Misconceptions about working in the nonprofit sector (Part I)

I’ve been fortunate enough to have spent almost 10 years in an industry where I embraced my passion for working with others to build stronger communities. The nonprofit world has challenged me to grow more thoughtful in co-designing solutions to socioeconomic problems that honor the needs of a given community and its stakeholders. I want to use this first post to share some misconceptions that I held and later shed the more I immersed myself in the culture. 

Misconception #1: Any amount of effort you give is appreciated and helpful.

If you were going to hire someone and this person shared their preference for giving “any amount of effort” on the job, would you hire them? Any amount of effort doesn’t always result in giving your best effort. This idea that nonprofits should be grateful for any help they can get almost negates the standards for excellence that this sector deserves. Organizations aren’t great because of employees or volunteers who exert “any amount of effort”. Great organizations are built because of targeted efforts and a consistent commitment to embracing and learning from failures and achieving excellence.

Key to Overcoming Misconception #1: Develop clear expectations of how you want to be supported in line with the needs of the community you are serving.

Your best effort will always be preferred over “any amount of effort.” If you work for or run your own nonprofit, do your best to create standards that are clear and aligned with your community’s needs. Improving the sector requires more people who are focused on pursuing excellence in service delivery and in developing processes and systems that hold the sector accountable to the communities they serve. Otherwise, please take your tired, your poor, and your half-hearted attempts to do good and kindly keep them to yourself.  

Misconception #2: Your skills are not transferable to the for-profit sector.

After raising the bar for excellence and doing more with less, imagine being told that your skills just aren’t transferable to the for-profit sector. If I were to apply for a role as an accountant or some other very skills-based position, I could see how my experience and Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Masters in Public Administration, would be irrelevant. I believe this generalization is only true for very technical or specific roles. But let’s say I worked at a nonprofit to develop surveys that assess the impact of programs and modified our program offerings accordingly. I might be able to apply those same skills at a startup seeking a research associate to help design surveys that will help measure attitudes about a specific topic or trend. There’s a great article here about one individual’s switch from the nonprofit sector to the for-profit sector.

Key to overcoming misconception #2: Learn how to translate your skills using the language of the for-profit sector.

Throughout my tenure in the nonprofit sector, I’ve grown more experienced in navigating difficult conversations, building strong partnerships, assessing risks, building systems, creating organizational budgets, fundraising, and so much more. These skills are transferable to private industry, but I think the difficult part is adopting the language to communicate this alignment. Don’t let the misnomer of the non-profit sector fool you. Many of your skills are transferable. Conducting informational interviews with people in similar roles will help you build the confidence you need to articulate your match for a given role. This Huffington Post article will guide you even further in making that career transition into the private sector. You got this. 

This was by no means a comprehensive list of misconceptions and I'll be sharing Part II soon.

What are some things you might want to share? How could some of the alternatives mentioned above be improved?