Some advice for young non-profit workers

I just finished reading an article on the Chronicle of Philanthropy entitle “Young Workers Seek Ways to Improve Nonprofit Work Force“. I thought it was a great article for young people like myself who are interested in a non-profit career but are afraid I won’t be able to make ends meet if I get a non-profit job due to low salaries, especially for people just starting out.

The article talked about how in a survey showed that most young professionals interested in non-profit are also afraid of the low wages and feel that things to to change so that non-profit organizations are more competitive with for profit companies. The article said that in reality, if you are comparing the salaries of non-profit organizations with those of companies of similar size, there is not a huge difference. It also suggested that non-profits need to make up the salary gap in other ways such as with professional-development opportunities that many young professionals are looking for.

I also thought it was interesting that the article had a quote from Robert Eggar in it, when we had just talked about him in class not very long ago. In the article, Eggar says:

“You all have completely got to redesign charity in America, 100 percent, top to bottom,” he said, adding, “There’s no big pot of money out there that’s going to allow you all to get paid a good wage unless you go out and develop it. What I see in your generation is a desire to see your spirituality, your income, and your lifestyle mesh. It doesn’t exist yet, and I think a lot of people come to the nonprofit sector thinking, I’ll find it there, and can be a little discouraged.”

I like this quote because we always talk about what is wrong with the non-profit sector in class, and what needs to change. Eggar says that everyone knows there needs to be changes, and the young generation has to be the one to start these changes. We have to be the ones to change non-profits so they meet the standards we want and these organizations can be even more successful.

K-State Proud

I’m a little disappointed with the K-State Proud campaign this year. Don’t misunderstand me, I think it’s a great idea. I’ve donated both years and I think that t-shirts really entice students to donate. I also think it’s a great idea that it’s students helping students. Overall, it’s a great campaign and helps a lot of students in need.

However, this year I don’t think it was a good idea to put those huge banners all over campus. They could have told us how great the campaign did by putting it in the collegian or maybe putting posters all over campus. Instead, they put HUGE banners on several buildings on campus. In the last two weeks I’ve noticed a few more as I’ve been on campus. While this is a great idea for letting us know how well the campaign did, I don’t agree with it. I know those banners couldn’t have been cheap and I don’t think that it was a good idea to spend the money on them. I don’t think that getting the message out that way is the best route. Even if the banners were donated I think the money from those donations should have gone towards the cause instead of advertising how well the campaign did. I know I’m not the only one who thinks this because last week I saw a message in the fourum asking how much the banners cost the campaign. Obviously, at least one other student thinks the banners were a waste of funds. I know that when I saw them my first thought was how much money it took from the scholarships for students. I know the campaign is new and getting the message out is important but I don’t think this helped the campaign for those people who are wondering where the money went to. The banners say where the money went but they don’t say how much was spent on advertising and things like that. Now I’m wondering how much money was really raised and where ALL of it went?

Nonprofits in a recession

I wanted to post commenting on Rebecca’s presentation in class today about recessionary economy and nonprofits. I thought that some of the ideas she mentioned about how to keep people donating even when the price of gas is $4.00 were great to think about. It has been on my mind a lot as well, knowing that our economy is facing hard times in the U.S., and whether I will be able to find a job in the nonprofit sector in the years to come. If nobody has any interest or extra money to donate to nonprofit groups, then how would I be able to have a job?

Listening to Rebecca’s presentation made me feel a little bit better about the outlook of nonprofits in the years to come. It makes sense that in a recession nonprofits will need more donations and more volunteers than ever because more people will be in poverty and need assistance. I think if we can tap the people who aren’t hurting as much, and get them to give back even more then it will balance things out. Also, I agree with trying to show how even though everyone is hurting financially, some people are hurting much more so everyone should help out.

Google Charity Services

According the Association of Fundraising Professionals website, Google is now offering an online service called Google for Nonprofits, which will give charities guidance on  different resources Google has to offer. Instructional videos, and how-to information will be given on each of the resources, and all of them will be free of charge. The following are resources that Google will offer to various nonprofits:

• The Gmail email system
• An online donation collection and processing program
• A system for sharing and editing documents online
• An analytics program to determine how often people go to your website and how they use the information that it provides
• An online grant search engine
• A dynamic, interactive maps program to visually illustrate the work of a charity
• Blogging software

I think it’s really great that Google has combined all of these services in order to better serve their nonprofit audiences. They are effectively making their product more personable to their audiences, which is beneficial for the company and its consumers.

AFP Conference

Two weeks ago I had the great honor of representing the Kansas State University American Humanics Program at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Conference – and it was amazing.

Through the conference I attended educational workshops about various fundraising techniques, practices, and opportunities.  From how to ask for a raise to how to create a case study, the conference covered everything.  The plenary speakers were great, too.  I saw Kevin Carrol, Jane Goodall, and Sir Bob Geldof – the creator of Live Aid.

