Nonprofit name game What does everyone think?
I hope you don't miss my voice too much, but I can't articulate this any better than the Central Penn Business Journal can (don't even ask how I came across them)...
By Christina Olenchek
3/28/2008 - 8:51:24 AM
The nonprofit sector is looking for a new name for itself.
When you consider the literal meaning of what it means to be a nonprofit – to not make profits – it doesn’t accurately describe human-service groups, charities, cultural organizations and the like, said Michael Sand of Sand Associates, a Harrisburg-based firm that provides consulting services to nonprofits.
There are no restrictions on nonprofits making profits, but these groups must plough the money back into their organizations instead of paying it out to shareholders, Sand said.
“It’s just an inappropriate term,” he said. “Clearly, nonprofits can make profits.”
Sand said most nonprofit executives recognize that the term “nonprofit” is a misnomer, but they can’t come up with a better name. Suggestions such as “community-based organizations” accurately describe some groups, but not others.
Do you have any ideas? It’s not everyday that you get the chance to rename an entire sector of the economy.
Are we in need of a new name?
What should it be?!
Just a name
“We Want Change Now”
[I've been blabbing lately about the nonprofit leadership crisis/how young people in nonprofits are getting fed up/etc., so I was excited to see this press release and new report -- Thanks, Jenna!]
Nonprofit Jobseekers Say to Employers: “We Want Change Now”
Study reveals the demands of today’s nonprofit talent, and what employers can do to address them
Boston, MA (March 25, 2008) – A recent survey of 1,750 nonprofit jobseekers reveals a talent pool of people who are determined to build long-term careers in the social sector. However, these jobseekers believe that nonprofit employers are not doing enough to address the obstacles that they face.
The survey report, The Voice of Nonprofit Talent in 2008, was produced by Commongood Careers, a nonprofit search firm that has built a national talent network of over 15,000 jobseekers through targeted outreach, career advising, workshops, and web-based resources. In the first of what will become an annual offering, this survey was designed to explore nonprofit jobseekers’ motivations for wanting to work in the sector, their plans for overall career trajectories, and their concerns about sustaining nonprofit careers. Of the respondents, 82% self-identified as active jobseekers.
Key findings of the survey include:
- Mission and cultural fit are the most important factors to nonprofit jobseekers, with 84% of respondents indicating that “work is part of my identity, not just a way to make a living.”
- 63% of respondents plan to stay in the sector for at least ten years and 82% say they want to hold an executive-level position in the sector. However, respondents believe that the relative absence of career ladders, mentors and professional development might limit their ability to remain in the sector.
- Concerns over salary levels and work-life balance also drive jobseekers’ hesitations about building long-term careers in the social sector.
- Over 75% of respondents believe that nonprofits have to immediately change their recruitment, employment and professional development practices.
To help organizations respond, the survey report includes a discussion of strategic recommendations around recruitment, salaries, professional development, and career ladders.
The context for this survey is a national discussion about an increasingly complex nonprofit labor market. Factors driving this trend are unprecedented sector growth, for-profit competition, and generational leadership change.
“This may be the most crucial time in the history of the nonprofit sector to address talent-related issues,” said James Weinberg, Founder and CEO of Commongood Careers. “To be competitive in recruiting and retaining the next generation of great nonprofit talent, organizations need to listen to jobseekers and pursue creative solutions. This survey report is one effort to provide them with the information that they need.”
The complete 7-page survey report can be found at: http://www.cgcareers.org/downloads/CGC_2008TalentSurveyReport.pdf
About Commongood Careers
Commongood Careers is an innovative nonprofit search firm dedicated to supporting social entrepreneurs with their recruitment and hiring needs at every level of the organizational chart. In addition, Commongood Careers is focused on addressing talent-related issues throughout the sector and supporting socially-driven jobseekers in their pursuit of nonprofit careers. For more information, please visit http://www.cgcareers.org/.
Rock on.
Everyone loves feeling good -- and looking good never hurt either.
