Help me find some skills!
April 2, 2011 10:41 AM   Subscribe

I'm getting my masters degree with the eventual goal of going into nonprofit work. What skills can I work on (outside of school) that will make me more desirable to organizations and better at my job, and how do I get them?

So far I know that grant writing is becoming an essential skill. I work with a couple nonprofits right now as part of my program and someone has also mentioned bookkeeping. I have general skills, proficient at microsoft office, great research skills, worked with nonprofits before, but this is the first time I'm looking at really starting a career. What specific skills are really important to nonprofit organizations?

Secondly, how do I get them? Is experience the only way or are there good courses I could take. In my area (north of LA) there are a lot of programs to help nonprofit professionals but they seem geared to hands on helping them solve problems they currently have, not gain skills.
posted by boobjob to Work & Money (16 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Assuming you don't know it already, you cannot go wrong learning Spanish.
posted by 4ster at 10:44 AM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I would suggest volunteering/ interning at all the nonprofits you can while you're in school. Get to know the directors of these organizations and ask a ton of questions. Not only will you have real-world skills and a more polished resume once you leave, but you'll have great references.

Anecdata: As part of my job at a university, I interact with a lot of students, and I've noticed the master's candidates in the nonprofit administration program who have gone out of their way to get internships, schmooze professors and go to conferences, conventions and networking events all have jobs lined up after graduation.
posted by DeusExMegana at 10:48 AM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Depending on what you want to do in non-profits, it might be worth learning about Raiser's Edge, which seems to be very commonly used.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:49 AM on April 2, 2011


Sounds to me like you're ahead of the curve skill-wise. IME willingness to work long hours, a flexible schedule, and a willingness to take on any task (no matter how far it's outside of your job description) are more important to nonprofits than specific skills. That said, yeah, you should learn Spanish.
posted by entropyiswinning at 10:54 AM on April 2, 2011


The exact answers might vary depending on the specific type of nonprofit. But the general answers are going to be grants (including researching, writing, and reporting), communications skills (including "new media"), board relations, fundraising (not the same thing as grant writing), and that amorphous thing called "leadership" which includes wrangling volunteers, making strategic decisions etc.

Bookkeeping is usually done by an accountant or bookkeeper unless you are in a really small organization, in my experience.

And then there are the specific technical skills needed in that field, which will be totally different at a land trust than in a children's home.

The real answer is to find a way to get substantive, on the ground experience in the field. Nothing can substitute for being able to say that you wrote and won a big-ass grant, took on donor outreach, or whatever. My experience doing hiring is that everyone has some slight experience ("collaborated on grantwriting") but very few people could show deep, location- and field-specific experience, which is what one wants.
posted by Forktine at 11:19 AM on April 2, 2011


Nonprofits need all kinds of skills, just like for-profits. What's your MA in? Why are you doing the MA? What do you want to be doing in your job? What issue areas do you care about? That would help us give you some ideas.

Also, someone mentioned Raiser's Edge. You'll notice on job boards that nonprofits are desperate to fill fundraising (Development) positions. If you're interested, maybe take a few fundraising classes and intern in a nonprofit's development office. If you're good you'll never have trouble finding work.
posted by paindemie at 11:25 AM on April 2, 2011


I ended up in non-profit fundraising after completing an MSW. Skills that have made it easy for me to find jobs:

1. As others have mentioned familiarity with donor databases is very desirable. Blackbaud, which owns Raiser's Edge has become the leader in the field, and has several different products, but I've found that database skills are pretty easily transferable. Some other common development databases are Donor Perfect, Accenture, ROI, and Tapestry. PIDI and Team Approach are others, but they have recently been purchased by Blackbaud. Just understanding the basic structure and navigation of these databases is helpful at the novice end. Querying and reporting are midlevel skills that are desirable.

2. Budgeting. Pretty much every department in an NGO is responsible for creating and managing a yearly budget. Often there will be quarterly or mid-year budget revisions. This is the skill that got me from an administrative assistant to a middle manager.

3. Really good grasp of Microsoft Office. Particularly Excel and Word. Know mail merges, track changes and other collaborative tools, pivot tables, charts, macros.

