Wednesday, May 27, 2009

A day in the life of a nonprofit worker

1. What is your name, organization and job title (you don't have to give your name/organization if you don't want to- it can be anonymous)?
My name is D'ana Downing, and I work at Marian House, a transitional and permanent housing program in Baltimore City, MD. I currently work in a two-woman development team as the Advancement Assistant.

2. What is the first thing you do when you get in the office?
Turn on my computer to Pandora; check my email and eat breakfast.

3. How do you spend your lunch break?
It really depends on the day, but 9 times out of 10, I'm having lunch with my co-workers. We all eat lunch together which is great for building staff morale and camaraderie. The majority of our staff are made up of sisters in religious communities; "nuns" (which is not politically correct). The sisters are amazing people and we have a really great time together at lunch - our conversations are hilarious!

4. Which part of your work do you enjoy most?
Hmmm, I really love that I work for an organization where I can SEE the direct impact of my job. I have the opportunity to interact with the residents, and our women are phenomenal with amazing personal testimonies and always have great attitudes on their progress in the program. I love to hear how thankful they are when they enter the program, their successes, and their appreciation to the dedicated and committed staff.
I also REALLY enjoy prospect research, or research of any kind - concepts for special events, trends in fundraising and annual campaigns, governance, advocacy. I'm an admitted research junkie - they call me "Fast Fingers"; I can find anything, anyone, anywhere.

5. If someone wanted my job, they would have to...be ready for anything!
Anyone who is a development professional knows that a "regular" work day is never fluid. There are a number of (insert here) interruptions, and needs that need to be addressed daily and you have to have the time management skills, technological savvy, and patience to deal with those things as they come.

6. What advice or tips do you have for other nonprofit professionals in your position?
Simply stated, "Keep it moving, and don't sweat the small stuff!" Everyday is a platform for learning. It is up to you to take each daily work experience, and learn from it; growing as a professional and as a person. Never get too wrapped up in the day-to-day tasks that you forget the mission, forget the purpose of your work, and the transformative change that you are able to be a part of as a staff member of your organization. Always remember that you are a part of something bigger and better, and your work helps contribute to greater meaning.

If you are willing to be featured, please email me - kristen@advancementcompany.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A day in the life of a nonprofit worker

1. What is your name, organization and job title (you don't have to give your name/organization if you don't want to- it can be anonymous)
Nicole Garst, Program Coordinator, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits

2. What is the first thing you do when you get in the office?
Fire up email, check Twitter, and make a short list of my main priorities for the day.

3. How do you spend your lunch break?
Most often at my desk, catching up on reading, the blogosphere, and social media. I try to go out to lunch once a week with someone interesting – though I can’t always make it work – building relationships helps me keep learning and exposes me to wide variety of ideas.

4. Which part of your work do you enjoy most?
I love co-facilitating the Nonprofit Leadership Institute and helping to explore how nonprofits are using social media. Teaching and researching are emerging as themes in my career, and I love thinking about where folks are, what skills they might need or want, and how to meet them where they’re at with relevant and accessible information. I’m excited by instructional design and information architecture, usability and user experience, and really like to facilitate changes in individuals through ideas, supportive learning spaces, and contexts where growth is encouraged. I am actually on my way to graduate school for Library and Information Science this fall, where I’m excited to explore all these interests and geek out with my fellow Information nerds.

5. Please finish this sentence: If someone wanted my job, they would have to…..
be organized and comfortable juggling many different projects at once. She or he would also have to love the nonprofit sector and be interested in networking across a wide variety of organizations.

6. What advice or tips do you have for other nonprofit professionals in your position?
Be proactive in growing your networks, both online and off. Read widely, not just in nonprofit and management topics. Experiment with emerging technology by using it in your personal life. Hobbies are the best way to keep up work life balance. Use an RSS reader!

If you are willing to be featured, please email me - kristen@advancementcompany.com

Monday, May 18, 2009

Down to the wire.

