Ebenezer After Christmas Profit To Non

Phil's Careers Blog Ebenezer After Christmas? Profit to Non-Profit: Making the Leap By Jennifer Sydenham A few years in the past, I made the transition from being Ebenezer Scrooge as a Corporate Lender at one of our massive 5 banks and joined the forces of good as a fundraiser with The Salvation Army. In some methods its been a big transition, however in plenty of ways I am utilizing the identical expertise that are wanted in the for-revenue world. Personally, I actually have found it to be very rewarding to work for a non-revenue and I believe that there are numerous business expertise that may be of profit to a wide range of charitable endeavours. When I say that I am in fundraising, most individuals seem to react by saying ‘eww I may never ask somebody for cash’. Which is fascinating as a result of I don’t see that as what I do. I am not a beggar! In reality I discover being a fundraiser to be fairly similar in many ways to banking as most jobs involve sales to some extent. I was certainly requ ired to try and enhance the number of loans we had, which meant going out and asking individuals for his or her enterprise. We would all the time have some sort of proposal to place in entrance of them to show what we could supply. The sort of fundraising I am doing now, which is major presents, is sort of related. I don’t simply stroll as much as individuals and ask them for money â€" I have a proposal for them, which tells them what we will do with their assist. If they finally resolve to not proceed with a gift I don’t take it personally â€" the worst case situation is that they have information about The Salvation Army that will resonate with them in future. I even have not found the actual fundraising part difficult. I actually have discovered the relative lack of resources to be extra of a challenge â€" I now not have an assistant for instance! I have to watch out to handle my very own time so that I don’t take on more than I can deal with. The main transition for me, ne vertheless, was going from an environment where I was constantly answering the cellphone and responding to emails to an setting that requires lots of proactivity. Donors generally don’t send you an e-mail and say that they've an pressing want to offer you some money. Therefore, you have to stay in touch with people and make preparations to see them and that requires plenty of self-motivation. You have to choose up the telephone and reach out or nothing is going to occur and that does take discipline and power. That being mentioned â€" The Salvation Army just lately opened a brand new location in Fort St. John, and I helped with the fundraising. When we opened the facility I really did really feel that I had helped to do one thing that may be of actual benefit to the community and it was extraordinarily gratifying. When I made the transition to the non-revenue sector I was lucky as a result of I had some connections with The Salvation Army who gave me a advice, but if you're contem plating a move I would make the following suggestions: I actually like what I’m doing and feel that I am capable of make a real distinction to the organization and likewise to the group. I’ve had the chance to be concerned in a huge number of completely different tasks elsewhere and have met some wonderful folks â€" donors, workers and purchasers. So like many jobs it could possibly have its ups and downs, but in general its been a lot of enjoyable and very rewarding. Oh and by the way â€" if you are passing by The Salvation Army â€" we DO settle for donations! Post navigation Fill in your details under or click on an icon to log in: You are commenting utilizing your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Facebook account. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of recent comments via email. Notify me of latest posts via e mail. Email Subscription Enter your email address to follow my NEW blog and stay on top of the latest career alternatives and fundraising news. Sign me up! Follow On Twitter Browse by Category Phil’s Careers Tweets Error: Twitter didn't respond. Please wait a couple of minutes and refresh this page.