WRITING FOR NONPROFITS
with Beverly Sanford, Patricia Solis, Kris Conner & Cathy Tremontana
Hosted by Paula Foster
Edited by: Stephanie Gannon
November 2002
The following Guest Speaker Discussion originally took place on WRK4US in November of the year 2002. Because WRK4US has a confidentiality policy, all names and email addresses have been altered or removed, except for the moderator's and the Guest Speakers'.
The discussion can be read in two ways- by simply scrolling down and reading the whole thing, or by clicking on the topical links below, which take you to specific places within the discussion. The discussion can also be printed out in its entirety for your reading convenience.
Special thanks to Stephanie Gannon who volunteered her time to edit this discussion and prepare it for posting on the web. If you are interested in editing a future discussion, your help will be much appreciated; email Paula Foster, WRK4US List Manager, at pfchambers@sbcglobal.net .
INTRODUCTION TO GUEST SPEAKERS
COMMERCIAL EDITORIAL FIRMS
GRANTWRITING CERTIFICATION
SEARCHING FOR REWARDING NONPROFIT JOBS
MINORITY REPORT
BALANCING WORK AND LIFE
NONPROFIT'S SIZE vs. AVERAGE WORKLOAD
COLLABORATIVE WORK & "PROFITABILITY" ISSUES
POLITICS OF SCALE, NONWRITING & TEAMWORK
EDITING AND WRITING
FREELANCING
MARKETING FOR FREELANCERS
BREAKING INTO WRITING FOR NONPROFITS
FINDING NONPROFIT JOBS
Close of discussion
Introduction of Guest Speakers
Dear WRK4US,
Yes indeed, as you can see, we have already started a week-long Guest Speaker discussion, on the topic of Writing for Nonprofits. Four speakers are with us (Beverly Sanford, Patricia Solis, Kristine Conner, and Cathy Tramontana), representing a variety of experiences with writing for nonprofits.
If you would like to unsubscribe, please just follow the instructions at the bottom of every message you get from WRK4US. If you would like to talk about something not related to writing for nonprofits, please hold your comments until after Friday, when this discussion ends.
Thank you,
Paula Foster
WRK4US list manager
Cathy Tramontana, Ph.D.
Associate Editor, Project 2061
American Association for the Advancement of Science
ctramont@aaas.org
Thanks to Paula Foster and everyone on the list for this opportunity to share my story and participate in this discussion. The decision to pursue a Ph.D. was an easy one for me; the decision to leave academia after completing the Ph.D. and pursue a nonacademic career was a difficult one, but one that I don't regret. I went to graduate school right after college in 1992 to study Literatures in English because I simply was not done learning yet. I felt a strong desire and need to continue the research on women's World War I poetry that I had begun my senior year. I also became interested in teaching after participating in a teaching practicum for a freshman introduction to literature course. So I went off to graduate school at Rutgers University, where I learned a great deal but developed--particularly during and after my qualifying exams experience--a nagging ambivalence about an academic career.
I spent the final two years of writing my dissertation telling anyone who asked about my future plans that I was "on the fence" about whether to pursue university teaching or move into a nonacademic career. When I got married, I had moved three and a half hours away from the university where I had done my graduate course work and been a teaching assistant, so writing the dissertation was a very isolating experience. Still, I felt fortunate to have a self-directed research and writing project to put my intellectual energies into and enjoyed giving conference papers related to my dissertation work. At the same time, I felt the need to expand my abilities into new areas, areas that seemed more welcoming and rewarding than the culture of low expectations I experienced as a graduate student in academia. I had already gotten a taste of how else I could use my skills when I worked for a summer during graduate school at Rutgers University Press. Working in the press's editorial and production department, I discovered that I had a facility for the kind of copyediting and production editing I was doing and found that my abilities were very much valued by my employers.
So while I continued to write the dissertation, I began doing part-time temporary work for a commercial editorial firm in the Washington, D.C., metro area (EEI Communications for those of you in the D.C. region). After passing the firm's fairly rigorous tests, I did a variety of proofreading, editing, and writing jobs at national associations, public policy institutes, medical and health care companies, and other typical Washington, D.C., employers. And I took advantage of my firm's very significant discounts on training courses for employees. Not only did temporary work give me a great introduction to the region's job market, but it also introduced me to number of project management styles and office environments. When I graduated in the spring of 2000, I could identify what kind of organizations I'd be happy working for and how I'd like to spend my working hours.
I chose a position with a nonprofit association that I had already been working at for three months as a temporary editor and writer. Having those three months to research the organization from the inside and test out the office environment was invaluable. Since September 2000 I have been enjoying work as an associate editor in the communications department of Project 2061, a long-term education reform initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (The project takes its name from the next year that Halley's Comet will be visible from earth. Children starting school now will see the comet's return in 2061, and their education in science and math will shape the quality of their lives as they come of age in the twenty-first century.) Project 2061 has a staff of about 25 people. AAAS, the publisher of the weekly journal Science, has a staff of over 350 people headquartered in Washington, D.C.
My communications job is enjoyable and challenging. The job is a blend of several different fields--writing and editing, production, and public relations. Typical duties include writing articles for our biannual newsletter; writing and distributing press releases; writing and revising content for our Web site; writing reports to our funders about the work their money has made possible; performing substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading for a variety of documents (e.g., books, grant proposals, academic journal articles by senior staff, research reports, conference proceedings, and promotional materials); managing both editorial/production projects and freelance editors; and contributing to our public outreach initiative to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of science literacy. I've also written scripts for and provided the audio voice-over for Flash multimedia demonstrations. Lately my days have been taken up with duties as the content and production editor for our newsletter and with editing a huge online product that reports on Project 2061's evaluation of middle-grades science textbooks. We've also been redesigning and reconceptualizing our Web site, so the communications department has been working closely with the technology department on this project.
