September 19, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Q. Do you have any advice for my friend who is seeking a nonprofit fund-raising job? He’s worked in sales at for-profit businesses for 15 years and has excellent skills — he even likes to do cold calling — and has attended Indiana University’s School of Philanthropy fund-raising course. He’s gotten more mission-driven as he’s gotten older, hence the wish for a career change.
A. Professionals with experience in sales — particularly those who are fans of the dreaded cold call — have a natural entree into the world of fund raising, says Margaret M. Holman, a fund-raising consultant in New York and coauthor (with Jeanne Sigler), of The Complete Guide to Careers in Fund Raising (Kendall/Hunt, 1998, $29.95). “Sales experience is more valuable in my opinion than experience as an attorney, for example,” Ms. Holman says. “A sales professional obviously has an understanding of what motivates people to do things, whether it’s to buy a sweater, or to buy a car, or to motivate someone to make a contribution. This will make a development officer look at his résumé before they would look at someone else in another field.” It’s smart to play up sales skills during a job interview, she says.
Securing additional training was an excellent start, Ms. Holman says, but before the job search starts in earnest for your friend, he should log some time as a volunteer to further define his nonprofit interests. The more he homes in on the field he’s most interested in, the better luck he’ll have. Best bet: Focus volunteering time on fund-raising activities, and keep track of the money raised, creating a track record to tout to prospective employers
However, even with your friend’s 15 years of sales experience, and the additional training and volunteer work, it’s likely that he’ll still have to start in an entry-level position. “There’s no way around that, unless he ends up at a tiny organization,” Ms. Holman says. “Volunteer work doesn’t substitute for experience in fund raising because volunteers are often not in a decision-making capacity.”
To find the plum volunteer jobs, meet local professionals at meetings of your local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Also, the association has published a couple of books that might help your friend: Fund Raisers: Their Careers, Stories, Concerns and Accomplishments, by Margaret Duronio and Eugene Tempel (AFP, 1996, $24), which is based on a three-year national study of people in the field, and Careers in Fundraising , by Lilya Wagner (AFP/Wiley 2001, $18), which includes an overview of nonprofit organizations, and information on professional development. The books are available from the association’s Web site or by calling (888) 487-6237.
