Monthly Archives: October 2009

10.21.09
by

Online Chat: Nonprofit Careers Using Peace Corps Experience

Posted as part of Nonprofit Career Month, featuring the diversity of professional opportunities in the nonprofit sector.

Peace Corps experience isn’t just for people who want to become international development leaders or Swahili professors or even English teachers. Peace Corps assignments vary immensely, the technical training and hands on experiences that Volunteers get are intense — and valuable for people thinking about nonprofit careers.

Whether you’re just starting out in a career, or have years of experience you can apply for Peace Corps assignments with direct application for later nonprofit work, such as:

This coming Monday join nonprofit leaders who are applying their Peace Corps experience directly to their current jobs in an online chat about Peace Corps:

Jessica Ross served as a community development volunteer in South Africa from 1998 to 2000 where she worked on several projects, including the creation of a youth HIV/AIDS awareness team that educated youth in rural schools. Currently, Ross is the Associate Director of Development for Treehouse, a non-profit organization that fills the gaps for kids in foster care by providing services that no other agency addresses, including money for extra-curricular activities and summer camp, professional educational support services, resources to fully participate in the everyday activities of growing up, clothing and supplies to help them fit in at school.

Maureen Oscadal served as a health volunteer in Zambia from 2006 to 2009 where she worked on a variety of health outreach initiatives as part of the Community Action for Health Project. She also became heavily involved and even led malaria education and prevention programs. Currently, Oscadal is the Program Coordinator for the Hepatitis Education Project (HEP), a Seattle-based non-profit which has grown from a support group for people living with Hepatitis C to a statewide program that raises awareness, teaches prevention, promotes political action, and provides information and support to those living with the virus.

The hour-long chat takes place Monday, October 26th, at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT. Learn more here.  Registration is required!

10.20.09
by

Free Webcast Today: Nonprofit Career Tips with Meg Busse and Steve Joiner

Posted as part of Nonprofit Career Month, featuring the diversity of career opportunities in the nonprofit sector.

Today, Tuesday, October 20, as Idealist hosts a Nonprofit Career Fair together with Seattle University, we will also run a live webcast during an accompanying information session, “Connecting Intention to Action. Connecting Action to Career” (1:30-2:30 pm PST).

Meg Busse and Steve Joiner, Directors of the Career Transitions Program here at Idealist, will lead this workshop.

They’ll take a holistic view of the career search by helping participants to:

  • See themselves and their career paths in a more complex and complete way
  • Understand several self-assessment tools that will help them articulate their experiences, skills, values, and priorities in a compelling way
  • Explore the “nuts and bolts” of the nonprofit sector in order to gain a larger view of how they might fit in
  • Explore ways to create intentional opportunities with organizations by exploring the synergy between their self and sector understanding

This event will also be offered as a free webcast to the first 150 attendees who register.

If you are interested in joining us via the web, here is the log-in information:

To access the presentation, click here.
To call in, dial: 866-740-1260
Enter the code: 2270113

To learn more: http://www.nonprofitcareermonth.org/simulcasts

10.20.09
by

Make an Hour for Change

Reminder: Sunday, November 1st, set your clocks back an hour, as daylight savings time ends around the country and standard time resumes.

In case you are wondering how you can productively use that extra hour, check out Make Time for Change, a campaign that asks you to commit to devoting the extra 60 minutes to a child.

For every pledge on their website, the refrigerator company Frigidaire will donate a dollar to Save the Children’s Change program that provides healthy snacks and promotes healthy habits for U.S. kids.

Free login is required in order to pledge but you don’t have to give your phone number (you do have to share an email address they use to verify you) and you can opt out of receiving offers.

10.19.09
by

Volunteering and Service in Prime Time

Service becomes the theme of mainstream t.v. shows this week.

I’m so excited to watch t.v. this week because I want to see how television tackles volunteerism and service — if you haven’t heard, all week, prime time shows are taking true stories of volunteerism and nonprofit work and weaving into their plots.

More than 90 shows are participating (did you know there were 90 primetime shows in a week? I didn’t) and many stars are offering public service announcement style endorsements of community service.

Some examples of what I mean, according to the HollywoodReporter.com:

  • “Parks and Recreation” — the newish comedy starring Saturday Night Live’s Amy Poehler, as a local government leader — is featuring a playground build with an organization I’m a big fan of, KaBoom. Poehler’s character has been working to convert an abandoned and dangerous pit into a park and this week it’s finally going to happen with the help of KaBoom. Watch the episode here.
  • “The Biggest Loser” weight-loss contestants will volunteer at a Los Angeles food bank— here is the PSA airing as part of the show:
  • “Brothers” stars will volunteer as coaches.
  • “CSI: NY”‘s Dr. Sheldon Hawkes volunteers at a hospital.
  • Actors Simon Baker, Emily Deschanel, Eva Longoria Parker, Rainn Wilson, Kate Walsh along with some all-star casts will appear in PSAs.
  • General Hospital offers this direct reference to the iParticipate campaign with a few simple lines of diaologue:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy is trying to track the t.v. shows that feature volunteerism on a live blog. Let them know what you’ve seen on their website.

The initiative has been coordinated by the Entertainment Industry Foundation in partnership with Service Nation the campaign to expand service opportunities in the United States. The multi-year initiative is called iParticipate and you can learn more about it on the iParticipate website, and/or follow iParticipate on Twitter.

10.19.09
by

Should you Go to Grad School?

Guest post by Jung Fitzpatrick, who coordinates Idealist’s Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center.

The challenging thing about deciding to apply for graduate school is that each person’s situation is unique. Here are a few things to think about:

You can gain skills and knowledge in a number of ways.

Grad school is just one of them. If you feel you’re in a rut at your current job, perhaps you should talk to your supervisor to see if
you can take on new responsibilities or projects. You can also start looking for another job. If you are unemployed, you can always volunteer or intern with an organization – perhaps even proposing a project that would benefit the organization and allow you to learn and gain some new skills.

Alternatively you can sign up for classes such as continuing education courses or local professional development workshops.

Grad school costs money.

Unless you are applying for a doctoral level program that will fund your education, most professional masters programs charge tuition. Even with financial aid, mostly in the form of student loans, you will be responsible for the cost of your degree. There are some programs that offer free tuition to their students, but they are competitive and
usually have specific eligibility requirements. The National Urban Fellows is a full-tuition fellowship for mid-career professionals of color who are interested in getting a Masters in Public Administration. Forte Foundation works with business schools to recruit more women and offers full-tuition through its Forte Fellows program. These sorts of programs are few and far between, though.

With some research, flexibility and creativity, you may be able to reduce the cost of a graduate education. Read more about financing your graduate education.

There are alternatives to full-time graduate study.

You can work while you study, or get a certificate in a degree area. These alternatives may also help you afford further education.

If you’re unfazed by cost and really feel that grad school will give you an opportunity to achieve your goals, then you can read these articles for your next steps. You can also check to see if one of our remaining Idealist.org Graduate Degree Fairs for the Public Good is coming to a city near you this fall!

Best of luck!