is important for a lot of reasons:

• Nonprofit work (any work really) can be tough, especially if you are brand new to the working life. It’s good to have people that you can ask for advice or help.
• You might find that you are one of a kind at your organization – the youngest, the only person of color, the only guy, etc. And sometimes that makes it hard to speak up. Having a core group will give you a sounding board and a place to gain confidence.
• Sometimes it is hard to innovate within an organization. Traditional nonprofit structures need some tweaking, and you may find that the boss wants no part of progressive ideas. Gather with the curious and passionate to discuss how we might improve the sector and get different perspectives.
• Speaking of different perspectives, collaborating only within your organization can lead to narrow thinking. Seek out people you can learn from.

I found great camaraderie in my cohort from grad school. We still get together often. You might find a local NLA or Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) chapter. There are also online groups like Vu Le’s Nonprofit Happy Hour.

4. Speak up

The nonprofit sector needs your help. It is slow, underfunded, and often resistant to change. We need your innovations and your voice to evolve, especially in these areas:

Technology. While not everyone just entering the nonprofit sector is young, most of you are. Which makes you digital natives and more likely to be hip to new programs that can help organizations run more efficiently. I once had a colleague who didn’t know how to save a Word file. And another that needed a written, point-by-point checklist to understand how to check her email online. There’s a very real need for your knowledge and understanding of technology.

New models. I feel like every time I go to a conference there’s some Boomer asking about how they can get Millennials to give. And then the conversation always goes in some tone deaf direction about Millennials who have a bunch of money because they are in the tech sector. But the entire model of giving and the way we do business is shifting right under their noses. We’ve got crowdfunding and B Corps and companies like TOMs that are taking attention, dollars, and goodwill away from nonprofit funding efforts. Many of you will end up starting your own nonprofit or serving as an Executive Director, and our sector needs you to pay attention to these trends. I want to do a shout out here to my friend Matt Manos who has mapped models and revenue streams to create Models of Impact. Check it out and consider becoming a Global Ambassador. You do not need to be a 501(c)(3) organization to do good work.

Leadership. One of the most important things you can do is be loud. Add your voice to the mix. The nonprofit thought leadership space is not crowded, nor are there clear influencers who dominate. We need you to speak up about what works, what doesn’t, and to share your experience in the sector.

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Chat with me.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of things new nonprofit professionals should do. But it’s an important conversation to start. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these, your additions, your disagreements, and more.

I’ll be doing a live Twitter chat with the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance on Friday, September 16 at 11:00 am PST. Join us using #AllianceHour and follow us @NPL_Alliance and @RachelBinLA.

We’ll be talking about my new book and other for-purpose stuff. I hope to see you there.