Folly #9: Lived Experience Over Degrees
Check yourself on that B.S. (or B.A.) as you plan for 2023 staffing.
In my highly unscientific search this week for part-time jobs in “fundraising,” over 1,200 showed up on Indeed and Idealist. Of Indeed’s, 74% require a college (or graduate) degree. Idealist was better, where 56% required college. The Philanthropy Network’s more senior Development Director jobs all required a BA, and most “preferred” an advanced degree.
What part of connecting donors to nonprofits requires a college degree??
My family and life experience taught me the skills that make me a good fundraiser, not school. Listening. Persistence. Respect. A shared desire to make things better. Curiosity about complex issues and possible solutions. Being organized. How to communicate.
(And another nod to my mom, who went to law school in her 60s.)
Fundraising is a job that anyone can do (with common sense, people skills, and a little guidance) and there are always nonprofits looking for fundraisers. This is an area where every one of us can really create change. Here’s how:
Drop the degree requirement. Just leave it out of every fundraising job description from now on. Easy peasy.
Promote from within. Employees with admin, social media or events experience have communication and organizational skills. They’re already building relationships for your organization, so ask if they’d like to learn fundraising. I teach classes at community college and workforce development programs, and my curriculum is online for free.
Hire a former client. Who can tell a more compelling story about your work than someone whose life was changed because of it? Talk about wowing your donors with the impact of their support. For those seeking to build confidence in their language or writing skills, Grammarly or some one-on-one coaching can go a long way towards a new career path.
I fell into fundraising because I volunteered at community events during the evenings and on weekends – after my day job. When I got laid off from the corporate world I wondered, “Can I get paid to do what I’m doing for fun?” Turned out, planning events taught me to work with donors. Soliciting sponsorship was great training for proposal writing. Working with, and being accountable to, lots of different kinds of people trained me to be a development director.
I did go to college. Those four years of poli sci, international affairs, and french had absolutely no impact on my career in fundraising. (Ah, if only I could have studied behavioral economics!) No classes on donors or nonprofits. No job referrals from alumni. Nothing related to philanthropy. Nada. Zilch.
Please think seriously about taking college degrees out of your fundraising hiring decisions in 2023.
Have a great hiring story to share? I’d love to interview you for a future Folly. Pick a time that’s convenient for you from my online calendar.
Next week … Folly Take 10: Philanthropy Resolutions.
This is powerful. I am one of the "lucky" ones, I have an MPA degree and took a few classes on nonprofit management in grad school. Most of my colleagues in this line of work have wild and varied career paths some have a BA or BS, very few have anything more than that. What I have noticed is that many nonprofit directors have a sincere sense of impostor syndrome since they don't have degrees and they don't feel like they belong. The best thing we can do for these leaders is give them the encouragement to realize they do belong and there are very few people in this line of work that have all the credentials. This can be such a lonely line of work and a little encouragement can go a long, long way.