Hotline

By Eman Quotah

Tips for tailoring a résumé for a grant-making job

Making the move to a microfinance organization

Registering as a charity with the Internal Revenue Service

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Philanthropy Careers section asks its readers to submit questions about job hunting, recruiting, and managing in the nonprofit world. In our advice column, we respond to some of those inquiries with tips about resources and suggestions from experts.

Previous editions of Hotline are also available on the Philanthropy Careers Web site. Send your questions about job hunting, recruiting, or managing in the nonprofit world to hotline@philanthropy.com

Q. I'm about to retire after 30 years spent working in information technology for state government. I'd like to spend the next few years applying my professional expertise to the work of a charity, but I'm daunted by the specific skills required in the job descriptions I see. How do I start my search?

A. First off, don't worry about being cutting edge. "Technology moves on," says Bill Robertazzi, director of information technology at the Atlantic Philanthropies, a New York grant maker. "No one's going to have every specific software skill."

But you do need to show that you're interested in the charity world beyond wanting a job. Offer to work as a volunteer as a way to get your foot in the door, learn about how nonprofit organizations work, and give yourself an opportunity to meet people and make connections that may lead to a job, Mr. Robertazzi says.

You should have no trouble finding charities that want to make use of your services, he says. If you've been a hands-on technology worker, he suggests you could help a charity set up a wireless network, select fund-raising software, or write reports from a financial database. If you have managerial experience, he says, you could advise a nonprofit board of directors on strategic planning related to technology.

As you look for jobs, use the Web creatively in your search, says Megan Keane, who manages online forums for TechSoup Global, a San Francisco charity that provides technology support for other nonprofit groups.

She suggests keeping an up-to-date résumé on the social networking site LinkedIn — and on your personal Web site, if you have one — and attending professional events you learn about from sites like Upcoming Meetup. Participating at such events not only helps prospective employers put a face to a name, she says, but "it demonstrates that you're interested."

As you look for a position, keep in mind that many nonprofit groups don't have the money to hire people who work exclusively on technology, says Carol Cummings, founding executive director of NPower Texas, a nonprofit technology provider in Austin, Tex. She says you might consider expanding your search to look at nonprofit groups like NPower that offer technology services to other charities.

Even more important, he says, choose charities for whose cause you have a passion, whether it's climate change, animal rights, or homelessness.

"You can talk to people about their mission as well as technology," he says. "You're not just a person who wants to work at a nonprofit because you think it's easy."

Q. I raise corporate and foundation funds for a charity in the Boston area. I am currently a development associate, making in the mid-40s, and earn less than my colleagues who have less education and experience, and who have lower annual fund-raising goals assigned to them. (Mine for 2009 is $500,000, 25 percent higher than last year.) I have approached my boss for a raise and title change. What's my market value?

A. Yours is a good question, and one you perhaps should have asked before approaching your boss. "Even if you're working hard and you think you add a lot to the organization, you need to come in with information," says Susan Egmont, a recruiter in Boston who works with nonprofit clients.

What you need to pinpoint is not so much your general market value as your value to the organization in which you work, Ms. Egmont says. That value depends on the financial condition of the charity and the type of organization it is; an organization on shaky financial ground will be less likely to give you a raise than one supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she says. A hospital may pay more than a neighborhood child-care center, and a large charity more than a small one.

The pay structure of your organization also comes into play, she says. What do big-gifts fund raisers make, compared with staff members who work on the annual fund or raise money from corporate and foundation grants? Would you make more if you had a supervisory role?

For more information about salaries, consult the annual survey produced by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Also, Professionals for Nonprofits, a recruiting organization, released in March its annual surveys of nonprofit salaries in two markets it serves, New York and Washington.

While it's important to arm yourself with data, clarifying the pay structure of your department should not be your responsibility, says Sue Rapple, chief fund raiser at Harvard Medical School, in Boston.

Your department's leaders, she says, should regularly compare the organization's pay scale to that of other, similar local charities, write clear job descriptions for every position within the department, and set fair standards for compensation based on job duties.

Ms. Rapple says that if a clear pay structure doesn't exist where you work, you might respectfully request that your supervisors review job descriptions and salary levels throughout the department, rather than just your own.

She also recommends not making your case based on how much you're expected to raise. "Whether you're raising $15-million or $500,000, the work is really the same," she says. Instead, compare your existing job description with your actual duties. If there's a big disparity between the two, you have a good case, she says.

If you don't get the raise and title change you've asked for, ask your supervisor when he or she will be able to reconsider your request, for instance at the beginning of a new budget year or when new financing comes in, Ms. Egmont says.

Then again, "in this economy, where people are laying off development staff, it's probably not the best time to be asking," she says. "You might take a breath and wait six months."

Q. I'm an undergraduate student interested in a career working in marketing and communications for a charity. Where can I find internships along these lines?

A. Stop by your college's career-placement or work-study office, say nonprofit executives and internship coordinators. But don't stop there. Because many charities only advertise jobs and internships on their own Web sites, Cynthia Ragland, vice president for marketing and communications at the Orange County Community Foundation, in Irvine, Calif., suggests you also conduct online research, but not until you've narrowed your interests down. "Start with your passion," she says. "What are you interested in?" Then visit the Web sites of charities that do work in that area and see if they use interns.

But not all nonprofit internships are advertised. Kathleen McBride, vice president for communications and online strategy at Volunteers of America, says she hires one or two summer interns a year — and has never actively looked for them. Employees come to her, she says, looking for internships for relatives and friends.

"Talk to your parents' friends and find out where they're working," Ms. McBride says. She also recommends attending meetings and visiting the online job boards of professional groups like the Public Relations Society of America, the American Society of Association Executives, the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, and statewide nonprofit associations.

Even if you see ads only for full-time marketing and communications jobs, rather than internships, Ms. McBride says, "if there's an opening, then there's a clear indicator that there's work there."

If the charities you're interested in aren't advertising for interns, request an informational interview with the marketing director — or, at smaller charities, with the executive director or chief fund raiser, Ms. Ragland says. "A lot of times, even if they're not hiring, they might be able to point you in the right direction," she says.

And since small charities rarely have marketing departments, you might want to look beyond marketing and communication to more general internships, says Marissa Niranjan, who markets merchandise for the Snow Leopard Trust, a conservation group in Seattle. Many nonprofit organizations would be happy to have you help out on a communications or marketing project they otherwise wouldn't have time for, she says. "Put together a proposal of a project you could do, how your experience will fit what they need," she says. "Ask if there's something they want to market but haven't had time."

Similarly, she suggests you could look for a volunteer opportunity and turn it into an internship. "I'm sure people would be willing to set up a structure and a schedule and a project," she says.

Keep in mind that given this year's tough job market, competition for internships might be stiffer than usual, Ms. McBride says: "People who'd normally get jobs are taking internships." Still, she says, most nonprofit groups would welcome free or low-cost help from a college intern.