HOTLINE
The Chronicle's Philanthropy Careers asked its readers to submit questions about job hunting, recruitment, and management challenges in the nonprofit world. In our monthly advice column, we respond to some of your inquiries with tips about resources and wisdom from experts in the field.
Q. I would like to provide management assistance to charities to help them build stronger programs, and also review programs' requests for funding. How can I prepare to become a program officer for a foundation?
A. Program officers often take many paths to their jobs. To prepare, gain as much experience as you can in a specific nonprofit field, such as children's health or the environment. "Program officers usually come to foundations after pursuing careers in academia, public charities, or agencies. Foundations hire us because we have deep knowledge and expertise in a particular area," says Susan M. Fitzpatrick, vice president of the James S. McDonnell Foundation, in St. Louis, which supports scientific research and scholarship.
One of the best ways to gain that expertise is to wear as many hats as possible within the field where you hope to supervise grant making, and preferably gain some experience outside of the program arena, says Michael Fleming, program director of the David Bohnett Foundation, in Los Angeles, which supports social activism, especially gay and lesbian advocacy. "I would suggest to you that the most effective program officers I know came to their jobs with years of experience doing something other than giving money away," he says. "If you really want to give to community-based organizations, nothing will prepare you better than to work in the trenches for those very agencies today."
You should also add nuts-and-bolts nonprofit management experience to your expertise in a particular area of philanthropy, says David M. Zemel, senior program officer at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, in Tulsa, Okla., which supports Jewish philanthropy. "When I'm looking to add to our staff," says Mr. Zemel, "I look for people in one of two categories: people with a great deal of experience and expertise in a specific field that's a foundation priority, or people with broad nonprofit experience that includes fund raising, direct services, agency management, and grant making."
Prospective program officers' training in nonprofit management skills should include a grounding in the legal issues that apply to their area of specialty. "Knowing a little something about training also helps," Mr. Zemel adds. "Volunteers provide hundreds of billions of dollars of time to nonprofits, and the need to train and retrain laypeople in direct service, management, and governance is never-ending."
Finally, be aware that management assistance and reviewing proposals are often projects that foundations hire consultants to do, says Mr. Zemel, so you might find that your specific interests are not handled by a program officer. "Technical assistance is what staff workers and program assistants provide," says Ms. Fitzpatrick. "The technical aspect of philanthropy is a sidelight."
Q. I am a nonprofit strategic-planning specialist and former development director. I moved to Paris last year and have been volunteering at various charities. I've secured my work permit, I know how to obtain lists of nonprofit groups, and I'm planning to send out résumés. Do you have any specific advice on seeking employment here?
A. You're definitely off to the right start, says Kenneth T. Hoffman, a fund-raising and grant-making consultant in Lexington, Mass., who has clients overseas. When you're seeking work in the nonprofit field in another country, the most important task is to absorb the major and subtle differences in the culture and day-to-day operations of a nonprofit organization -- which, Mr. Hoffman says, you may be able to do by volunteering.
You've probably already discovered that charities are regarded differently in Europe than in the United States, says Jeff Hurwit, a lawyer in Newton, Mass., who specializes in nonprofit law and has clients in Europe and Israel. "In other countries, nonprofits are seen as tangential. It's not the same kind of culture of giving" as in the United States, Mr. Hurwit says. "Here it's built into the tax code, and we recognize the whole notion of charitable giving. In most of the other places I've worked it's much more restricted and regulated, and the range of nonprofit organization is much more limited." As a result, he says, certain nonprofit jobs that are common to U.S. charities may be harder to find abroad.
Therefore, your task will be to show that you can apply your U.S.-gained experience to French nonprofit groups, says Mr. Hoffman. "When Americans go to work anywhere in Europe, they have to signal both the competence from home, and the willingness to learn and to adapt to the niceties to the other cultures," he says. "It has to be approached very delicately, without the sense that I have all the answers, but rather that I have some answers that work very well in some other country and let's see what I can apply here."
France is an especially tough place to maintain that balance, says Thomas Harris, founder of the Virtual Consulting Firm, a nonprofit consulting company that operates around the world and is headquartered in France. Mr. Harris, who works with French clients, has a word of caution for you: "You will see that the French market is hard if not impossible to crack." French organizations approach fund raising differently than U.S. charities, he says -- few French nonprofit groups, for example, approach donors through direct-mail campaigns. "To work in their milieu," he says, "you have to speak perfect French and think like a Frenchman." To learn more about the cultural ins and outs of nonprofit organizations in France, and in the rest of the world, you might want to see a reference book that Mr. Harris edited, International Fund Raising for Not-For-Profits: A Country by Country Profile (John Wiley & Sons, 1999, $160). You also might want to go to About.com's selection of Web links for international job seekers -- it can direct you to employment sites, guides to etiquette, and more.