4. Prospect research. Small organization may not have a dedicated researcher, so this is a value added skill, and fairly easy to get the basics on your own.
posted by kimdog at 1:10 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd second the recommendations of donor databases and prospect research. You should also familiarize yourself with some type of content management system. Most nonprofits seem to be using Drupal, Joomla, or Wordpress these days. I work in IT at a nonprofit and it's always wonderful when a new employee seems to have a basic understanding of how to add content to our website.
posted by JuliaKM at 1:29 PM on April 2, 2011


Forgot to add that there are tons of in-person and online courses out there on using CMSes and learning some very basic HTML. There are also lots of Teach Yourself [Insert Skill Here] books out there.
posted by JuliaKM at 1:30 PM on April 2, 2011


Response by poster: Just to follow up to some questions. My my masters is in public policy and administration I picked it because the program has very intimate courses with awesome profs (city managers, county supervisors, and a nonprofit consultant who is well known and very successful in my area) also it is very affordable as far as masters programs go. Ive had a good experience so far. I currently do unpaid work with three nonprofits so I think I'm covered there. What really spurred me to asking this question is the grant writing aspect. I've seen courses online and seminars and I can't tell if they are bull or not.
posted by boobjob at 1:58 PM on April 2, 2011


I agree with hal_c_on about grant writing, but, importantly learn, apprentice and master major gift fundraising. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of learning how to raise money across a diversity of platforms. Frankly, it is difficult to get started in fundraising because, for most people, asking for money can seem like a rude activity. I cannot think of a skill that has been more transforming of my own work than being able to make contact and ask.
posted by parmanparman at 3:09 PM on April 2, 2011


Sorry, I just saw your follow-up. My own experience has been working side-by-side with people who write grants and writing my own. The thing with a class is that classes are good but the relationship (usually) ends when the class does.
posted by parmanparman at 3:12 PM on April 2, 2011


Thanks for clarifying. I second the idea of talking to successful grantwriters. I have some additional thoughts:

1) Go to Idealist, and look at two sets of job descriptions: Grants and Contracts Manager/Director, versus Development Officer/Director. Both may involve grant writing. But the first deals more with identifying and following through on government and foundation grant opportunities, while the latter has more to do with calling up individuals for money. The areas of focus, the types of interactions, and the day-to-day tasks are different. Maybe these can help you understand the realm of grants/fundraising better.

2) You don't identify a subject area you're interested in. Many positions require that you have a familiarity with, say, K-12 education, HIV care, etc. When you network, you should ask people if and how subject matter expertise has been helpful in their careers.

Good luck!
posted by paindemie at 6:23 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm going to echo above that the skills needed in nonprofits are as diverse as say the skills needed in for-profits. So, if you can narrow down what sort of nonprofits you think you are going to be working for and what type of work you might see yourself doing that would help. If you are an introverted person who doesn't like schmoozing and going to networking events, you probably are not going to be a Development person (ie. fundraiser). The possible exception to this is being a grantwriter (I'm a grantwriter). Nonprofits need marketing/communications folks, administrative folks, leadership, database and other IT professionals, etc. In small nonprofits each "department" might be one person so it helps to have a broad base of skills. In large nonprofits there might be dozens of people in the Development department.

If you don't know anything about grantwriting I think a course can help. If the course proclaims that it will teach you everything you need to know about grantwriting in a day long course than they are full of shit. But, if you want an introduction, I think it can be a good way to start. Alternatively, ask at the nonprofits that you are volunteering with about their grantwriting and see if you can get involved. Someone might be able to show you how to do some grants research for instance.

I don't necesarily think that grantwriting skills and bookkeeping skills are what you want though - unless those are particular interests of yours. I think the best skills for nonprofits are learning how to work collaboratively (nonprofits are often understaffed and everyone pitches in on projects outside of their job description) and written and verbal communication skills (whether you are communicating with donors/prospects, board members, co-workers, nonprofit or corporate partners or whoever.

Best of luck to you.
posted by fieldtrip at 6:29 PM on April 2, 2011


Management management management.

I've spent my career in nonprofits, and this is the weak spot. Yes, you need to be conversant with fundraising, RE, grantwriting, program planning, formative and summative evaluation, yadda yadda yadda. But you will never be sorry, and you will always be a leader, if you have one solid, basic management course or training series under your belt. Many people in the NFP world get promoted into leadership positions without ever really developing essential leadership and management skills. They will make you a better thinker, reorganize your approach, and make you stand out. It can all be learned along the way, but the sooner you take a Management 101, especially if you're lucky enough to be able to take a Nonprofit Management course, the smoother your career path will be. And talk it up in interviews! It's rare and will set you apart from other contenders with otherwise similar experience.
posted by Miko at 6:51 PM on April 2, 2011 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice, I didn't mention a specific policy area because I don't really have one as of now. I was pretty devoted to North Korea policy for many years and started a nonprofit with that focus in Canada but that would be way too limiting in LA (LiNK is the only one that I know of here). Right now the non profits I work with are focused on education, housing and homelessness, and global warming, respectively. I'm not married to any cause in particular with regards to my employment (beggars can't be choosers)
posted by boobjob at 7:32 PM on April 2, 2011


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