Tag Archives: Nonprofit leadership

Interns as Potential Employees: Partnering With Local Colleges & Universities

Interns as Potential Employees: Partnering with Local Colleges & Universities

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The engine that drives any business, whether in the private sector or the nonprofit world, is a diverse staff with a range of talents and expertise. Any nonprofit consulting firm will advise that maintaining veteran employees while injecting a fresh perspective with newer employees is critical in keeping that engine a well-oiled machine.

One important way that organizations can balance the depth of employees is to create an internship program that boosts staff numbers in the short term but also has the potential to create long-term employees. Forming partnerships with local as well as regional colleges and universities is the perfect place to start.

Define Your Needs

Analyze your programs and determine where gaps exist. An intern could potentially fill those gaps to enable programs to function at full capacity. Nonprofit organizations have an enormous breadth of departments and programs that would be conducive to aligning interns with areas that need attention that staff members can’t create or complete.

Simple observations aren’t enough. Your numbers will tell a more comprehensive story. Are you falling short of fundraising goals? Maybe an intern in your development and marketing departments could provide an added benefit to securing more dollars. Are clients missing out on direct services because there just aren’t enough employees to provide assistance to those who need it? Project-specific interns can assist seasoned program specialists, ensuring that no one falls through the cracks.

And always ask your staff what they need. They are often spread too thin and know where problem areas could benefit from an extra hands on deck.

Win-Win Partnerships

Colleges and universities in your area can provide a wealth of potential intern candidates that match your organization’s needs for augmenting services as well as adding to the depth of expertise on staff.

Students and faculty often look for internship opportunities for specific fields and programs. Depending on the school, look for campus departments like career centers whose purpose is to match students with local businesses and nonprofit organizations in order to fill academic requirements.

It may also be helpful to contact college deans, department chairs, or professors to discuss what you have available or what can possibly be created to not only fill gaps in staff and programs but to also provide a rich, experiential opportunity.

Make sure you convey the benefits of establishing this partnership. Students will gain real-world workplace experience in their fields and will be actively contributing to helping their community. Colleges and universities will improve their position in the community by aligning with nonprofit organizations whose missions are defined by giving back to improve people’s lives. And they improve their track record of turning students into employed graduates.

Thinking Outside the Internship Box

Contemplate the areas of study with which to identify potential interns in. The field of social work is an obvious place to start because many graduates will gravitate to direct services provided by many nonprofits. But there are also other academic majors to consider as possibilities in establishing an internship program.

• Communications: College students are tech-savvy when it comes to online platforms. A communications major intern could help to build your online presence across multiple social media platforms or help with other traditional media like writing press releases.

• Advertising and Marketing: Interns from these fields can bring cutting-edge knowledge about building your brand and conveying the purpose of your mission across a variety of media channels.

• Computer Science: Your team has had ideas for a database that links programs or a system that tracks numbers for grants compliance, but the expense has prevented this from going beyond a dream. Interns with software creation skills could help maximize efficiency with their ability to design programs and applications.

Many in nonprofit leadership seek advice from experts in nonprofit consulting about how to conserve or stretch funding while remaining a viable source of assistance in their community. Whether your nonprofit is looking to fill in gaps for the long term or short, we believe that internships can be a great way to help with that, while also providing the often-needed experience that new grads need when finishing up school. For help navigating the internship space, or to learn about other cost sharing employment strategies, contact KM Clark Consulting.

Train Your Team Members to Live the Nonprofit Organization's Mission

Train Your Team Members to Live the Nonprofit Organization’s Mission

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In the nonprofit world, people are the lifeblood of what we do. That’s great, except… it’s hard to keep people’s commitment and motivation high, and this is especially true for those that are volunteering their time.

So what do we do about that?

We have to get people to buy into our nonprofit mission. We have to get them excited about the work we do. We have to make sure that our staff and volunteers are happy about what they are doing and that it is making a real difference. How do we do all of that, though?

My best advice? Train your team members to live the nonprofit organization’s mission. Easier said than done, right? Well, let’s take a look at how our nonprofit consulting team practices what we preach.

Board Members

Your board members should be 100% committed to the nonprofit mission. While it seems obvious that board members should know the mission inside and out, this isn’t always true! Some board members might only have a surface-level understanding of the mission or issue at hand. This is why you should take some time to share the impact of your nonprofit mission through testimonials. It’s also important that all board members have a good understanding of your sustainable nonprofit’s history.

Start turning your new board members into enthusiastic fans of the mission at orientation. Stop waiting for the mission to sell itself! You should do this, even if the “training” consists only of an informal briefing accompanied by handouts. Employees need to be “sold” on the mission too, though in different ways.

Paid Staff

You’ll also want to take a look at your paid staff. How can you ensure that they understand the nonprofit mission and are truly committed to making a difference? Here are a few ways to do that:

Put it in writing! Make sure all staff members have access to the organization’s mission statement, vision statement, and values. Get them written down in one place (like on the company’s public website) so everyone sees it. Also, make sure your paid staff’s job descriptions include a reference to the nonprofit’s mission and vision.

When you conduct performance reviews with your team members, make sure to ask them how they are living the mission. This will give you a better understanding of what they do and don’t understand about the sustainable nonprofit’s mission and how you can better communicate it. If they don’t know, it’s your job to tell them!

Make training a part of your job responsibilities. That is, if you expect employees to be aware and engaged about the mission, make sure they know how to do it. Implement training programs for all employees. It doesn’t have to be long or expensive, just brief and focused on the mission. A presentation in your lunchroom or break room will work great!

Volunteers

We’ve talked about staff members and the board, but what about volunteers? How do you train them to live the mission?

Start with orientation. At orientation, provide your volunteers with an overview of the sustainable nonprofit, its mission, and send them off with a copy of the mission statement and any other important documents. Check-in with your volunteers and ask them how they’re doing at least once per month. Take these opportunities to answer any questions about the mission they might have and/or reinforce their knowledge of the mission and how their work fits into it.

As with paid staff, train your volunteers! Provide them with training opportunities and make sure they know how to live the mission.

All of these efforts will culminate in a united, enthusiastic team dedicated to making a difference and fighting the good fight!

Nonprofit Consulting and Training

Are you looking for a way to improve your organization’s board and workforce?

We know that the people who work at your nonprofit are its most valuable resource. That’s why we want to help you create the best possible board and workforce for your organization. Our nonprofit consulting agency can provide the training and tools to help ensure that everyone knows and lives the mission of your sustainable nonprofit, so they can make an even bigger impact on their communities.

We would love the opportunity to show you how KM Clark Consulting Group sets itself apart from the other nonprofit consultants out there today – our nonprofit consulting experts will provide you with all the tools and resources you need to build a great team. If you want more information about how we can help, please get in touch with us today! We look forward to hearing from you soon.