How can I leave the nonprofit world?

January 4, 2023 4:02 PM

I have worked for nonprofits for my whole career, but I would like to leave the sector. Details inside.

The motivating factor is honestly money. I'm 32 and I would like to own my own home one day and maybe even retire.

I currently work in a support role in development/major gifts at a large nonprofit ( I do research about current and potential major donors for the fundraisers on my team). There isn't much chance of promotion/moving up in the organization for someone in my position. I like synthesizing data, writing, and research. I like to get into the weeds with databases but I don't have any developer skills. Does anyone have any suggestions, either for similar roles at a for-profit organization that I could look into, or for ways I could retrain that aren't going back to school? I have 2 degrees (BA & MA, both in humanities) that haven't been very useful.

posted by microscopiclifeform to Work & Money (14 answers total)

Maturing tech companies need data analysts. Brush up on getting into the weeds with databases and apply.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 4:37 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are similar jobs at universities and hospitals. Depending on where you are (I'm in Toronto and these positions are unionized), they should pay better.
posted by elsmith at 4:38 PM on January 4, 2023 [5 favorites]

Depending on what schools are near you and what your State pension system is like, perhaps you could work in the Grants department of a large public school district or public university. You wouldn't get paid a ton to start out, but you probably would be paid fairly well after a few years, be in the pension system, and be doing public service. This is more of a long game with decent work life balance, rather than a job where you would quickly earn 6 figures. There is also likely room for advancement in this kind of organization.
posted by happy_cat at 4:40 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

One for-profit equivalent of your role is something like business development representative and you wouldn't solicit donations but profit-boosting B2B partnerships and advertising opportunities etc. It's just a rebrand of your resume, not a wholesale retraining. All you need to say in interviews to make the switch is say the magic words "I want a faster pace/bigger scale and more chance to make an impact", not "I want more money." You can take online free courses to formalize your analytics skills and the need for basic analytics proficiency is so ubiquitous across roles other than data analyst these days that you will be well served no matter what growing those skills if you enjoy it. Speaking as an experienced data scientist who came from gov to private sector, the need for entry level data analysts is always there but it's very competitive at the ground floor, but you're set for life after that. You can still use those skills in sales and marketing adjacent roles etc. too if those are closer to where you are at today and keep moving laterally in the analyst direction as you add skills.
posted by slow graffiti at 4:47 PM on January 4, 2023

I work for a software company that often sells to nonprofits. There are a few different roles I could see you taking on in a software company that might cater to nonprofits, so that you can leverage your existing knowledge of the industry on behalf of your new employer.

Positions like customer success, sales or sales development, marketing, etc could be quite transferable.

And frankly, there are a lot of nonprofit software companies out there. More than even I knew before I joined.
posted by po822000 at 5:10 PM on January 4, 2023

Many large universities will pay well for skills in major gift development.
posted by ourobouros at 5:27 PM on January 4, 2023 [4 favorites]

Are you flexible on work location? If so, message me about gov opportunities.
posted by arnicae at 6:46 PM on January 4, 2023

I’ve been in the non-profit and non-profit-adjacent space for over a decade.

The typical path for this is to move to a non-profit vendor like a mailshop, strategy vendor, database company, and the like. They love hiring former non-profit folks.
posted by rhymedirective at 6:46 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are jobs in the political world involving data and involving fund raising. Some of these jobs do not depend on campaigns. That is, they aren't seasonal, and they have regular hours. Let me know if you are interested in learning more.
posted by NotLost at 7:35 PM on January 4, 2023

This might be highly dependent on your nonprofit too. I’ve started my career as a Development Coordinator, working up through the prospect research side of things and eventually getting into the Advancement Services world, and there is a HUGE salary discrepancy between nonprofits. For instance, I saw Director of Prospect Development jobs posted this week that had a $45-55K range (a private college in the Midwest) and one at $125-140K (at a public university in the Southeast). Salaries can really be all over the map. If it’s a field you’re interested in but just feeling underpaid in, I’d encourage you to keep an eye on other orgs (the Apra and AASP job boards are decent, and so is the Blackbaud job forum - even if you don’t use a Blackbaud database).

And feel free to Memail me if you want to chat more - I’ve got a pretty good network with prospect development and Advancement Services folks and could likely help you narrow down some organizations to look at that are local or hire remotely and pay well.
posted by JannaK at 4:34 AM on January 5, 2023

I worked in fundraising in the nonprofit sector for the first part of my career, through my late 20s. I was primarily a grant writer but also became the de facto manager of social media, the website, and the donor database at every organization that I worked at.

Ultimately, I got lucky because just as I was looking to leave the sector, I came across a new company that was focused on technology for nonprofits. I was a perfect fit for them as I was technical and also had insight into how nonprofits worked. After a few years there and at another organization focused on tech for nonprofits, I moved completely into the for-profit sector. I've worked in tech as a project manager now for 5+ years.

As with any career change, the key here is to figure out what your most useful transferable skills are and find a job that aligns with those skills. In my case, project management was a very good fit because I was a trained writer, good at herding cats as all nonprofit professionals are, and did a lot of analysis and critical thinking as a fundraiser.
posted by anotheraccount at 4:53 AM on January 5, 2023

Executive search firms that serve the nonprofit sector would love your skill set - you'd be researching current executives and potential candidates.

There are five major global firms, all of which have offices across the US (and many of which now hire remote workers): Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds, Egon Zehnder, and Korn Ferry.

There are also large firms that do exclusively non-profit work: Witt Keifer, Isaacson Miller, Storbeck.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:33 AM on January 5, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you all so much for your input! Your responses give me a lot to consider.
posted by microscopiclifeform at 3:31 PM on January 5, 2023

Have you thought about moving to the other side of the development equation and looking for positions in gift-giving or grantmaking? A friend of mine worked for a while in the department at a FAANG company that gives away money to nonprofits, and she made excellent money. And she got to do fun things like pose for photo ops with novelty oversized checks, or attend elementary school assemblies to tell all the teachers and kids that the school was getting a fleet of cool robots to play with. Foundations also likely have a lot of jobs you'd be qualified for that pay better than what you make now. At least some of the places that give the kinds of major gifts you now solicit have someone on the other end whose job is to analyze the organization's giving, figure out what meets their goals, analyze the effectiveness of grants made to determine whether to renew them or focus on other giving opportunities, etc. Might be a way to stay in your field and still boost your income and earning potential.
posted by decathecting at 1:45 PM on January 11, 2023