Clueless in the Nonprofit Sector: You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea

So you want a job that makes a difference in the world. Great! The only problem is that your total knowledge of nonprofits consists of putting a dollar in the red Salvation Army buckets for charity during the holidays. Or you may have volunteered at a soup kitchen in college, feeding the homeless in your community. Maybe that's where you learned that you have a knack for helping others. Although you've never held a full-time job in a nonprofit, you're pretty sure you can take on any position in the sector because you're a do-gooder at heart. You think you know about the nonprofit field, but you really have no idea.

Remember that 1995 movie, Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone? She played a ditzy high school student named Cher whose main knowledge in life consisted of fashion and boys. The entire movie is a comedy that pokes fun at her shallow view of the world and lack of interest in anything besides shopping and partying. When you go in for an interview at a nonprofit without even knowing what a nonprofit is, you are effectively portraying yourself as a version of Cher, totally oblivious to what's going on in the nonprofit world in which you claim to want to work.

Most young professionals are totally clueless when they first enter the nonprofit sector. I was, too. I had no idea what a nonprofit was when I was hired to write grant proposals for one! So, you can definitely get a leg up on the competition for social change jobs if you can grasp the basic concepts of what a nonprofit is and what it means to work in one. You may have gotten yourself a fancy MBA, but everything you learned in business school does not necessarily apply. Nonprofits are a lot like small businesses, but in many major ways, they are not. Knowing as much as you can about the field you want to work in, not just the particular charity, can really set you apart from other job candidates. And if you are looking to move up into a leadership position in the nonprofit field, it will be that much more important for you to have all the information about the landscape in which your organization must operate.

For a quick overview of the nonprofit sector, check out Heather Carpenter's blog post on Nonprofit Leadership 601: New to the Nonprofit Sector? Here's a BRIEF Overview

It's a good read, and chock full of links to explore for more information. For instance, Heather highlights some misconceptions about nonprofits:

The term “nonprofit” does not mean that these organizations don’t make money. Nonprofits [can] generate a lot of revenue, but they allocate these funds toward programs and operating costs, not toward dividends and other payouts.

And gives you an idea of the scope of nonprofit employment:

Nonprofit employment is scattered across a wide variety of fields, from information and scientific services to religion and civic affairs. The bulk of this employment, however, is in human services, and within that broad category, in health services.

You can't be clueless about the nonprofit sector if this is the field you want to work in. There's more to this line of work than handing out food and bell ringers for the Salvation Army. As a future nonprofit leader, you need to know the unique facets of nonprofits, from their business structures to legal requirements to specific training available. All of the information is out there for you to learn, so there'e no excuse for being a total ditz.