But back to the education series: case studies.  Coincidentally, I was gone during my group presentation of our classroom case studies because I was at the conference, but while at the conference I attended a workshop of an hour-and-a-half all about case studies and how to make them. My final analysis?  Mine was terrible.  Our group did a great job for a first-try at creating the document, but after the workshop I now see where my fault lies.  The best advice the presenter gave was to use journalism skills when creating a case study and give it a magazine feel.  Why didn’t I think of this?  My final advice: in the future, fellow philanthropy students and readers, don’t forget all of our public relations skills!  I have a tendency to separate my classes and start fresh each semester, but this approach failed me on this assignment and I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that through many classes we have honed our design skills and should not take them for granted or leave them behind.

E-mail Campaign

I thought I’d add to my presentation by giving part 3 of 6 from the echoinggreen.org/blog/putting-the-fun-back-in-fundraising about E-mail campaigns.  I didn’t really like the idea of sending e-mails and asking for money but this blog gives some good advice to fundraisers about e-mail campaigns.  Here are a few highlights:

It’s also a way to build relationships

It suggests using something in the news to create the subject of the e-mail.  That way readers know that the e-mail and subject are also current.

It emphasizes keeping a privacy a priority.  Everyone is concerned about their privacy and if you guarantee privacy your potential donors then they’re more likely to have confidence in your organization.

The blog gives great suggestions for when to send the e-mails as well.  It recommends times when people are more likely to check their e-mails.

I think the most important part is the last point in the blog: don’t ask for money in the first e-mail! “ You wouldn’t ask for money the first time you met someone, and you shouldn’t in the first time you email someone either.”  I agree with this and I think that non-profits should follow this suggestion as well.  I also believe it ruins the relationship you’re trying to build when all you do is ask for money.  That’s not a very good relationship if all you want is money.  You should build the relationship and build in trust and confidence before you start asking for money

Web Savvy Nonprofits

I think it is interesting how much of our class discussion and current event presentations have seemed to revolve around new technologies and fund raising and networking through the internet. It seems to me that the web is now one of the most important means of communication for any organization. An organization’s website has now become the “face” of the organization in many ways, and for many people it is the first impression that they get when learning about a non-profit. And we all know first impressions are often the only impressions we get to make.

I was reading an article called “Five Step Strategy to Market Your Nonprofit Online“, and I think it had some good tips about how any nonprofit, no matter how small, can start using the web for the good of their organization. Little things, like jazzing up the organization website, building email lists, trying out social media, and creating an e-newsletter can go a long way to making a more net-friendly organization.

I know it seems like everyone is on the web these days, but there are still masses of people who don’t know how create or update things on the web. I’m doing an internship this summer for a local non-profit in my hometown and the people who I talked to were ecstatic that I knew a few things about building a website and how to use HTML and  they proposed I do an entire overhaul of their website because the person who started working on it was no longer there, and nobody else knew anything about updating it. I think with a little bit of training, and a few new ideas, any nonprofit can keep up with the times and become more web savvy.

Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges

I just read the article that Harvey posted about the Milwaukee based nonprofit helping at-risk teenagers go to college. I thought it was very interesting to read about all the great things they are doing for young people, and to read how it was made possible from a business standpoint. It seems like there are so many great ideas out there to help kids who would not be able to attend college without help, but many of them fail because it costs a lot of money to put a kid through college, and many slip through the cracks.

I think it is good that the organization set some specific goals for what they wanted to accomplish. Then, they hired some people who really cared, and knew what they were doing (a winning combination) to make their vision a reality. I think that in order for a nonprofit to really be successful, you not only have to have a passion for what you are doing, but you also have to have the business skills to raise the funds and compete with all the other nonprofits and for profits out there. It seems like this organization has both of these aspects, and is doing a lot of good because of it.

http://www.idealist.org/en/career/guide/index.html

The above site has a complete career guide to the nonprofit sector. It’s really great!

RSVP, an invitation to serve

I may be jumping ahead of myself a little bit since this topic will relate to a class project not due for weeks, but I felt inspired yesterday and wanted to share with everyone.

A classmate and I visited RSVP of the Flint Hills yesterday to discuss an upcoming project and I learned much more about RSVP and the great things they are doing in our community. A little background: RSVP is a volunteer program for people 55 years and older. The executive director shared with me that their biggest challenge is raising adequate funds for their programs because so many people are focused only on youth-oriented giving. The group would like to expand to other counties, but just doesn’t have the funding to do so yet.

I found this very interesting because I never gave this much thought before speaking with her; the idea that our society values youth the most. Donating to children’s causes is of course critial for our future and our society, but it surprises me that we would leave the older age groups behind. Perhaps things will change as the baby-boomer generation grows older, and generation Y moves into the professional workplace, but I am concerned with the immediate consequences. It takes volunteers of all ages to sustain a community, and it deeply saddens me that we cannot provide the funding to have more volunteers in the Flint Hills.

What does everyone else think of this topic?