Is the Nonprofit World for Everyone?

It seems that everywhere you look or listen these days the topic of our economy surfaces. As I am writing this blog post, Congress is debating one of the biggest spending packages ever conceived. I am not going to comment, but merely say I hope it does stimulate our economy here in the United States and reduce job loss. Here are a few details via the Wall Street Journal.

Over the last month, several people associated with me in various manners, ranging from friends to those connected via social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, have begun asking me about career opportunities in the nonprofit sector. My first question back is regarding their current involvement in the sector. Sometimes, I hear enthusiastic responses about the boards they serve on, or a neat volunteer experience or how their last donation made such a difference. More often than not, I see a blank stare coming back my way. I then explain that one of the key fulcrums of the sector is the concept of giving back via volunteering, serving on boards and committees or truly supporting financially a few causes you fervently believe in.

Part of my reason for asking stems back to those rip-roaring dot-com days of 1999 and 2000. If you recall our beloved nonprofit sector was flooded by groups who were going to revolutionize the giving process via new technology in some form or another. Most of those fast-track new entrants are now gone. Several of them secured millions of dollars in funding only to never find a way to break into the sector. I was personally invited to meet several of the CEO’s of those start-ups. I guess they thought partnering with a database company was the entrée they needed.

During those meetings my first two questions will not surprise any of you who have been reading my blog. First, I always asked how many of the new company’s employees had ever worked in the nonprofit world or were currently serving on a NPO board. Second, I asked to speak to the person in charge of Customer Support. I am going to share the story of one of these meetings in heart of Silicon Valley where I asked those two questions.

The company had more than 100 employees at the time and not a single one had ever worked at an NPO or currently served on a board. I asked the CEO if anyone there had any concept of how decisions were made at NPO’s or what was important to most NPO’s. He said, "That would not be a problem." I smiled and said, "It is going to be more of a problem then you could imagine!"

When I asked to meet the head of customer support the blank stare told me everything I needed to know without a word being spoken. The CEO went on to explain just how difficult the first few beta site installations were going. I declined any sort of referral or partnership agreement. I was truly sad for the 100 plus employees when the company ceased operations less than year later.

By the way, feel free to ask me those two questions anytime...

While I was pondering this question of people migrating from the for-profit world to the not-for-profit world, my appetite for reading brought me to an interesting article in the latest issue of Fast Company Magazine. Please take a moment to peruse the thoughts of the author Nancy Lublin as she explores the perils of job seekers from outside the sector thinking they can easily jump into the nonprofit sector.

Whether you agree or not, the article does raise several good points. The skill sets I see every single day pertaining to leaders in the sector are often unique and certainly different in many ways from my banker, attorney, insurance salesman, auto mechanic and CPA. To enable action via volunteers requires talents ranging from fortitude to infectious enthusiasm to thoughtful caring and just about everything in between. Too often I believe NPO boards take such top-notch character traits for granted. (I will explore that further in my next post as I outline the hiring process currently being embarked upon by one NPO on whose board I serve. Perhaps the somewhat unique process we have chosen to use will be helpful to others.)

Random Act of Kindness

This story actually involved me in a small manner. After picking up a few items in the food section of a nearby Wal-Mart, I was standing in line to check out. One checkout line over, a mother with three children was doing the same with an entire shopping cart of food items. I noticed that the clerk was getting frustrated with the lady because she was trying to have a few items removed in order to have enough money to cover the cost. After several exchanges the mother started crying and explained that she had lost her job and was having trouble making ends meet. She was still about $19 short when a lady in line behind offered to toss in a couple of dollars. This started a chain reaction with several others including myself. We easily reached the amount needed. Although she was reluctant to take the funds the mother did say how thankful she was for the help. I guess it was the northeast side of Indy version of a "stimulus" package...