non profit organizations (employees, degrees, non-profit, fundraising)

[sincere1782]

Hello, i have been trying to find employment in non profit organizations dealing with health or children's issues. However I do not know where to start or what to do to get the process going. I went to school for public relations and though about getting a master's in public health hoping that companies might take me seriously then. I have applied for jobs in health clinics and volunteer organizations only to come up with no replies. Any advice will greatly be appreciated.

[Atlantis]

Check idealist.org - Welcome to Idealist.org - Imagine. Connect. Act. for job listings. Also, look in the phone book, maybe under human services or children's services (not sure what the categories in the phone book are), and go to the web sites of those organizations to check for job listings.

You should be able to search by category if you go to a web site with job listings in your area.

[TracySam]

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[TracySam]

I work in human services/ behavioral health. Most of the entry level jobs in this field (like residential counselors or vocational assistants) don't require experience in the field, and welcome people who majored in something else or want to change careers. The only obstcle to this is that the state regulations that govern some programs want a degree or the experience in a certain field. But in many cases you can get around that with doing volunteer work in the human services field while still working in your current field.

That was weird, my post just "posted itself" before I finished typing....

Anyway, it would help if we knew your city & state. I have a bunch of resources on human service organizations all over the country.

Also, if you are going to the non-profit sector, expect the salaries to be lower than in the for-profit world. But to make up for that, many non-profits offer excellent benefits to make up for the lower salaries. We start with 3 weeks vacations a year, and it increases every year you stay. On top of that are 12 sick days, plus personal days. Plus we have great medical benefits and only pay $10 a paycheck. Non-profits like mine who value their employees offer these things so they will stay.

Also, with a PR degree, you might get a job in "development" for a non-profit company. In our world "development" usually means fundraising, grantwriting, marketing our services, etc. Look for job ads with Development in the title. Look for a short class in grant-writing, take it, and use that to break into the field. Unfortunately, many in my field have advanced degrees in behavioral health fields, but can't string a coherent paragraph together. The can't write a grant proposal to save their lives, so companies hire a person do specicially do that.

If there is a university near you that has a Social Work program, see if they have a grant writing class. One class can't be too expensive, even for a whole semester.