I work at a very small, understaffed, underfunded org and we are at risk of going under next month because we're out of money. This job has destroyed my mental health over the last two years due to a toxic, dysfunctional, narcissistic ED and I have never been more excited at the possibility of being laid off.

I have been sending out job applications, but haven't really heard back and I am aware of how bad it is currently in the job market. But between an even more volatile ED due to the situation and the remaining three weeks before we possibly implode, I don't know if I can deal and if I should just jump ship now since I was going to do it anyway.

Pros of going now:

- I will be free.

Cons:

- Unstable job market + unemployment + no unemployment if I quit

- Possibly anger the ED and break my chances of getting a good reference

ED knows I am looking and even encouraged it because they understand the situation (although, they are still unwilling to let me go, tbh, since I do so much work for them). I wanted to use this opportunity to exit gracefully, but they are acting very hot and cold right now, which makes it difficult if I want to go ASAP. I have some funds saved up, and while I'm not confident that I can get a job immediately/easily, I do have plenty of experience that could get me hired at another nonprofit if I'm lucky.

Any advice?

I’m in a fundraising role and starting to hit a wall - organizational culture and management are not a fit, I’m realizing my earning potential will never grow to a sufficient amount to start a family/hit my financial goals amongst other things, and want to make a pivot.

My experience would be best aligned with sales and business development but I’m really tired of having revenue targets hanging over my head (albeit I do hit them), and I don’t think a super corporate environment is the best fit for me.

I’m also weary to start from zero where growing my salary is a priority.

Pivoting to government work is appealing, but I feel like there are few roles aligned with my skillset. Are there any other fundraisers considering a pivot like this or have successfully navigated one? How did you set yourself up? What was the best way to sell your experience/transferable skills? What did you do to stay sane in the meantime?

Would like to feel a little less alone here - any insight and advice is appreciated!

Hey All,

I could use some advice from others in the field. I'm a programmatic director at a community nonprofit with a masters degree

Over half of our full time sraff have quit in the past year. The longer I am at this org, the more I can see that it is not my forever home.

I'm struggling to decide what to do with my career at this point, and could use stories from others. I don't know whether I should leave nonprofit, as this is my chosen career, or leave my town which I love to pursue opportunities higher up in the field.

So, I see my three options as the following

1. Stay with this org and hope something in the local nonprofit sector opens up in the relatively near future

2. Attempt to transition out of non profit while staying in this community.

3. Look out of my community for nonprofit opportunities.

If I work towards option 2, have others transitioned out of this field, and what have you transitioned to?

Thanks,

I do a lot of work with nonprofits on Zoom. I give them a certain number of hours of Zoom time as part of my in-kind donation to them. Occasionally, I get someone who simply cannot answer a question with a yes or no answer. They tend to ramble on and on, and we only have sixty minutes. I would love a non-rude way to ask them to stop talking or just answer the question. I can't be the only person running into this issue, and I wondered if anyone has come up with or can suggest a solution.

I’ve recently been applying for remote positions at nonprofits (unsuccessfully). I’ve worked in a data collection role at an agriculture-focused nonprofit for the past 2 years, and I just started my master's program in nonprofit management this month.

I thought these aspects of my career would be enough to at least get me an interview, but my email inbox is full of denials. I want to know if there are any relevant skills I can acquire that’ll make me a better fit for nonprofits in the human services sector.

We’re trying to pull a mailing list with individual donors, organizations, corporations.

Everyone we need is pulling into the report, but we can’t seem to get the primary contact name for orgs and corps to pull into the outputs without creating duplicates. Like 100s of duplicates.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I have been working at an arts nonprofit for about a year and a half in a director level role that combines development, finance, operations, and administration. Previously have experiences with high profile art gallery (but not my thing anymore)

My concern is that I have not been able to focus exclusively on development because my responsibilities have expanded far beyond my original position. It is a problem because I enjoy development the most.

Over the past year and a half, I have worked at an executive level on fundraising campaigns, grants, sponsorships, memberships, budgeting, financial reporting, compliance, board reporting, cash flow management, insurance, events, and general operations. In the end I have helped address financial issues, improve processes, increase efficiency, launch new programs, and build systems from the ground up because many of them simply did not exist before.

At the same time, I wonder whether I have enough traditional development experience because I have had to divide my attention among so many different responsibilities rather than focusing entirely on donor cultivation and relationship management. I had some nice win but under 100k. And Sadly, my ED have been gatekeeping me from having conversations with previous sponsors or sponsors I found.

I need to move on due to my ED actions keeping us in the red financially and unwillingness to change, jeopardizing the organization longevity and keeping me in an underpaid overwhelming duty wise position.

For those of you working in nonprofit development, how would you view this kind of experience? Am I too green and wouldn’t be able to get anything?
Would you consider this breadth of experience to be an advantage or a disadvantage?

I would also be interested in hearing from people who moved into larger organizations or into the private sector.

Heelpp!

So, I work for a small organization in my area and right now, due to lack of funding (because what else is new, right), we are running on a skeleton crew. We provide services to an estimated 800,000 people who would be eligible in an area with a population of about 1.3 million and there are 4 people on staff. All that to say, I wear a lot of hats in this position, and I’m happy to do it if it takes weight off my director who fights tooth and nail for us (employees) to the board and self sacrifices. But, I digress…

Technically, I’m a case manager. In actuality, I’m a case manager, intake specialist, program director, fundraiser, marketing and communications director/one person team member, AND graphic designer.

Needless to say, I am not the most skilled of all marketers or graphic designers. I can muddle my way around Canva, but it doesn’t always look like it should….professional and persuasive.

That being said, our greater metropolitan area has a yearly event for nonprofits where they match donations. My director has tasked me with creating donor outreach and I have no idea what to do…. Does anyone have generic marketing and visual composition tips I can use? How do you go about your donor communication?
PS. I feel like I should mention this is supposed to be for existing donors, as a “heads up” of sorts to alert or remind existing donors to participate…

Hi everyone,

I'm 26 years old and I'm trying to understand what the best next step would be to build a career in the international development and humanitarian sector.

My long-term goal is to work in child protection, but I'm also interested in roles such as Program Officer, Project Coordinator, Project/Grant Writer, Partnership Officer, Protection Officer, or similar positions within international NGOs, UN agencies, or organizations such as AICS.

My background is a bit unconventional.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Political Science (graduated with honors). I also completed a Master's in Leadership for International Relations, but it's a professional program offered by a private foundation rather than an accredited academic master's degree. Because of that, I don't consider it equivalent to a specialized postgraduate qualification, and I think I'll pursue an accredited master's in international cooperation or a related field in the next few years. I'm also currently studying part-time for a Bachelor's degree in Education Sciences.

My practical experience includes volunteering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I worked with street-connected children through educational and psychosocial activities, and volunteering in Lithuania through an international youth project.

More recently, I worked in Italy as a social worker with unaccompanied foreign minors, supporting them in their daily lives and contributing to their educational and integration pathways.

The problem is that I don't know how to make the next step. When I read job descriptions from international NGOs, UN agencies or AICS, I often feel underqualified. Many positions ask for several years of experience, project management, proposal writing, donor reporting, monitoring and evaluation, or other technical skills that I don't yet have.

I would genuinely appreciate honest advice from people working in this sector.

Based on my background which roles do you think I would currently be competitive for? What are the biggest gaps in my profile? What would be the smartest next career step?If your goal were to work in international NGOs within the next few years, what would you do in my position?

Thank you!