How to make a career switch from the for-profit world to the non-profit one.

Q. I’ve spent 15 years in the business world and am now a midlevel manager. I’d like to switch to nonprofit work but have no employment experience in this arena. I have, however, served on the board of a small foundation for less than a year. What is the best way for me to make the career switch: Go back to school? Pursue a job as a development director?

A. Your first priority should be to focus on why you want to make this switch and what you’re looking for, says David Hinsley Cheng, managing partner at DRG, in New York, an executive-search firm for nonprofit clients.

To that end, don’t make any bold moves or quit your day job right away. Instead, take the time to educate yourself about the work you’d like to do and nonprofit culture in general.

Mr. Cheng says that the executives he works with who move from the corporate to nonprofit world often have unrealistic expectations about making the transition. “I would say that those individuals might be a little naïve in thinking that it will be a slam dunk,” he says.

One of your first steps, says Mr. Cheng, should be to step up participation on your foundation’s board. Develop your leadership skills and knowledge by chairing a committee and becoming more actively involved in the policy, governance, and direction of your foundation.

Volunteering at a charity for at least one year before trying to secure a paid position can help you prepare, says Katherine McKay, associate director of gift planning at Wheaton College, in Norton, Mass.

Four years ago, Ms. McKay made the transition you’re contemplating, giving up a job as a marketing consultant and freelance writer to go to work as an associate director of planned giving for the Salvation Army. But for five years before that, she had been a fund-raising volunteer for a library project.

When entrenched in a charity’s programs as a volunteer for a whole year, she says, “you see the whole cycle. You look at your budget, you look at your fund-raising objectives, try to meet those objectives and then deal with the consequences. You can learn a lot in that year cycle. I’d say that’s a minimum.”

During this time, you should also take advantage of educational opportunities, say Mr. Cheng and Ms. McKay.

Some universities offer nonprofit-management degrees or master’s of business administration degrees with a nonprofit focus in which you can enroll full or part time.

A less-expensive option would be to look for professional-development seminars or classes like those held by the Foundation Center. For more information on educational programs, see The Chronicle’s most recent continuing education guide (May 31, 2007). (Also check out the transcript from an online discussion The Chronicle sponsored last month on the topic of switching to a nonprofit career.)

Some nonprofit groups offer opportunities that combine volunteerism and education. United Way’s Loaned Executive program, for example, trains corporate executives to assist the group’s fund raisers in securing corporate and individual donations over a period of several months.

Also remember to make contacts with people who are doing the jobs to which you aspire, and seek out mentors. Before switching to nonprofit work, Ms. McKay contacted a friend who was a fund-raising executive at a nearby hospital. He read over her résumé, giving her tips on how to translate her corporate experience into nonprofit-speak.

“I had done a lot of client relations, I was used to maintaining a database of clients and taking care of them,” she says. “Well, you know, that’s stewardship in the world of nonprofits. So he helped me craft the language more precisely for the nonprofit world. It makes you sound more nonprofit savvy.”