Check out Wear Your Music: Throw on a bracelet or two (less than 10 bucks a pop), made from real guitar strings, and a portion of the proceeds will go to to MusiCares.
If you're interested in the big leagues (and have a few more bucks to spare), check out the RELIXband Artist Program. You won't have just any guitar string around your wrist -- it'll come straight from Ani DeFranco, Ben Harper or someone else famous. It'll cost you (about $150), but all of the profits go directly to a variety of charities.
Let's play house
Nonprofits need money. It's a fact. And fundraising is a pain in the butt. Also a fact. But when it's creative and relevant to an organization's mission, asking for money can be a lot more fun.
Minneapolis-based CommonBond Communities, an organization that works to provide affordable housing, generally works with real houses -- but they're switching to playhouses for a second to make some cash.
For just over a week, the six designer playhouses -- created by local corporations, builders, architects and volunteers -- will be on display at the Mall of America. And on the last day, they'll be auctioned and raffled off, and of course the money will go to support CommonBond's programs.
(I'm a journalism nerd -- I want Studio A.)
#1 or #2?
As you know, I'm moving. And as you could probably guess (from my age and income level), I've spent a lot of time at Ikea lately.
[Warning: Yes, this is going to be totally off-topic.]
Maybe we're way behind the times in the good ol' Midwest -- and we definitely are in the U.S. -- but imagine my surprise when I went to the bathroom at Ikea, and the toilet asked me to specify what type of waste I had deposited.
There was a nice placard to explain that in an effort to save water, please press the flush button with one water drop for "liquid waste" and three water drops for "solid waste."
Now I thought that was just weird, but with a little research, I found that:
- The solid button swirls around 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of water, while liquid uses only 3 liters (.8 gallons).
- The system can reduce water usage by 67 percent -- and save a family of four 6,000 gallons a year over your average toilet.
- Europeans and others around the world have been doing this forever; we're just slow.
Wow, and I thought I was just buying a bookshelf.
Turnin' on the 'Tube
OK, I admit I was totally in the dark on this one. It's obvious that a gazillion nonprofits use YouTube for various things, but I didn't realize there was a formal process. I have no idea how I missed the YouTube Nonprofit Program.
But! Better late than never, right? (Still, I apologize for slacking. Big time.)
Check it out -- orgs get some good tips and perks:
Change the world -- or at least explore it.
[Photo: "Little People, Little Shadows" by Sarah Schewe, Uganda]
Flirting with the idea of heading abroad for your First (or Second) Job? Lots of people love the no-kids, no-spouse, no-ties timing of doing international work in their 20s.
I've thought a lot about it myself -- but I always find myself drooling over the job descriptions and photos and daydreams and wondering what exactly staff of international NGOs do on a day-to-day basis.
Enter blogs! They're meant for organizations' supporters and donors to get a personal account of international projects, but you can use them for career advice. And check out the websites of your dream-job orgs: "From the Field" blogs are popping up all over the place.
To get you started...
Malawi: A Travel Log
Follow the first hand account of two World Relief staff members traveling in Malawi on the World Relief blog.
Follow international volunteers in East Africa -- currently blogging is a fourth-year medical student working on a child survival project in Tanzania.
**I'll admit the bias on this one...
Peace Corps Journals
A worldwide directory of 4,000+ Peace Corps volunteers' blogs. Search by region and country.
**HIGHLY recommend this if you've ever thought about doing the PC thing
This will be me, all weekend.
I recently had to list every address I've lived at in the past seven years (yep, background check, you know the drill).
From birth to age 18, I lived in the same house -- and the list was still two pages long. With few exceptions, I moved approximately every three or four months during/immediately following college.
Now I've been in the same apartment for almost nine months, and of course I'm all antsy and ready to pack everything up and move across town. YEAH RIGHT.
Actually, this wasn't the plan at all. But a whole bunch of things lined up and once the dominoes starting falling I had no choice but to start wrapping my glasses in newspaper and prepare for the four-mile move.