Although sometimes I grin at the irony that I spent nearly eight years pursuing a Ph.D. in the humanities only to find myself working for the advancement of science, I feel fortunate to work for an organization that values education, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and the use of knowledge for the betterment of society. Part think-tank, part academic department, Project 2061 is a place where doctorates (in any field) are valued and where I experience a greater sense of mission and teamwork than I did as a teaching assistant in an academic department. My colleagues are former teachers, education researchers, scientists, technology specialists, and other communications professionals. I especially like the job's variety of tasks and the opportunity to learn about public relations work (which I knew absolutely nothing about before this job). My academic background has helped me meet the continual challenge of translating academic, education jargon-filled writing into clear descriptions of the project's work suitable for a variety of audiences. There are times when I am ghostwriting drafts of an article for a staff member that I wish I was writing something I could call my own, even if it was just a paper assignment or final exam for students. And I do miss my academic field; teaching poetry to undergraduates can be a great way to spend a morning. But I don't miss the endless hours grading and commenting on expository writing papers or the sense I had as a graduate student that clarity and creativity in academic writing were valued far less than theoretical prowess for its own sake. While I occasionally envy some of our staff members their research projects, I have by no means exhausted the opportunities for learning and growing professionally that my communications position affords.
I'd be happy elaborate on my current position, my route to this job, or my reasons for pursuing the nonacademic path. I'm looking forward to the discussion.
Beverly Sanford
Director of Communications
The Woodrow Wilson Foundation
sanford@woodrow.org
http://www.woodrow.org
Hi, all. I'm Beverly Sanford, and since January 2002 I've been Director of Communications at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. (I should note--as CNN correspondents do every time they cover AOL Time Warner, their parent company--that Woodrow Wilson hosts this WRK4US discussion list through its Humanities at Work program.) Despite the "Foundation" in the name, Woodrow Wilson doesn't have an endowment from which we give grants; rather, we're an operating foundation, which generates revenues from outside sources for the sole purpose of supporting our programs and operations. And that makes us a nonprofit.
Officially this is my first job with a nonprofit organization, though I've had both volunteer board experience with other nonprofits and employment experience with an academic institute that operates like a nonprofit. So I'll speak from both experience and observation. (By the way, just to intrigue my fellow word-fiends: I once worked for an attorney who insisted on a significant legal difference between a "nonprofit" and a
"not-for-profit." The former, he claimed, never generates a profit, while the latter may generate a profit--for instance, sell a report for 10% over the cost of its production--but puts those revenues right back into operations, not into an employee's or shareholder's pocket. Virtually every organization I know of, these days, *must* generate revenues to operate, so I'll assume this is a difference that makes no difference and stick, for brevity's sake, with "nonprofit.")
I came to this job after 15 years in university administration. When I was A.B.D. in American lit at the University at Buffalo in 1989, just at the dissertation prospectus stage, my fellowship ran out. To keep myself in lentils, I took an internship as a staff writer in the office of the university president. That part-time gig became full-time, and I stayed for eight years, winding up as Assistant to the President for Communications, overseeing preparation of correspondence and writing speeches and reports.
To try a different direction, I left the UB President's Office in 1997 and became associate director of a regional affairs/public service institute--also a part of the university, but very much like a nonprofit because it was a soft-money shop (i.e., had to raise all its own program funds). As associate director, I both served as second-in-command and headed up communications efforts. Though I loved dealing with issues of government and regional politics, I decided in 2001 to track back into a career focused more specifically on communications, and to explore professional life off-campus. That's how I came to Woodrow Wilson in early 2002.
Here at WW, I'm a one-woman band as Director of Communications. My role encompasses communications strategy, administration, and planning, as well as actual writing and production. I work with the president and other Foundation officers to make sure that our publications--including the electronic ones, though I'm still trying to get to our website--portray well our identity, convey our mission, advance our current efforts and future plans, and help us connect, memorably and appealingly, with our key constituents. Media relations is also part of my charge, from trying to get coverage for our events and announcements to placing articles and editorials by our president in major newspapers.
Within this context, I do various kinds of writing: for news releases; for e-mail (an art in itself, as most of you know); for some traditional correspondence; for annual reports, brochures, and newsletters; and sometimes for the web. As that list implies, the audience also varies widely, from former fellows to media to general readers. In addition, I do a good bit of editing. For example, when we prepare progress reports for our Board of Trustees, I gather updates from the program officers for Woodrow Wilson's various projects and edit them all into a concise, easy-to-read (I hope) compendium. I'm also sometimes asked to help draft or edit other program materials.
Because I have some publications experience (I mean design/layout, as well as copywriting), I also take a hand in helping our programs publish flyers, brochures, and occasionally longer documents. On small projects, I've used my own layout skills. For the Foundation's annual report or for our semiannual newsletter, I work with outside designers on production, as well as write the copy.
As all of that implies, the part that actual writing plays in my day varies widely. When I'm in the middle of producing a newsletter or annual report, I may write all day. When there's a news release to be done, I may write for a couple of hours, review the draft release with the cognizant staff, redraft, and then spend the rest of the day figuring out which media markets to hit, tracking down reporters' contact info, sending out e-mails, making phone calls, putting together media kits (usually a folder of materials that includes the news release, along with pertinent brochures and other related documents). When I'm helping a program officer with a publication, we might spend a couple of hours meeting, and then she or he goes off to do further work--so that's usually less about writing and more about consulting, maybe editing.
And that all leads to one of the key points I'd make about "writing" for nonprofits: Few nonprofits are well-enough resourced to fund positions for people who just sit and write. Both at my previous university institute job and in this job, I've been called upon to do a range of administrative tasks, which help keep things lively. For example, I've spent the last six months coordinating a cross-country event (a Board meeting that included two panel presentations to the Board, a fundraising/friendraising reception, and a major public forum), and am only just now getting back to the writing side of my life. I would hasten to add that planning events is usually more a fundraising than a communications effort, but, well, we were short-handed at the time. And in that regard, I'd say that doing a communications job in a nonprofit demands flexibility, comfort with collaborative writing, and lots of openness to new tasks across the full range of public and community relations, marketing, and so on.
