Tag: employment

Helpful ideas for a nonprofit job search

Written by Dan Hanley on . Posted in Development, Fundraising, Nonprofit News.

As a nonprofit fundraising consultant, I’ve been fortunate to meet many nonprofit fundraising professionals who are in the midst of a job search.

Each of them have personal reasons for wanting to leave their current position, and there are many common denominators linked to their nonprofits. That’s for another post!

At Altrui, we have had clients ask us to support their efforts in finding a new member of their fundraising team. After being a part of many searches, there are ideas I’ve come up with that will help with your current job search.

First, there are always actions you can take before you begin your search. First is to completely rock at your current position. Nonprofit fundraisers who excel with their work, are trusted leaders, and make people feel positive create reputations that make a job search so much easier.

Another action you can take now is to strengthen your professional social media presence. For me this is LinkedIn and Twitter.

Also, unless you are in an awful situation at your current job (awful can mean all sorts of things), it’s typically best to search for a new job while currently employed.

Here are some ideas to assist you in your job search.

Resumes are still important. Typos still reflect badly on candidates. Also, long resumes become boring. Use your resume to highlight experiences that are helpful with the position you’re applying for. Keep it simple, clear, and direct. A resume should not create questions.

Bring in your personal and professional circles. Let everyone close to you know that you are in a job search and let them know what your perfect new position looks like.

Have three professional references ready. Don’t send them until requested.

Be fully prepared for an interview. I can’t express the importance of this enough. Know the nonprofit you’re applying with. Know their mission and their 990. Speak to the experiences required in the job description and your success in those areas. Don’t be afraid to ask questions when you are offered that opportunity. This is especially important if concerns come up during the interview.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to apply for a position that doesn’t exactly fit on paper. Passion with purpose and expereince go a long way. I have excitedly suggested a couple of candidates that were then offered the job even though on paper it did not seem like a perfect match.

Thank you for reading! I wish you the best of luck!

Supporting our nonprofit community

Written by Dan Hanley on . Posted in Nonprofit News. Leave a Comment

I’ve already written a post about our upcoming Nonprofit Jobs Summit, and this one is part reminder and part “let’s strengthen our nonprofit community”.

In trying to be creative of what value we could bring to the nonprofit community while wanting to create a conversation on Clubhouse, Alex Simon and I landed on the Nonprofit Jobs Summit. At first the data that 7% of our nonprofit peers had lost their job in the last year was a big enough reason. Then we created our own poll which showed 80% of those we are connected with on LinkedIn actually know a nonprofit peer in a job search.

We also realized that in the last few months we’ve both seen an increase in nonprofits looking for staff, especially in the development/fundraising arena, which is our home.

Since we announced the summit and began promoting it, I’ve been surprised by all of the conversations and connections that have happened, some ongoing. Part of me feels like the summit has already been successful. I certainly have met many peers since we started talking about this, and have also learned of awesome nonprofits that are finding value in platforms that promote their open positions.

I’m also happy that Heather Campbell with ThinkingAhead Executive Search, Erika Pinheiro with Al Otro Lado and Vu Le with Nonprofit AF will be joining us to share about hiring, job descriptions, and the diversity of positions in the nonprofit world.

Now I find us in the week of the summit and I am ecstatic. We may have ten guests join, possibly 20. My hope is we make a few connections, evn if it’s on the level of connections I’ve made since planning this in which I know more peers and know of more nonprofits doing work I love.

If you’re interested n joining, here are a couple of actions you can take that would help us:

If you’re seeking a position and know you want to join us on the 10th, connect with me (@danhanley) or Alex (@dalexsimon) on Clubhouse. That way you can see the link at the bottom of our profiles for the summit. We’ll also be able to “ping” you upon starting the room as a reminder. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn where we’ll have updates and reminders all week.

If you’re looking to fill positions, we’d love to make sure we get you “on stage” so please let one of us know ahead of time. We’ll have a list.

Lastly, for everyone, please have your Clubhouse profile updated with links to Twitter and or Instagram. That’s makes connecting for everyone easier.

Nonprofit Jobs Summit

Thursday, June 10th

2:00pm EST/11am PST

Clubhouse, in The Nonprofit Club club.

Thank you! I hope to see you there!

Nonprofit Jobs Summit

Written by Dan Hanley on . Posted in Nonprofit News. Leave a Comment

Updated June 3, 2021.