And this time, I'm settling in for awhile. For real. I promise.
The Big O
OK, think your heart + Oprah's wallet -- sounds like things would have to turn out well, right?
But because it's TV, I'm assuming Oprah's Big Give is gonna have some drama, too...
Has anyone seen the show? What do you think? I haven't watched yet, so I need the scoop!
The next episode is Sunday 9/8c on ABC - but if you need a recap of episodes one and two first, here ya go.
At least I didn't need this...
I would call my quick jaunt to Cozumel this past weekend amazing. Everyone else I know would call it a nightmare.
But I absolutely admit to being annoyingly optimistic and am beyond thrilled that 1) it was waaay warmer than Minnesota, 2) I didn't think about work for a fraction of a second and 3) for the first time in my life, I came back from a beachy vacation without a beet-red face/body part/everything.
That being said, I suppose I should mention the fact that despite feeling perfect all week before leaving and even when my alarm went off at 4am on D-day, I starting sneezing continuously upon arrival at the airport and stopped only when sneezes were replaced by a hacking cough for days two and three. And then day four, sneezing joined coughing for the journey home.
Oh, and it wasn't sunny. Or warm. And the water was super-rough and we couldn't even swim. AND the hotel pools weren't heated and were totally freezing (I did, however, make $15 off of a you-wouldn't-dare-jump-in-and-be-the-only-one-at-the-resort-in-the-pool bet).
But still, getting away from the cold and snow and chaos of the working world made it completely worth it. It's so easy to get sucked into the work machine/life routine that you forget to take a break, but I really did come back somewhat rested and refreshed - and totally clogged up, and totally white, but who's counting?
A little more leadership
OK, I promise I'll lay off the young-people, leadership-drought thing. After this.
US News & World Report jumped on board with a Q&A with the founder and CEO of nonprofit Share our Strength, who gives his perspective on why young superstars are veering away from the nonprofit road.
It's pretty interesting, as is Share our Strength - an organization striving to eliminate childhood hunger across the country through a whole bunch of cool partnerships and angles.
Check out the article and the organization!
I'm off to Cozumel for a nice, long, sunny weekend...so I'll come back all recharged and ready to dig up all kinds of nonprofit stuff for you! (Either that or I won't come back at all.)
Happy spring break if you've got the early-bird week off!
The big 'crunch'
We talked last month about the looming leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector: Young people aren't digging the organizational structure, big-wig roles and interaction with their baby-booming coworkers and are turned off to the thought of leading organizations.
The Washington Post hit on the same phenomenon in a story yesterday that says nonprofits "stand to lose ambitious young employees who feel underpaid, overwhelmed by long hours and demanding responsibilities, and frustrated by a lack of career progression."
The story cites a study, released today, by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Meyer Foundation and Idealist.org, called Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out.
It sums up the what - "the nonprofit sector...has been successful at recruiting recent college graduates but not always at keeping them" - and the why: "Many leave for jobs at private companies and in the federal government that often offer better pay and more comfortable lifestyles."
My favorite quote from the Post story, from a co-author of the report, gets at what (I think) it's all about: "Next-generation leaders are finding ways to get involved in social change and do good work...but they're finding ways to do that outside of the sector."
So how do we fix it? The study authors recommend that nonprofits:
- Provide mentors to young employees
- Facilitate networking among leadership in similar organizations
- Offer better salaries and benefits
- Give young staff more responsibility
- Have an obvious career track and model of progression
What do you think? Would that solve the problem? Is there a problem in the first place?
Will you go to Prom with me?
A warm/fuzzy story for your weekend:
Not your traditional nonprofit, the Priceless Gown Project gives prom dresses to high-school girls who could not otherwise afford them.
They hold gown events in a variety of cities and don't just throw you in a room full of tulle: In Baltimore this weekend, for example, 75 volunteers will staff the event and help 500 girls find The Dress.
Still have some old prom dresses crammed in the back your closet at the 'rents' place? Box 'em up and send 'em in.
Aww, don't you miss high school?