Let me also note more explicitly what a lot of the above implies--that is, that a *lot* of effort at nonprofits goes into generating funds (grants, contracts, gifts) in support of programs, which means that a communications officer has to work closely with the development (i.e., fundraising) staff. In fact, in some outfits I know of, a single person does fundraising and grant writing and communications--a combined portfolio that demands creativity and a real love of the work.
Whatever the specifics of the job, the good news about doing communications work in nonprofits is that it's often easy to love the work, because so many nonprofits exist to help people, do good, change the world. In that regard, I think that, if you can find a communications job in a nonprofit whose mission is dear to you, you are fortunate indeed.
So that's more than enough for an intro, even though there's lots more to say. I look forward to hearing the sorts of questions you may have, and to the broader discussion.
Patricia Solis
Presidential Fellow, University of Iowa
www.TheGrantDoctor.com
Greetings to all. My name is Patricia Solís, and I am not officially yet a PhD, but am ABD and scheduled to defend and graduate this December. My degree is in Geography, and I am currently a Presidential Fellow at the University of Iowa in Iowa City (since 1998).
During my PhD program -- actually beginning in 1996, I have provided consulting and writing services to local non-profit organizations, community service providers, entrepreneurs, and educational institutes, sometimes pro bono and other times for hire. My services as The Grant Doctor (www.thegrantdoctor.com) include project development, funding source searches, needs-assessment, grant writing and editing, and project evaluation. You can visit my website for details on the variety of funding agencies, success rate, clients, and services. I would only mention here that I also am a Certified Grants Specialist by the National Grant Writers Association and a member of the International Association of Grant Writers and Nonprofit Consultants. These outside credentials I believe offer my clients extra assurance and give me some additional legitimacy other than what my experience and degrees do alone. I am also transitioning into a non-consultant job with the Association of American Geographers in Washington DC starting in January as their Director of Research and Outreach, a position which will have me continuing to write and manage grants not only for my employer but also with many other non-profits that we work closely with.
How I got into this line of work was pure good luck. As I entered graduate school for my master's degree in Geography at Kansas State University, I wanted to gain some experience with international exchange programs, having just returned from an exciting period of study abroad. There was fortunately a small university-affiliated program called the International Teams Community Service Program that was looking for someone to help develop new exchanges with non-profits in Latin America. Although we were affiliated with the university in terms of educational credit and training, our funding came almost entirely from external sources. My two wonderful supervisors let me in on the process of grant writing, mentoring me and encouraging me along the way. Since that time, I have continued to use these skills I learned in my employment with a small western Kansas municipality as Director of Community Development. Again, this was a position where the institutional base provided little direct funding and resources for community projects had to come from the state or foundations, generally speaking. Also I worked a great deal with local non-profit agencies. It was there where I discovered how many organizations really could use a grant writer and began consulting 'on-the-side' with the blessing of my employer. When I later returned to get my PhD here at Iowa, I originally thought it would be to begin a path to re-enter academia and to embark upon a professor's life. However, perhaps because of my work experience outside the ivory tower, (or perhaps my disillusionment inside of it), I came to prefer to get back out there, so to speak, instead of sticking to a tenure track type of career. My new position in January with the AAG will be an exciting new chapter in my worklife -- bridging the academic worlds with the public and private sectors through a professional association.
About the consulting work I have done: If you learn from mistakes, than I can offer plenty of advice to anyone wishing to pursue this path. I have never attempted to make it a full time job upon which I financially depend and have not been able to earn enough money to do so. This may be because I always have had other employment taking up a good deal of time, or because I tend to do alot of pro bono work. I also have had the unhappy experience of attracting the type of clients with few resources to compensate me (which is why they need my services I suppose in the first place). I was also challenged with the very idea of charging people money for my time -- I have had no problem disciplining myself to complete the work on my own, but what I had trouble doing on my own was the business side of setting fees, etc. I suppose self-employment is not for the soft-hearted. However, the activity has served me well in terms of extra income, additional professional experience, and general personal fulfillment. I enjoy learning about a variety of projects, the process of eliciting a plan from my clients, encouraging them to put forth an effort, and writing about it to the end effect of gaining resources to implement great ideas. I really enjoy being a part of that process, without having to commit to the mundane day-to-day administration of grants.
I do not know what a typical day in my life will be like with my new job, but I expect it to be a wonderful team experience working with a small staff on writing and administering grants and projects. This is definitely one aspect about academic life that I sorely miss -- working with other people. Dissertating is a very lonely job, and necessarily so. Actually, right now I cannot say that I *miss* the academic life, since I am very much in the throes of it while wrapping up my dissertation. In fact, I am motivated to finish and excited to be expanding beyond these walls soon. In the future,I really do not expect I will eventually miss academic life, because I will be still connected to university departments since the association is the leading institution for my discipline. I do think I will like this aspect of the job -- it seems to be the best of both worlds. I have found a niche outside of the tenure pressures but still linked to all of the latest research, conferences, and new ideas.
Looking back, I think both 1) my work experience prior to returning to grad school and 2) my wide variety of experience during my higher ed studies a) within the university (e.g. working for university institutes instead of as a traditional RA) and b) external to it (e.g. consulting 'on-the-side') has really helped me to find an excellent place beyond academia while I still choose to keep one foot in the academic world.
I would be happy to expound on any aspect of my experience and answer any questions as I can about what I've written here or, even more fun, what I have left out.
Kris Conner
Freelance writer in areas of healthcare, medicine and education
kconner@thinkframe.com
Hello everyone.
My name is Kris Conner, and I have been working as a freelance writer for almost (gulp!) five years now. Since I took the plunge into the freelance life in early 1998, most of my clients have been nonprofit or governmental organizations concentrated in the areas of healthcare, medicine, and education. My projects have ranged from researching and writing content for the National Cancer Institute's patient-focused Web site on clinical trials (my first assignment back in 1998) to writing a full-length book for women with ovarian cancer (a current project) to developing admissions materials for Newark Academy (also a current assignment).