Q. Where can I find sample contracts that nonprofit executive directors could use when negotiating with a board of directors?
A. The American Society of Association Executives, in Washington, has a model of an employment agreement for a chief executive that you might find useful. Association members can call to get free additional copies of sample contracts by calling (202) 626-2742.
The association's Web site offers more resources for people in search of information on CEO contracts, according to Janice Dluzynski, director of the association's information and CEO Central services. You can also read the following online articles: "Smart Contracts: An Executive's Guide", "Due Diligence for Nonprofit Executives Prior to Signing Final Contract", and "Legal: Key Elements in Association Executive Employment Contracts".
You can also check out "Chief Executive Compensation," a 20-page booklet from BoardSource, formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards, in Washington. It doesn't include a sample contract, says John DiConsiglio, senior editor at BoardSource, but it does walk you through the process of negotiating an employment agreement. You can order it on the BoardSource Web site at a price of $12 for the group's members, $16 for non-members.
Q. I have retired from business and want to pursue a career in nonprofit organizations. How relevant is a master's of public administration for this career change?
Q.I recently left a nonprofit education role. I am working on my master's in business administration and would like to use it in a nonprofit job. Do you have any suggestions for me?
A. Nonprofit job seekers often find themselves uncertain about which kind of advanced degree would be the most helpful to them, says Kristen J. McCormack, director of the public and nonprofit management program at Boston University. For someone who is retiring from business and moving into charity work, she says, a master's in public administration would be quite relevant -- but it's not required. "You're going to be valuable because of your experience," she says.
If you still choose to go for your M.P.A., make sure you're choosing a program that reflects your career goals, Ms. McCormack says. Some M.P.A. programs are more public-policy focused, she says, which may be helpful in larger nonprofit organizations, but if you're thinking of working for a smaller charity, make sure you go for a program that covers the nuts and bolts of nonprofit management. "In the smaller nonprofits -- those in the under $10-million area -- one needs to have a firm grasp of how to make the trains run on time and how to pay for it," she says.
For advanced work in management, an M.B.A. is definitely applicable to the nonprofit world, Ms. McCormack says, and is a particularly valuable investment to a person who enters the nonprofit sector without a business background.
Some charities may seek out candidates with M.B.A.s for specific jobs. For example, the Food Bank for New York City seeks M.B.A. holders when hiring for its external-relations department, says Kemba Johnson, the group's spokeswoman. Because that staff must interact with business executives on behalf of the charity, she says, "an M.B.A. helps staff frame issues in terms that potential supporters in the corporate world can understand and relate to."
To make your M.B.A. the most meaningful to your future nonprofit boss, Ms. McCormack says, choose a degree program that will allow you to have a concentration in nonprofit management, or at least allow you to take advantage of internships and other opportunities to connect your classroom work with the nonprofit field.
If you're interested in foundation work, don't rule out the pursuit of an advanced degree outside the realm of specific nonprofit management fields, says Mark E. Neithercut, vice president of the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, in Detroit. At a grant-making institution, a degree in an appropriate area of expertise, such as environmental health or economic development, might be valued more highly than an M.B.A. or M.P.A.
Here is a list of colleges and universities that offer advanced degrees applicable to nonprofit work. You can also search for programs by degree, by region, or by state at this Web site. Before you enroll in any program, be sure to contact alumni to find out where they're currently working, to get a sense of the opportunities your degree may offer you, Ms. McCormack suggests.
Be advised, however, that an advanced degree may make the most difference in terms of qualifications to people at the beginning of their careers, says Lin Grensing-Pophal, a human-resources consultant in Chippewa Falls, Wisc., who specializes in nonprofit clients. "There comes a point when experience is equally if not more important than degrees," she says. "In the nonprofit environment, a job candidate who has a significant track record in fund raising, grant-proposal writing, etc., might be amore attractive candidate than a candidate with an M.B.A. who has less practical experience."
Got a question about job hunting, recruiting, or managing in the nonprofit world? Send it to us at hotline@philanthropy.com.