Want to See if Consulting is for You? Volunteer.
If you’ve been in the nonprofit arena for any length of time, or worked with a new nonprofit organization, you’ve come across the problem of a start-up NPO needing advice and counsel in fundraising, with no money to pay for that advice. It’s a frustrating situation, especially when the organization’s leadership learns that most professional fundraising associations consider it unethical to accept commissions — which to the uninitiated seems like the easiest way out of the situation.
Is this a career opportunity? Could be.
Volunteering consulting services can be a great way for you to explore the realm of fundraising consulting and build a track record for the time when (or if) you’re ready to “take the leap.” But volunteering your services doesn’t mean that you take the job any less seriously than you would a paid job. In fact, if this is your first foray into the realm, you need to take it MORE seriously. This is your opportunity to prove yourself and taste the joys and frustrations of providing fundraising advice to people who might (or might not) appreciate it (but wait — maybe that’s just like your regular job?!) The difference is that you get to learn as much as you give, and you help an emerging NPO get on its feet with some quality advice — not just the common assumptions of what the founder or board hear from well intended friends. Plus, as the “outside expert” you gain self-confidence and prestige — which is always a fine career move.
The Ghost of Career Future: Charity and Career Choices
Part three in the three part series looking at Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” If you missed parts one and two, see them here.
Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is about many things — miserliness, transformation, redemption, and more. But it should warm the hearts of fundraisers everywhere that at the root of the story is philanthropy. It started with a career decision in his past. The present was revealed in Scrooge’s approach to charity during a solicitation by his fellow merchants for a gift to aid the poor. It ended with Scrooge’s transformation and his personal philanthropy to his family, friends, and community. All of our solicitations should end so well!
In fundraising terms, the ghosts did some excellent cultivation — a real team. The Ghost of Christmas Past showed how the problem started. The Ghost of Christmas Present showed how the problem is manifest today. The Ghost of Christmas Future showed how the problem would continue were there no action taken. Scrooge reacted as we all would hope our donors would. Rather than waiting to be asked, he needed to know, “How can I change these events?” He was willing to change the future with his charity.
So in this holiday season, ask yourself the career question “How can I change these events?” As Scrooge found out, the past is the past, and the present is what it is — but the future does not have to be what it looks like based on the present course of activity.
What does your career future look like given its present course? Do you let the past determine the present? Can you change the present so that the future is better for you and the mission you now serve — or will serve — ahead? In these times of economic uncertainty, our attitude does not have to be grim. Wake up, buy a turkey for someone, and make your career a joy so that at the end, you’ll hear those who benefited from your good works say, “God bless us, each and every one.”
Happy Holidays … Matt
Coming soon! FundraisingTalent on Demand!
FundraisingTalent on Demand! brings you essential information on writing for fundraising — free to your e-mailbox. FundraisingTalent on Demand! is a sequence of four to five articles that you receive every two weeks:
- Giving you new information that you need to put to work right away;
- Reminding you of what you already knew but forgot to do; or
- Affirming the good practices you already have in place.
Click here to subscribe to the first series on Writing due out after January 1, 2010. You can opt out at any time. If you already get Career Action Steps, email me, and I’ll add your name to the FundraisingTalent On Demand! mailing list.
The Ghost of Career Present: The Solicitation of Scrooge
Part two in the three part series looking at Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” If you missed part one, see it at here.
Before he was visited by the various ghosts of Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge was solicited for a charitable gift. It was a litmus test, and an example to the reader that here was a stingy man. He interrogated his solicitors, demanding “Are there not still workhouses?” Scrooge knew the answer, but he was making a point — he took no interest in the solicitors’ mission.
What can you, as a manager of your career, learn from the solicitation of Ebenezer Scrooge?
The solicitors didn’t do their research. Yes, they knew that the firm of Scrooge and Marley had capacity (although they did not know that Marley had been dead for seven years), and they gained access easily enough, but they had no idea that Scrooge’s interest was non-existent. The solicitors thought that their case was obvious. They did not expect objections and therefore were not prepared to answer them to Scrooge’s satisfaction.
What’s the career lesson? Whether it’s a solicitation or job inquiry, do your research. Yes, the prospect or business may have the capacity to give a gift or hire you. Maybe you have access through your network or, as Scrooge’s solicitors did, simply gain entree through a well meaning employee, but if there’s no interest in what you have to offer — and you can’t anticipate and answer the prospect’s questions from his or her point of view — then there’s no gift — or job — for your mission.