Before I talk more about my work, let me fill you in on my academic background, since it is what brought me to this list. While I was earning an undergraduate degree in English in the late 1980s, I started to think seriously about the possibility of one day pursuing a Ph.D. and a career as a college professor. I had two female professors in particular who became my role models, and I started to dream about running amazingly stimulating seminars (as they did) and going back to my cozy book-lined office to meet with students and write books of my own. After college, I taught middle school English for three years and then decided to pursue a terminal M.A., as I was unsure whether I really wanted to "go the distance" for the Ph.D. However, my Master's professors were so encouraging and seemed so certain I would do OK if I pursued the Ph.D. (despite the admittedly bad job market) that I decided to proceed to a Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia.
About six weeks into my program at UVA, I knew I had made a mistake. Don't get me wrong: I loved reading and writing about literature as much as I always had. But I think it made a real difference that, for the first time in my life, I was in a Ph.D.-preparation environment. And that's what it took to make me see that, dismal job market aside, being a professor was as much about churning out scholarship as it was about teaching. I had realized that in the abstract, but I finally confronted it head on after enrolling at UVA. And the thought of a life devoted to this type of writing scared the bejeezus out of me. I have the utmost respect for humanities scholars and what they do--it just wasn't what I wanted to do for the next 30 or 40 years.
So . . . I stopped doing work for a week, not sure if I should stay or leave or what. Then I decided that (1) I had nowhere else to go, really and (2) my classes were free anyway, and I would get to teach soon, so why not stay? I decided I would persist with the coursework and teaching until I had reached ABD status (that was only 3 semesters, since I already had an M.A.) and then try something else. In the meantime, I got a job as an assistant in the University Relations office, just to keep my nonacademic skills fresh.
My writing career started in January 1998, just after I left UVA and moved to the Washington DC area. A former colleague of mine who had earned her MA in English at UVA (and was now working at a communications firm) was looking to hire someone with good research and writing skills to develop content for a new National Cancer Institute Web site on clinical trials. As luck would have it, the NCI project manager was herself an ex-ABD in medieval studies, so she did not need to be convinced of my ability to research and write. I got the job and LOVED every minute of it. I loved researching and writing content that I knew would get used by real people and not just sit on a shelf somewhere and *maybe* be read by a few other people in my field (if that). I decided to give myself a year to see if I could build a career doing this kind of more applied research and writing.
The rest, as they say, is history. Since then, I've been able to build a writing business that focuses on the areas of healthcare, medicine, and education. For the first couple of years, about 80 percent of my clients were medical or healthcare-related, mainly because the National Cancer Institute was the "big name" on my resume and it really opened doors. I worked on and still work on a number of different writing projects related to cancer education, for clients such as the NCI Office of Clinical Research Promotion, the NCI Office of Women's Health, the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center, CancerSource.com, etc. Throughout this entire year, I've been writing a book for women with ovarian cancer, which will be published by O'Reilly Publishers in spring 2003. I've also done lots of writing on other topics related to medicine and healthcare, including articles for "Penn Medicine" magazine, grant analyses for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, healthcare-related articles for the "Philadelphia Business Journal," and pieces for a children's health encyclopedia published by Scribner's.
In the past couple of years, however, I have started to diversify, adding some clients in the general area of education. Two days a week, I work as a writer for a Philadelphia design and communications firm called Thinkframe, which is a for-profit company that works for many non-profit clients--mostly independent schools, colleges, and universities. This has been a great development because it offers me a steady income and a sense of community with colleagues whom I really like. I've worked as a member of a creative team on projects for institutions such as Georgetown, Fairfield, Hamilton College, The Hill School, SUNY system colleges, and many others. Away from Thinkframe, I've also done some writing for the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania and, more recently, for The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Actually, I am now working on-site at The Historical Society two days per week, in order to help out with some writing projects related to development efforts.
As you can see, my assignments and clients have been pretty varied. Frankly, I never thought I would remain a free agent for this long, but once I got the ball rolling I seemed to have enough work to keep me busy pretty consistently. I network as much as I can, but I also think that the most powerful ways of marketing myself have been (1) always delivering my best work and (2) always delivering on-time. I admit that I probably could not do this if I did not have a spouse with a reliable salary. However, I am earning more than I would earn as a starting professor at many colleges and universities--even though I am working for many nonprofits--so it's not like I am completely dependent on that second income.
I love the variety in what I do now. I love getting to talk to many professionals in different fields and never knowing what kind of assignment might be around the corner. It's also gratifying to get good feedback from clients; in graduate school, all I ever heard was that there were no jobs and lots and lots of qualified people and it really didn't matter how good I was. Also, I enjoy working with schools, educational organizations, foundations, nonprofits, etc., because these organizations are doing the kind of socially-oriented work with which I want to be associated (and which drew me to teaching in the first place). I'm also glad that literature isn't my profession--now, reading fiction at night is what I do for pleasure, instead of being what I do all day AND night for work-related reasons. I feel much less cloistered than I did when I was immersed in literary study.
There are definitely downsides to my current path, however. It can be grueling to have to constantly market myself and make sure I have enough assignments to keep my income up at the level where I want it to be. I miss teaching young people. Some of my assignments involve copywriting, which isn't always the most scintillating task and isn't often about "big ideas" or intellectual questions. Probably the biggest downside is just feeling as if I am torn in too many directions: I spend a few hours on an assignment here and another assignment there, I make a series of calls that are all for different projects, I have to let one or two projects slide to meet other deadlines and then play "catch up." Thus, it can be hard to get "grounded." (But I am sure that professors feel the same way as they juggle research, teaching, committee work, etc.)
In general, though, I am happy I made the transition and I haven't looked back (I recently earned my M.A. from UVA, deciding not to continue with the Ph.D.). I suppose that, at some point, I do see myself moving into a full-time role with an organization and becoming more of a "key player" who shapes overall vision and strategy. Whether that will be in the communications/marketing field (building on my work at Thinkframe) or in the public policy/public health/nonprofit field (building on my other work), I am simply not at all sure. I've even toyed with the idea of perhaps going back to school in health policy--who knows?
I am eager to participate in the discussion, share my experiences as a freelance writer, and learn from you as well.
