Are You the Best Investment?

From your employer’s point-of-view, are you the best investment for your organization in the slot you fill? That’s a tough question. It can send shivers down your spine.

So now that you’re concerned, let me throw another at you: can you quantify it? If you factor your salary into the special event or your cost per hour into the grant proposal, is there still a profit? At the end of the year, does the program make at least double your expenses plus your salary?

You might be thinking “Matt, my job isn’t designed to make money”. That could be true – directly. For example, you could be a prospect researcher or a gifts processor. But very few jobs in this world – especially in the fundraising world – don’t support the core enterprise, which usually is connected somehow to the “bottom line”. How your job makes an impact, then showing its impact, can be a lot tougher to figure out. But doing so will boost your confidence and maybe even your salary at review time!