Don’t let your career be a “humbug.” Do your research!
Next week? You guessed it: The Ghost of Career Future.
Coming soon! FundraisingTalent on Demand!
FundraisingTalent on Demand! brings you essential information on writing for fundraising — free to your e-mailbox. FundraisingTalent on Demand! is a sequence of four to five articles that you receive every two weeks:
- Giving you new information that you need to put to work right away;
- Reminding you of what you already knew but forgot to do; or
- Affirming the good practices you already have in place.
Click here to subscribe to the first series on Writing due out after January 1, 2010. You can opt out at any time. If you already get Career Action Steps, email me, and I’ll add your name to the FundraisingTalent On Demand! mailing list.
Soliciting Ebenezer Scrooge: a Lesson in Three Ghosts.
I’m sure that you know the story. Ebenezer Scrooge was not a happy soul. He let everyone know through his actions and attitude that he did not lead a balanced life.
But as a fundraiser interested in your career, you can take solace in the fact that at the core of “A Christmas Carol” are two concepts: charity and careers.
The next three weeks — a look at Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” through a nonprofit career lens …
The Ghost of Career Past
Ebenezer Scrooge started his career as many did then — and many do now — as an apprentice. We may not call it that today, but entry level jobs in many industries, or internships in college or soon after, stem from the times when people apprenticed into their career. Maybe you apprenticed into development work through volunteering or taking on a special assignment at work.
Scrooge had a mentor — Fezziwig. Fezziwig was his boss, his guide, and the father of the love of his life. Not a bad deal.
Yet Scrooge made a career choice — love or money — which became his unraveling. He decided that he needed to devote time to his career — his personal mission — at the expense of his personal relationships. This decision haunted him — literally — almost to the end of his life.
Dickens makes the career lesson plain: don’t trade love for money. As an ambitious, driven young man, it was impossible for Scrooge to see how this decision would impact his life. He thought he made it for all the best reasons.
The best nonprofit work is mission driven, whether it’s saving trees, feeding children, or rescuing cats. Scrooge was tirelessly dedicated to his mission: a trait that could have taken him far in fundraising. But Scrooge took a short term attitude for the long term of his life. He was driven to accomplish his mission, incessantly.
Our career lesson? Balance. Yes, being mission driven is essential. But never at expense of your physical health and emotional well being. Scrooge kept it up for more than 50 years. It left him cold and bitter. He gained all he needed but possessed nothing. Humbug.
Next week? Christmas Present.
Coming soon! FundraisingTalent on Demand!
FundraisingTalent on Demand! brings you essential information on writing for fundraising — free to your e-mailbox. FundraisingTalent on Demand! is a sequence of four to five articles that you receive every two weeks:
- Giving you new information that you need to put to work right away;
- Reminding you of what you already knew but forgot to do; or
- Affirming the good practices you already have in place.
Click here to subscribe to the first series on Writing due out after January 1, 2010. You can opt out at any time. If you already get Career Action Steps, email me, and I’ll add your name to the FundraisingTalent On Demand! mailing list.
What Can We Learn From Business?
Okay, I’m going to reveal one of my (many) biases. I get annoyed when someone from the business community starts spouting off about how “you people in nonprofits” need to start “acting like you’re running a business.” I should hope not! Inflated management salaries, workplace abuse, the stifling of creativity — sorry, that’s not for me. But I confess, I’m probably as wrong about them as they are about a nonprofit’s loose financial controls, lack of focus, and their inflated management salaries. There’s a lot that each can learn from the other.
One book that I have re-read and am definitely sure can help any fundraising office is Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited.” It’s about how to run a successful business, but Gerber’s concepts can be easily applied to show how any nonprofit, or career for that matter, can be just as successful as a high profit, for-profit concern.
Among the many themes that apply, the one that always sticks out is “work on your business, not in your business.” That means to set up systems so that your business (your career) works on its own, allowing you to continually make improvements on processes, rather than getting frustrated with daily tasks. For your career maybe that’s making sure that you’re a regular attendee at AFP events. It could be that you plan an annual, personal retreat to step back and review your career (and personal) goals. It might be that you schedule time in your week to review the Chronicle of Philanthropy so that you’re up on the latest fundraising and nonprofit news.
There’s plenty that can go on your list, but these need to be automatic, so that you don’t need to think to apply them. So yes, there IS something we can learn from the business world!
Now, about that salary …
