Monthly Archives: February 2010

Reader Response: Inexpensive Professional Development Resources


Posted by ajlovesya

Welcome to the first edition of  Reader Response!  Do you have a question about developing a career in the nonprofit sector, navigating life in NYC, or working with social media?  Send me an email!  ajlovesya [at] gmail [dot] com. I might feature it here!

Today, I’d like to tackle a question I get regularly:

CPD Ladder What free or low cost resources can a young person interested in a nonprofit career tap into for professional development?

Understandably, as a nonprofit newbie, you’re focused not only on finding your passion but also on developing important skills to make you competitive and excellent employee.  Conferences can be expensive as can joining certain associations.  But there are many ways to grow in the sector without breaking the bank.

  • Young non-profit professionals groups: Many nonprofits have young professionals groups in order to get young adults more involved in the organization.  These groups are generally free or have very low fees and are an excellent option for professional development. Through these groups you can:  network with people in different fields and sectors who are committed to a cause; learn new and important skills like development and marketing through hands on work; give back to your community; add impressive work to your résumé.  Look at larger nonprofits for this kind of resource, like the Red Cross, or if you have an organization you love, consider reaching out and starting your own! I’ve written about this before.
  • Local colleges and universities: From conferences, to lectures, to fellowships, colleges and universities offer a variety of free or low cost activities aimed at connecting and developing local change makers.  Look at the event listings at a school near you, check out public service programs within the schools to see if they offer fellowship opportunities, and look at continuing education programs for low cost workshops and certificate programs.
  • Webinars: Many thought leaders share their expertise through social media.  Blogging is a popular medium but more and more people are offering webinars—web based workshops where you participate via webcam and phone.  These are great because you can watch from the comfort of your home and download for future watching.  Kivi Miller at Nonprofit Marketing Guide offers useful webinars regularly and Kim Klein at Grassroots Fundraising offers webinars on practical fundraising steps.  Also, look through Slide Share for uploaded presentations on a variety of topics.
  • Your job: Not just in terms of getting money for professional development (which is not always easy to come by) but in terms of taking on new responsibilities and challenges. I got into fundraising after hanging out with a friend who worked in the development office of my first job after college.  I learned her job, helped her with projects, and decided to pursue a full time position in fundraising.  Additionally, your job is a great place to put the new skills and resources you acquire into practice.
  • Blog: If you decide to blog for personal branding and career purposes, you’ll realize that you have to become a stronger writer, do a great deal of research, and engage others.  Additionally, managing your reputation is crucial skill regardless of whatever field you’re in, and the mastery of various social media tools and understanding of social media that come along with it wont hurt.  Michele Martin over at the Bamboo Project Blog, asked her readers to offer tips on blogging and they created an excellent guide to blogging.

What inexpensive resources have you all used for professional development?


News and Notes


Posted by ajlovesya

Sometimes my inbox is flooded with so many interesting opportunities, I figured I’d share!

New additions to my blog:

  • Reader Response: I get quite a few emails from readers with questions that range from how do I start a nonprofit to what kind of books should I read for my career?  I think those kinds of questions would benefit lots of people if I addressed them and solicited input from other readers.  So on Thursdays I will post a question I received, give my response, and hopefully others will chime in.  I hope this will be helpful!  If you have any questions you would like featured, please email me ajlovesya [at] gmail [dot] com.
  • Follow Friday: I’m also going to feature people, organizations, and articles I think people may find useful.  Again, if you have something you think should be featured, please send it my way.

Events:

  • It’s social media week!: From February 1st to February 5th, various events in six different cities—Sao Paulo, Toronto, San Franciso, New York City, London, Berlin—will focus on social media and how is being used across sectors to help people bring about change, grow business, and connect people.
  • The New York City Collaborative for Fairness and Equity in Philanthropy General Meeting: Tomorrow, Wednesday 2/3 1130am-2:00pm 330 Madison, 30th Floor.
    • CFEP—a group of nonprofits that work to give voice to Asian, Black, Latino and Native American communities in current discussions about the foundation sector—is having a general meeting to discuss it’s future work.  Participants will be broken up into three working groups to help make foundations more responsive to people of color.  To attend, email Jill Williams at jwilliams@affund.org or (212)687-6975.

Around the blogosphere:

  • New dating website for socially conscious New Yorkers: From the website: “GiveAndDate features a few, single New Yorkers every day and allows users to flirt with these featured volunteers once they have made a donation to one of GiveAndDate’s partnered charities.”  So even if you don’t make a love connection, you’ve still helped a charity and if you do meet someone, you know at the very least you both value social change.  Not a bad deal at all. (thanks idealist.org in NYC blog for the tip!)

Nonprofit News:

  • Support idealist.org: I posted about this yesterday, but idealist.org—an organization that provides many resources to nonprofits, nonprofit employees, and budding do-gooders–needs our help.  If you have used their services in the past 15 years, consider helping out.

Help Save Idealist.org


Posted by ajlovesya

I was floored when I read this tweet by Ami Dar, founder and executive director of idealist.org.  While we are all aware of the impact the weak economy is having on many nonprofits, some organizations seem invincible because of the sheer impact they have on the entire sector.  Idealist.org has become such integral part in how we create, share, and search for opportunities for social change that I couldn’t fathom it enduring the level of distress indicated above.

In fact, my growth in the nonprofit sector has been fueled by idealist.org.  Aside from finding my first job opportunity in NYC there, I’ve used idealist.org to find events for learning and networking and have volunteered with them.  From pushing myself to understand social media from an organizational perspective to grappling with the myriad of graduate school opportunities, idealist.org has been there every step of the way.

Of course, we take the things we rely on the most for granted, assuming they will always be there.  But now is the time to reflect on idealist.org’s role in strengthening the nonprofit sector and how we, in return, can help them.

Read this heartfelt letter from Ami. From there you can take action:

Donate: No matter how much, every amount counts.

Encourage others to donate by asking and sharing your story: A wonderful result of this is appeal is that people are sharing the role idealist.org has had in their nonprofit careers, in the sector as a whole, and are asking folks to help out:

Stop What You Are Doing Right Now and Donate to Idealist.org, Rosetta Thurman

Sexiness is Overrated, Elizabeth Clawson

How Much is Getting that Great Nonprofit Job Worth, by Kevin Gilnack

Feel free to share your experiences, ideas, and thoughts here.