This post is to let you know of an idea that has become the upcoming Nonprofit Jobs Summit on Clubhouse (In the “The Nonprofit Club” club), hosted by myself and Alex Simon. We decided to do this because we know many in our nonprofit world have lost their jobs and we want to connect as many people with nonprofits as possible. It’s a small action and hopefully with just promoting the event and then having people attend and connect, we may be able to help those in search of employment. That would be awesome!

The summit will be June 10th at 11am PST/2pm EST. It will go an hour and a half or so and consist of a few presenters about nonprofit hiring and then will be open for people looking for a nonprofit position and nonprofits wanting to promote open positions. Each person and nonprofit will have a minute or two to share what they’re looking for.

The presenters are Vu Le with Nonprofit AF, Heather Campbell with Thinking Ahead Executive Search and Erika Pinheiro with Al Otro Lado. They’ll share about experiences in hiring and what nonprofits and candidates can do to strengthen their chances of being chosen. Then we’ll invite people “up to the stage” (Clubhouse speak) to take a minute to say what they are looking for as far as a position or what type of positions they have open. After the event we’ll share contact information via a blog post here.

Those looking for a nonprofit job: Please have your Clubhouse profile updated with a way to connect, and a Twitter and/or Instagram link.

Nonprofits looking to hire: Connect with Alex or I before the event and we will make sure you have time to present your open position(s).

The nonprofit community is wonderful. I have always felt so supported here, and love being a part of it. This is a chance for us to build community and support those looking for work. I look forward to seeing you there.

Questions? Email me at dan@altrui.org We’ll be sharing a link on social media soon. Alex’s Twitter is @dalexsimon and mine is @fundraiserdan. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn.

Nonprofit careers

Written by Dan Hanley on . Posted in Nonprofit News. Leave a Comment

Several years ago I was talking with a friend who had just been laid off and the topic of nonprofit careers came up. Well, I brought it up. I basically told my friend that in the world of nonprofit careers, there is pretty much everything that exists in the for-profit world.

Huh? That was the reaction.

All of my time in the nonprofit world has been leading development teams. For those unfamiliar with that term, it means fundraising. So when I write about nonprofit careers, keep in mind that my personal experience comes from a small part of that world.

That being said, I have worked with people in all areas of nonprofits, whether they were in finance, engineering, program work, marketing, building managers, public relations, and the list goes on. Some had been in nonprofits forever, and some made the change from the for-profit world and realized this was where they belonged.

If you’re in the for profit world and are looking for a meaningful change or are in between jobs, I definitely recommend checking out positions in the nonprofit world. If you Google your area plus nonprofit jobs, you will most likely find a nonprofit organization that has a job board. An example is the Colorado Nonprofit Association’s job page which usually has a hundred or so open positions in all areas of the nonprofit world.

There are also plenty of nonprofit job opportunities on Indeed and Idealist.org.

The nonprofit world can be a wonderful experience for anyone, especially those who want do more to make the world a better place.

If you’re considering a move to the nonprofit world and have any questions, let me know! dan@altrui.org

Thanks for reading!

Tips for the fundraising professional’s job search

Written by Dan Hanley on . Posted in Uncategorized.

A quick personal note (which I try to stay away from on my fundraising blog): We moved here after years of wanting to be in southern California for the warmer climate, the culture, the food and of course to be able to surf more often!

Being a fundraising professional on a job search in a city where nobody has ever heard of you isn’t an easy task. Yet for some amazing reason I have had the chance to interview for some pretty incredible non-profits doing life-changing work in the Los Angeles area.

I wanted to pass along a few tips I do during the job process here. Some of these I realize are just :

Do not be in a hurry.

Get very comfortable with working with recruiting firms, especially ones who don’t necessarily show that much respect for fundraising professionals or non-profit professionals as a whole.

Focus on getting in front of those who would actually hire you. This means rocking it through the recruiters.

As with any job, write an eye-opening cover letter specific to the position. Remember that you want to get in front of the person who will actually decide to hire you.

Be early to your interview.

Study the budget before the interview. For fundraisers this is crucial.

Don’t promise the world. Focus on your past experiences and successes.

Dress for success.

Have a list of seven professional references that includes folks who you have reported to, who have reported to you, board members and professional contacts.

I think that’s a good start!

Thanks for reading!

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