Do you feel like this sometimes?
I had worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 5 years before I ever heard the term “nonprofit professional” to describe what I, and millions of others, do for a living. In fact, the first time I heard it was during a class at the U.S. Chamber Institute for Organizational Management that was designed to teach people in the nonprofit sector to promote their value to others. (I’ll talk about what an awesome program Institute is for nonprofit professionals in a future blog.) 5 years is a long time to be working in a career and not have heard any of your collegaues actually describe your career as a profession.
My message to all working in the nonprofit sector is to promote your unique value as a nonprofit professional to everyone you can find and do it with vigor.
I know you have all been in a conversation with friends or family and had to spend five minutes or more explaining to them exactly what you do and what “nonprofit” truly means. If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me how I could get a salary and still work for an organization that has no profit, I would be a rich man. However, this is time well spent and more of us need to do it more often.
We nonprofit professionals shortchange ourselves when we don’t talk about our profession – because that is exactly what it is, a PROFESSION. Working for nonprofits takes a certain skill set and we are faced with the same issues as our for-profit peers, in some cases we have even more constraints and issues to deal with than they do.Yet, the nopnrofit sector and in turn our very professoin is often maligned by the for-profit world as not difficult or so different as to make our skill set nontransferable to the for-profit sector.
Just the other day some colleagues and I were discussing how unfair it is that the for-profit sector looks down on us nonprofit professionals. This should not be the case at all and in many ways I believe we nonprofit professionals have much to teach the for-profit world, especially with regard to fiscal responsibility, managing multiple tasks, delivering on promises, customer service, staying on mission, and working as a team, to name but a few.
In short, I ask that everyone working in the nonprofit field start referring to themselves as nonprofit professionals and extolling the unique and difficult skill set that is necessary to succeed in our sector. All other professions promote themselves and we should be no different. The more people who do this, the more credibility we will all gain as professionals and the more respect the nonprofit sector will get. If enough of us do this hopefully we will one day not only be looked at with admiration by the for-profit sector but also as a sought-after profession.
What are your thoughts on the nonprofit profession? Have you ever experienced bias because you choose to work for a nonprofit? Any suggestions to share on how we can all work together to raise the status of the nonprofit profession?
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | nonprofit, nonprofit advice, nonprofit professional, nonprofits, not-for-profit, organization, promote nonprofit career, promote your value, respect
“Have you ever experienced bias because you choose to work for a nonprofit?” — All the time. I went to a business school which, at the time, social entrepreneurship was merely scratching the surface. If social e’ship was never heard of by the students – and many of them did not care to find out – you can imagine the angst I felt while trying to explain to others why I’ve been involved with nonprofits since my teen years.
I’ve gained most of my experience working with nonprofits both as a volunteer and a professional. It’s quite frustrating to be questioned – as if I didn’t put enough thought into it in the first place – about what I do for a living and why. The questions never seemed to end and were often repeated, “why do you want to work with a nonprofit? You won’t make any money.”
After a while I just stopped trying to explain myself until I realized that I am way too articulate, stubborn and proud of my profession to let them talk down what I do for a living. Yes, I want to make money and live a very, very comfortable lifestyle but, more than anything, I want to change the world. I want my work to mean something, to make a difference in someone’s life. I DO NOT want to run a corporation that pushes products on people that they really don’t need.
Please note: I have no problem with for-profit businesses. In fact, I would like to own a few someday. But they will be social businesses. Businesses with a mission, driven primarily to help others or address a social issue such as poverty and adult literacy – I’ve started working towards fulfilling my dream in that arena through a startup nonprofit called the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project.
“Any suggestions to share on how we can all work together to raise the status of the nonprofit profession?” — Keep reiterating to your colleagues why the work we do is CRITICAL to the success of for-profits, our country and the world.
For example, company A wants to sell X product in a low-income neighborhood. Here comes ABC nonprofit that works with these low-income families to help them gain the necessary skills and education they need to become educated, competent employees. With these new found skills the adults of those families can find suitable employment to make a better life for their families. They now have more money to afford X product while also putting funds away for a rainy day, college costs for younger children, etc.
When nonprofits do better, businesses can do better. We are all in this together!
Great post, TJ. I’m looking forward to reading more on your blog.
Best,
Chanelle
http://twitter.com/chanellecarver
Thanks for your comments Chanelle. You make some really good points. I especially like your thoughts about how we are all in this together. Success of nonprofits can truly lead to greater success in for-profits. Glad you are out there trumpeting our value too. Look forward to future conversations. T.J.
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