R.T. quotes Cathy Tramontana:
> So while I continued to write the dissertation, I began doing part-time temporary work for a commercial editorial firm in the Washington, D.C., metro area (EEI Communications for those of you in the D.C. region). After passing the firm's fairly rigorous tests, I did a variety of proofreading, editing, and writing jobs at national associations, public policy institutes, medical and health care companies, and other typical Washington, D.C., employers. And I took advantage of my firm's very significant discounts on training courses for employees. Not only did temporary work give me a great introduction to the region's job market, but it also introduced me to number of project management styles and office environments. When I graduated in the spring of
2000, I could identify what kind of organizations I'd be happy working for and how I'd like to spend my working hours.<
and then asks:
It sounds like such commercial editorial firms are a good way to get into the field of writing for non-profits. How does one find them?
Cathy responds:
Thanks for the question, R.T. I found EEI Communications through a fellow graduate student who had worked for the company before entering graduate school. At the time I was looking for work, EEI also placed regular ads in The Washington Post inviting applications for temporary editors and writers. Although EEI is rare for specializing in publications and communications staffing (in fact, their Web site--www.eeicommunications.com--bills them as the only temporary staffing company that specializes in those two fields), companies in your area may well provide temporary employment services for those interested in editing and writing. I would look around for a university or company in your area that offers courses in publications, editing, or professional writing and inquire there about local editorial firms.
Other options, depending on your interests, are getting into the field of writing for nonprofits via working as a freelancer or pursuing an internship. A graduate student friend of mine used a Woodrow Wilson Foundation practicum grant to intern in our communications department this past summer.
Cathy then asks Patricia about breaking into grant writing:
Patricia, I'm interested in hearing more about your consulting work. How would someone go about getting experience in the kind of grant writing that you do? What did you need to do to become a "Certified Grants Specialist"?
Patricia Solis responds:
Cathy asked about certification. I know of two organizations that have done this for grant writing: National Grant Writers Association ( www.grantexperts.com ) International Association of Grant Writers and Nonprofit Consultants (their webpage used to be www.iaogwanc.org but the url does not work for me right now) I chose the NGWA program, which is a weeklong seminar. It is great if you do not have that much experience, but there were for me many sessions full of information I knew already (at least all of it resonated with my experience). Recommended.
SEARCHING FOR REWARDING NONPROFIT JOBS
Questions from subscriber K.N.:
I am new to this list; I hope my comments and questions are appropriate.
What I have culled from Cathy Tramontana, Beverly Sanford and Patricia Solis's introductions, is that these positions they hold crossed their paths at the right moment (I could be wrong, but it seems from these brief narratives that their jobs seem to have almost "fallen into their laps"). Is there any advice for those with skills and experience similar to yours to actively search for such positions?
While writing the dissertation I have been working at a wonderful non-profit since 1997; I love my job but will have to leave --it is so poorly paid I simply cannot afford to work there anymore and there is little room for advancement/promotion. Thus, these three statements struck a chord with me:
Patricia Solis: "I have never attempted to make it a full time job upon which I financially depend and have not been able to earn enough money to do so."
Cathy Tramontana: "I feel fortunate to work for an organization that values education, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and the use of knowledge for the betterment of society. "
Beverly Sanford: "it's often easy to love the work, because so many nonprofits exist to help people, do good, change the world."
I am interested in your thoughts about the ubiquitous dichotomy: that a "do-good" job one loves is likely to be poorly paid. Certainly these must not necessarily be mutually exclusive, but finding their harmonious co-existence evades me! I have spent a good deal of effort writing grants (on my own and as a team with my colleagues) but we barely manage to pay for our projects.
So to more clearly state my main question, how does one find a decently paid and rewarding position in a non-profit (particularly if one is willing to relocate) without relying on a vague notion that something may someday come along? Is there a kind of clearing house website of job listings?
Beverly Sanford replies to K.N.:
Great questions, K.N.--and I can't pretend to have definitive answers, but I'll give it a shot.
First, as to the job here, it didn't exactly fall into my lap, as you say--though I didn't say much in my intro about how I got here. I was in fact actively looking at alternatives in public affairs, scanning the *Chronicle*, when this posting turned up and seemed to fit both my interests and experience. I applied (along with lots of others), I interviewed, etc.
It also turned out, entirely by synchronicity, that one of my mentors and dear friends in Buffalo knew folks here and could serve as a reference; I don't know that that swung the balance, but it is a reminder of the perennial value of networking.
So yes, I was lucky to find a great opportunity, but only after a year of scanning ads to see what was there. I was fortunate that *this* educationally related nonprofit was advertising in the *Chronicle,* as indeed many nonprofits now do under those categories titled "other." Perhaps someone else can speak more knowledgeably to a national clearinghouse for nonprofit positions. I did note, just in a quick Google search this morning on "nonprofit" and "job banks," that some regional and state associations of grant makers and nonprofits may have nonprofit job banks (see Baltimore's at http://www.abagmd.org/index.htm, or the site hosted by the California Association of Nonprofits at http://www.canonprofits.org/); also, I discovered that www.idealist.org has a link that reads, "More Nonprofit Jobs on the Web: Every nonprofit job site and directory we could find, arranged by country and state." Can't vouch for any of those, but they may be worth a look. Indeed, perhaps you've already looked at them.
As to the money question: Well, as you say, that's a definitive difficulty of working in the nonprofit sector. Unless the nonprofit in question is a large and/or well-established one, negotiating even a mid-range professional salary can be extremely difficult. As your own comment about just raising enough grant money for projects indicates, nonprofits rarely have much money to spend on themselves and their employees because they're not in business to make money for themselves. At some of the community nonprofits I know, even the executive director's salary may be more like an assistant professor's salary, or less.