I have been lagging behind on posting lately and I am truly sorry for that. I actually have a few good posts lined up, I just haven't had time to write them out.

The reason I am behind is two-fold really, I have a large evaluation contract that I am working on right now for a Minneapolis nonprofit and I am getting married this Friday, 5/22. Oh, and we leave on Saturday for a 3 week honeymoon in Africa. So, life has been a little hectic lately.

I have a couple housekeeping things - as of Friday, my new name will be Kristen Cici (no longer Kristen Denzer) - old fashioned I know, but I don't want the hyphenated name - imagine if our kids married someone else with a hyphenated last name, their last name would be Denzer-Cici-etc-etc...four names long (yikes!). Also, while I am gone I will still be posting as much as I can (and when I have access to internet), but it may be in spurts, like several posts in one day and the no posts for a few days, but I do have a bunch of posts lined up for while I am gone, so make sure to check back soon!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A day in the life of a nonprofit worker

1. What is your name, organization and job title (you don't have to give your name/organization if you don't want to- it can be anonymous)
Alexia Harris, Project Learn of Summit County, Community Relations Manager

2. What is the first thing you do when you get in the office?
This is a ritual: I log into Twitter (both my personal and Project Learn accounts) and soak up the knowledge being shared from the people I follow. Next, I catch up on my blog subscriptions via Google Reader and check my emails.

3. How do you spend your lunch break?
I usually spend my break chatting with co-workers on agency news and other local and national happenings. It's my time to breathe before I dive back into my work.

4. Which part of your work do you enjoy most?
I enjoy working with our clients, who are adults in need of improving their basic literacy skills, English, or hoping to earn their GED diploma. To see someone accomplish something they thought was impossible is rewarding. We currently have a 90-year-old GED student, our eldest in Project Learn history. Callie Mae is an inspiration to her classmates and Project Learn staff. She told us earning her GED is the last thing she wants to do before she "leaves out of here." Her determination and will power is something that encourages me to do all I can to help other adults in need of education.

5. Please finish this sentence: If someone wanted my job, they would have to…..
Be an expert at multitasking. I wear many hats. I'm responsible for the agency's public relations efforts, event planning, fundraising, media relations and community outreach. I also teach an ESOL Conversations class. There are rarely times when I'm only working on one task.

6. What advice or tips do you have for other nonprofit professionals in your position?
Don't get discouraged. I'm pretty young (23 years old) and hold a big title. But even though I'm a lot younger than my colleagues, they still expect high-quality work. So, that's what I give them. I carry myself professionally and speak up for myself and my ideas, which has earned me respect. Now I have older colleagues asking me for advice and help with projects. It's a great feeling.
Also, never stop learning. I spend my free time trying to understand new trends in public relations, social media and anything else that can help me be an irreplaceable employee. I also try to stay knowledgeable on ways to help Project Learn keep its head above water in the recession and any other prudent news related to nonprofit organizations and philanthropy.

If you are willing to be featured, please email me - kristen@advancementcompany.com

Friday, May 8, 2009

Top 3 Weekly Blog Posts for Nonprofit Workers

1. Five Things To Do With Your Nonprofit Blog by Notes for Nonprofits

2. When Trying to Fundraise from Friends of Friends is a Complete Waste of Time by Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

3. Understand and Act - NOW by Balancing the Mission Checkbook

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Social Media Behavior Guidelines for Nonprofit Staff?

I was recently asked by @NCIBrooke whether I have a sample social media/online behavior guidelines or example policy. While I do not have a sample policy, here are a couple tips for nonprofits that want to create a policy for employee social media use:

  • Have separate staff and organizational accounts. Your staff should not be tweeting things like "getting coffee" or "watching Boondock Saints" under the "Girl Scouts" twitter name. The best way to do this is to tell your staff that the organizational account on facebook, twitter, etc is for organization-related information only.
  • Do not have a policy that says your staff can't use social media. I have had some orgs ask me recently whether they should tell their staff they can't have twitter accounts. Not only does this restrict their free speech, but they may just make one anyways and tweet about negative things about you.
  • Do have a discussion about what is and is not appropriate for your staff write about via social media. For example, do you really want your Development Director tweeting that she just met with Jane Doe big donor who might give $50,000? This doesn't have to be a set policy - it is pretty much common sense. If someone wonders whether to write about, don't. Remember, often perception is more important than reality.

