by Deirdre Gould

Created on: July 07, 2009

Many people have a mistaken conception of nonprofit agencies, believing that their employees are all volunteers or are paid a mere pittance. So these folks will always relegate nonprofit activities to the status of hobbies or side employment at best. This is really too bad, both for folks that would otherwise benefit from stable, decently paying employment with nonprofits and for the agencies themselves who are missing out on talented expertise from the profit driven business community.

First and foremost, of course, nonprofit jobs require employees to have a degree of passion and belief in the organisation's mission. Man does not live by passion alone any more than by bread however. While you will (probably) never become grossly wealthy from a nonprofit job, you CAN earn a very comfortable living. Nonprofit agencies function in a for-profit world, and like every other business, must pat a competitive wage for quality employees. The difference is that instead of paying a broad range of entry level employees, nonprofit organisations rely on volunteers for many low or semi-skilled positions and reserve their payroll funds for more skilled employees who oversee the day to day management of the organisation.

There are several ways to land these jobs. The first, and most likely to be a comfortable fit, is to volunteer for a nonprofit organisation you are passionate about. When you are volunteering, get involved in, or even lead projects you are interested in. Become an expert in these programs. The more programs you are intimately familiar with, the more marketable you become. Because of the vast social network created between nonprofits today, many organisations use the same or similar tools, software, and social programs. Familiarity with them will make you an asset not only to the organisation you volunteer with, but also in a wide range of potential employers. Think of it as an apprenticeship doing something you truly love.

Volunteers are often the first to know when there is an opening for paid employment within their own and sister organisations, because nonprofits, like any business, vastly prefer folks that are already trained with their programs and agency culture to a stranger off the street that needs time and resources devoted to training. So many nonprofits promote in-house or ask for recommendations from organisations in their social network.

Not all nonprofits only hire from within, however. Many take out ads in the newspaper

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