That said, nonprofits that have had a long time to cultivate a base of programs (and a base of funders/donors) *may* tend to be in a better operating position, just because they will have incrementally added to their staff and operating base over the years. In that regard, I would imagine that if there is a particular *kind* of nonprofit endeavor you are interested in (women's issues, human rights, political action, educational innovation, whatever), it may be helpful to look first at the best-known, most established organizations in that field, or those that you know to have strong donor bases. And if they're not advertising right now, either send a resume anyway, just to connect, or browse their websites--since we're talking now about organizations large enough to *have* websites--to see what nonprofits they in turn work with... and so on down the line. For that matter, you may well have working relationships or connections with people in some of those organizations from the work you've already done in the nonprofit sector.
K.N., I don't know if any of that tells you anything you didn't already know. For that matter, since the server seems to be a little cranky and slow here, I don't know if others have already said all the same, but better. Anyway, that's my 7.5 cents (i.e., two cents, inflated).
Patricia Solis responds to K.N.'s questions:
It seems that K.N. has brought up a great issue: How do you FIND this kind of work, and once you do, how do you make it PAY? This is certainly what I have struggled with over the past six going on seven years. In my case, the first part was relatively easy and the second, I am still struggling with. To elaborate, I never found it difficult to find clients, but very difficult to find clients willing or able to pay.
In my job as Community Development Director of a municipality, I was approached by many local non-profits seeking my services, but the city did not want me spending my time paid by them working on behalf of other organizations. That was how the consulting started.
At the beginning, I had to do quite a bit of education about how grants were not FREE MONEY (as some very irresponsible advertising on TV seems to indicate), that there are many strings attached and administration costs (not to mention headaches) involved. So many consulting sessions ended in me giving free advice about strategic planning. I also had to educate people that grant writing services should be paid regardless of whether the grant is won. I used analogies to drive home this philosophy, just like you pay a lawyer whether or not you win the case, or you pay an accountant no matter how much the IRS gives you back. I pointed out the 'tangibles' they would receive from my services, namely the planning process, full possession of all texts and ideas generated to use for future grants or publicity, etc. From there, I did build relationships and once I found opportunities, I would pitch an idea to a fitting client, and sometimes got work and got paid. Above all, consulting is a business about relationships, and these take time to develop. What I still seek to do is build the kinds of relationships with organizations that already understand the value of writing services and are willing and able to pay for them.
Having said all of this, I would not really describe it such that the job I am starting in January 'fell into my lap' so much as I was prepared for the opportunity when it crossed my path. I have several years of experience and will have my PhD. I think the fact that I discovered relatively quickly after going back to get my PhD that I did not want to follow the traditional tenure path really helped spur me to gain these other experiences so that I would have something else at the end of my program other than the degree.
If you are looking to start, I would suggest that there are plenty of local nonprofits needing writing services, but that working pro bono for some time might just be what you have to do. To find these organizations, you might start with the United Way, the local government, or another institute (our university has the Non Profit Resource Center).
I notice also, that Washington DC is a great PLACE to find paid opportunities once you do have some experience -- note that I will be there, I believe also Cathy and Kris are there now. So if you are looking, maybe that is a good place to start. Still, I do not think that the salaries in the nonprofit sector do or ever will compete with private sector pay.
Therefore, I agree with Beverly that you have to love the work. And I do.
M.L. provides a "minority report" on breaking into nonprofits:
Hello again,
I have been following the current thread and thought that I would chime in from my "minority" perspective.
Prior to coming to higher education, I worked in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector for 11 years. During that time, I moved from being a "line employee" to a directorship. I was in the "human/social services field, which has a life of its own among NFPs. There were several turns along the way and advanced degrees created all of the more positive ones. Here are a few thoughts about the process of earning one's living in an NFP.
First, volunteerism is a hallmark of this sector of the economy. As a result, negotiation of salaries, benefits, and job security is exceedingly difficult. As a director, I often had five or six volunteers or interns who worked for little or nothing. These people were generally working on advanced degrees or had recently completed them. That makes the market a bit soft for those who were looking for fulltime employment.
Second, career advancement in the NFP sector is quicker when one moves.
This is that knotty issue of transferable skills. My trajectory from counselor to supervisor to clinical director was speeded up by moving between agencies. Toward the end of my NFP career, I served on an advisory board of clinical directors with my former supervisor at the first agency at which I worked. It had taken him 15 years to obtain a directorship, I had done it in less than eight. The difference, I had moved to two other agencies, while he had stayed in place at one agency.
Third, while grants are the life blood of any agency, networking is the cardiovascular system. Sitting on NFP boards gives one an idea of how the beast works. In many respects, it is a bit like the old Bismarckian saw, "If you like sausage and laws, you should never watch either being made." Having sat on quite a few non-profit boards, I have developed a sort of immunity to hypocrisy. Individuals will often take places on boards solely to establish contacts in the community. Just as often, individuals take jobs in non-profits to be a "big fish" in a small pond. Both cases are rare, but the indirectness and non-linearity of NFP politics can be maddening.
Fourth, as stated above, grantsmanship (pardon the sexist label) isimportant. For some disciplines (notably psychology and sociology), graduate training provides the tools for great responses to RFP's. I would highly recommend that anyone without grants experience run down someone who is currently a grant writer and volunteer some time. It will pay big dividends in the long run. (Another recommendation would be to see if your university would allow you to do an administrative internship with one of the many development offices on campus...I can't imagine them turning you down.)
Finally, you must really be passionate about public service to work in the NFP world. The hours are brutal and the resources are constantly in flux. I remember putting in 60 and 70 hour weeks early in my career, but feeling generally energized. In fact, I feel that my current career path and my teaching career were both extensions of my humble NFP beginnings. Three years ago, I considered a position as the director of corporate training for a Fortune 100 technology company. The salary was phenomenal and the benefits were terrific. In the long run, I realized that I would be working just as many hours (perhaps more) in a setting that I was not passionate about. I have found that in NFP and public sector work, I can do the kind of things that I want to do more often than not. Listening to friends in the private, for profit world, I realize that this is rarely the case.