For further information, tips, advice and sample policies from around the web, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A day in the life of a nonprofit worker

1. What is your name, organization and job title (you don't have to give your name/organization if you don't want to- it can be anonymous)
Holly Wagg, ArtsSmarts Manager, Funds Development/Marketing

ArtsSmarts uses the arts to engage kids in learning. The ArtsSmarts model brings artists and teachers together to develop an arts-infused unit that meets provincial curriculum standards. Grounded in the local community and environment, ArtsSmarts does things like using dance to teach science, drumming to teach math, song production to teach language arts or film making to explore culture in the classroom.

2. What is the first thing you do when you get in the office?
After I put my lunch in the fridge, I fire up my computer and spend the first 30 minutes skimming my RSS feed, reading relevant blogs, responding to emails and getting ready to tackle the day ahead.

3. How do you spend your lunch break?
At my desk!

However, one of my employment must-haves is a flexible schedule and I’m trying very hard to maintain a work-life balance. As such, the deal I make with myself is that I rarely take a lunch break or daily breaks. This means I regularly plan to put in 5 additional hours a week, without extending the amount of time I spend in the office, by the way I structure my day. I have two kids and they always need to be shuttled from one appointment to the next. The extra time I put in I can use as lieu so that I’m available to meet my kids’ needs.

4. Which part of your work do you enjoy most?
I work in a very small not-for-profit (3 person total in our office) and I love that I get to be engaged in every part of the organization’s activities and making sure that what we do with our programs, finances and operations is linked to where we want to go with our fundraising. Plus, we’re an organization in a start-up phase as we’re in the midst of transitioning from being the program of a funder to an autonomous, charitable organization in our own right. I really like working with not-for-profits in the early stages of development where you get to make a lot of decisions that will shape the future and core of what an organization becomes.

5. Please finish this sentence: If someone wanted my job, they would have to…..
Always be ready to adapt and cultivate the skills necessary to get the job done in the most cost-effective way possible. You’d also have to work hard, work fast and be good at helping people see why they should invest in this particular method of arts education.

6. What advice or tips do you have for other nonprofit professionals in your position?
Prior to ArtsSmarts, I worked in the not-for-profit sector for 8 years primarily in a communications/marketing capacity. I decided last year that I needed to do something different, and after a long exploration of what mattered to me and what I needed to get out/give back through my work, I decided to enter my second career in funds development. Fundraising involves a lot more than simply finding and asking for money and I wish I hadn’t written it off early in my career to only later discover that it’s a really good fit.

If you are willing to be featured, please email me - kristen@advancementcompany.com

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Should your organization require board members to give at least $x annually?

No. I don't agree that nonprofits should require their board members to give at least $x each year.

Let me clarify though, I do completely agree with The Nonprofit Consultant Blog's recent post, "How Much Should Board Members Give?" that discusses whether nonprofits should require that their board members give. If you are on the board of a nonprofit organization, you should not only be giving an annual gift, but that nonprofit should be one of the top three nonprofits you give to. Plus, you should be helping to friend-raise and fundraise as part of being on the board and having a fiduciary responsibility.

But, I do not agree with organizations that say that you as a board member are required to give $1,000 (or whatever amount organizations say). That is for two main reasons:

1. If you require individuals to give $1,000, those that can't afford just won't give and those that can afford it may just give that (when they might have gave $2,000 or $10,000), so either way you are missing out.

2. You are actively reducing the amount of diversity you will have on your board. There are many people (students, low-income, young, etc) that would never be able to afford that, so you are erasing any opportunity to hear their opinions and have them on your board. This is why I am a fan of the you must give and we must be one of your top three nonprofits you give to language.