Cathy asks about speakers' experiences with the work-life balance:
I'd like to ask the other speakers if they have found the nonprofit writing world to be supportive of a healthy balance between work and personal/family life. One of the reasons I decided to pursue an nonacademic career was because I thought I could find a career that was challenging and relatively well paying while allowing me to be the kind of parent I wanted to be. So far, I've found that to be true in the nonprofit world. My office is very supportive of flexible schedules for parents and for people with very long commutes who work part of their week at home. Everyone works very hard, so there is flexibility (within reason) about where and when they work. I've been working part-time since the birth of my daughter a year ago and the office environment has made that possible and rewarding. I know I would be working many more hours for far less pay if I was a part-time adjunct at a university. I think it is partly the nonprofit culture, partly the teaching/academic background of many of the people in the office that accounts for the flexibility--academics are used to working at home and at all kinds of hours. What have your experiences in this area been?
Focusing on gender issues, Patricia replies:
Cathy's remarks about balance resonate with some of the reasons why I also chose to go the nonprofit route in lieu of the academic tenure race. First, I have seen very few women role models most I have encountered in my discipline were never married nor had children. Of the one woman who did, I saw her struggle tremendously with the burdens of raising a small child and simultaneously go through tenure review (which by the way ended up being postponed). This is despite flexible schedules, the demands on time are simply so great. On the contrary, in my experience with university institutes, nonprofits and even City Hall, all of those work environments provided flexible schedules AND family-friendly atmospheres. I suppose in the private sector, some of this could also be found, depending upon the employer. A big attraction to my upcoming position with the association in DC is that from the very beginning, (starting with the first telephone interview when I was 9 months pregnant!!), my supervisor has been wonderful about my family situation.
Kris Conner provides a freelancer's perspective on this:
As a freelancer, I would like to jump in on this thread. I would have to say that freelancing really is not a family-friendly choice, simply because you always have to be responding to different clients' demands and readying yourself to take on new work. I think this reality counters the popular perception that working for yourself is one of the best gigs going in terms of a life-work balance. Many of my colleagues at Thinkframe (most of whom work full-time or 4 days/week) think I have it made. In reality, though, I think I work harder than they do (not to pat myself on the back or anything), simply because I don't have the guarantee of a steady income when things are slow. I have to make sure I am out there looking for the next assignments. The natural ebbs and flows of a full-time job simply aren't there. You always have to be "flowing" with work to make ends meet financially!
Actually, I am expecting my first child in mid-January--and people often seem confused when I tell them I am looking for daycare! They say, "Well, you work from home a few days a week, right? So why do you need daycare?" But there is no way I could keep up my work schedule and care for a baby.
I will admit, however, that I do have the flexibility to work when and where I want. I imagine I will be taking advantage of this flexibility when the youngster arrives (evenings, weekends, etc., when Dad's home).
Just something to consider about the free agent lifestyle. I don't think the reality matches the perception many people have.
Paula agrees with Kris that the work-life balance is usually more challenging for the freelancer:
I agree with what Kris has said about the freelance life not being as cushy as it sounds. I don't even have children and I am going crazy as a freelancer!
However, combining what these speakers have said with what I have heard others say, I hear conflicting reports about the family-friendliness of the nonprofit lifestyle. Some say it's great, others say they work just as much in their nonprofit jobs as they did in their academic jobs.
My theory to account for this is that this difference has something to do with the size
and financial health of the nonprofit. The smaller, newer, more thinly-funded the organization, the fewer employees it is likely to have, and thus the more work there is for each person to do, and the more cross-functional "helping out" is expected from everyone. There is this feeling of constantly putting out fires and not having enough time to really build the organization and make it healthier.
If you get into a larger, older organization that is well-funded, in contrast, things can be very different. I am about to get into one myself (long story) that is 30 years old, very well-funded, and has 54 employees. The office is open 9 to 5 and most employees keep a more or less 9-5 schedule. Only the top executives work 50 hours plus. One of those top executives, as a matter of fact, is also a playwright and will be allowed to take four months off next year to get his play produced. They value him so much that they will simply hire a temporary replacement and wait for his return.
NONPROFIT'S SIZE vs. AVERAGE WORKLOAD
Paula asks guest speakers if they think there's a correlation between a nonprofit's size and the average workload of its employees:
Speakers, what do you think of my theory? Is it true that the size, age and financial health of the organization can serve as rough indicators of how hard each employee is expected to work?
Beverly gives her opinion on this:
Paula, I'm glad you gave me a place to hang my hat here, because I was trying to figure out how to frame a response. I'm coming from a very different place than Kris, Cathy, and Patricia. I have no family obligations, nor do I foresee any, and I think for someone like me--well, I'm a recovering workaholic, and I think working in a nonprofit can feed that unfortunate habit, even absent the tenure grind.
Why? Precisely because, as you point out, small- to medium-sized nonprofits often are stretched so thin, are trying to do so much with so little, that the demands can be unending, and if the cause or organization is one that you love, it's easy for work and life to become the same. So, for the individual, and particularly for those of us who tend to throw ourselves into work we love, some element of boundary-setting is always involved in working with small nonprofits. But I think that's true in any employment setting; some of us just gotta get a life.
Stepping back to the organizational perspective, I *do* think you're right about resources being a determining factor--and management style too. If one is working for "the good of the order" and the order itself doesn't encourage good 9-to-5 boundaries, or indeed privileges 9-to-midnight effort as earnest commitment to a cause, then yes, working with a nonprofit can be every bit as demanding as working in academe.
That said, I'd add from observation that, in my current post and in other nonprofits I've observed, staff do have a fair amount of leeway to deal with commutes, family issues, adjunct teaching commitments, and so on. I imagine that, for small nonprofits where salary can never quite compete with that in other sectors, personal flexibility is a key element in keeping staff happy. Perhaps more to the point, such flexibility is consonant with the ethos of many nonprofits, be that ethos academically inflected or socially oriented.
Cathy also agrees with Paula's theory:
Thanks for weighing in, everyone. I think Paula's theory about the size, age, and financial health of the nonprofit makes sense to me, and certainly my organization is not a typical "nonprofit" since it is a large, very well established professional association. Still, the education researchers and professional development workshop leaders I work with easily put in 50 hours plus on a regular basis. I've been fortunate in that very long hours have been the exception not the norm for the communications staff (probably because we are large enough to actually have a separate communications department!). When there is a production deadline or a press briefing we're planning or a proposal that has to be filed, the hours add up. But in general, we work close to the hours we're getting paid for! Our staff has shrunk in the last two years or so and people are under increasing pressure to get more work done with fewer people, so I can see the dynamic Paula describes at work. But, as others have indicated, the sense of shared mission and workplace flexibility at a nonprofit can offset to some degree the long hours.
COLLABORATIVE WORK AND "PROFITABILITY" ISSUES
K.N. asks a couple more questions:
This WRK4US is so wonderful!
First I want to thank all of you for sending the numerous and helpful links to job sites.
And, I am also very excited to hear that Washington DC is a great place to start, as it is a city that is at the top of the list of "places I've always wanted to live."
I do have a few more questions, dear panelists and participants:
1.) While this panel involves *writing* for non-profits, I am most curious about possible opportunities that involve collaboration with the writer, i.e. the research and editing aspects. Digging through archives and reading, creating a report about my findings, then discussing ideas with colleagues is what I have enjoyed most about graduate school. Writing has never been my favorite thing to do (as I am currently finishing a dissertation, a career that primarily involves writing sounds simply exhausting at this moment).
Translating and editing other's texts I find interesting, because it is yet another way to learn something new, become acquainted with various fieldsother than my own, etc. My question is: Do any of you work collaboratively with another whose job is to do your research for you, prepare the information, edit your texts, etc.? In your experiences, do you see this as a viable position to pursue?
2.) As I stated in a previous response, I really like my job at the non-profit I currently work for, but the pay is just awful. Yet, I have a certain loyalty to the whole operation and to my colleagues. It would be great to carve out a sustainable existence from an already (close to) ideal thing. Any suggestions as to how I might make our operation a little more "profitable," at least so we're not always living on the edge and in-the-red in our lives away from work? Other than writing grants (we have a 40%-60% success rate) and getting the university to match our funds, we have tried to attract donors, but our area is very specialized and educational (I am sure you know about budget cuts!), and our staff so small, we simply haven't the labor hours to find the few folks out there who might indeed be willing to regularly write us a check (or perhaps our time would be better spent on making and maintaining contacts so that we should try to work on fewer projects . . .?) NOTE: if this question is getting too far away from the sharing of work experiences as a writer, and too close to *consulting,* please don't feel obliged to answer.
Paula makes some suggestions:
K.N., don't worry, your questions are fine. Speakers, please do weigh in, but since I'm here at the computer, I would like to respond as well. Feel free to correct me because you *definitely* know more than I do!
>Any suggestions as to how I might make our operation a little more "profitable," at least so we're not always living on the edge and in-the-red in our lives away from work?<
Develop relationships with the rich and powerful in your area. Plan a really cool event and invite them to come. Show them the value of what your organization does. Find out which of the wealthy folks have an interest in similar endeavors, and approach them for ideas (not money, at first). Everyone likes to be asked their opinion. When you make a person feel useful and needed, a relationship develops and money will eventually follow.
Approach corporations that have charitable foundations attached to them and seek grants from those foundations.
Re your own personal finances, have you thought about consulting on the side?
> (or perhaps our time would be better spent on making and maintaining contacts so that we should try to work on fewer projects . . .?)<
Exactamundo. Speakers, please weigh in on this issue, but personally, I think you just hit the nail on the head.
Cathy replies:
Great questions, K.N. I'd like to respond briefly to your earlier question about searching for a nonprofit writing position and then give you my experience with collaborations among researchers, writers, and editors.
You're right that my current position crossed my path at the right time, shortly after I finished the Ph.D.--but I just want to emphasize that putting myself on that path had begun two years earlier when I set out to get some editing/writing experience. Without the experience and training I managed to pick up over those two years, I don't think my credentials would have looked as appealing to my employer, even though I had done some similar work in the past. Also, even though I endured some lousy temps assignments along the way, I looked at each assignment as research into what kind of environment I'd work well in--after a while, the nonprofit world started to look like the right fit. The lesson, I think--and the other speakers have touched on this as well--is that there are a number of ways to make the transition to a nonacademic career in general (and nonprofit writing in particular). Assess where you are, seek out a new path (whether it be freelancing, volunteering, an internship, a part-time position at your university), and be open to the new opportunities that will be sure to present themselves as you gain new experiences.
You mention that the area you work in is educational, K.N. If you are interested in researching educational associations, I recently discovered a great list of organization links at www.edweek.org/context/orgs/ And just to mention the Washington, DC possibilities one more time, there are many, many education-related nonprofits in the DC region.
Now for your question about collaboration. In my communications department, we do both writing and editing on a regular basis. The communications staff works collaboratively in that we often edit each other's writing, but we also work in collaboration with the education researchers at Project 2061.
Sometimes it's straight copy editing of reports that the researchers write. Other times it's working closely with the researchers to develop, write, and edit Project 2061 books on things like curriculum design and professional development for teachers. We also regularly place articles about the project's work in education magazines that have a wider readership than specialized research journals. So, we might adapt a researcher's article in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching into a shorter, less academic piece in a magazine like The Science Teacher (published by the National Science Teachers Association). In that situation, I act as the liaison between our researcher and the editor of the magazine, which requires several rounds of rewriting and the ability to translate the researcher's findings and message to the magazine editor (and the magazine editor's needs and concerns to the researcher). It can take a good bit of negotiating and reworking the text to reach a final product that makes both parties happy. This is a situation where I think an academic background can serve you very well in the nonprofit writing world, because you can understand both the nature of the research and you have the thinking and writing skills to bring that research to new audiences.
This may not be the type of collaboration you had in mind when you asked your question, but I hope this sheds some light on the kind of collaboration you'd find in a nonprofit association.
F.B.
POLITICS OF SCALE, NONWRITING AND TEAMWORK
Patricia responds to K.N.'s questions:
K.N., thanks so much for your thought provoking questions. With respect to becoming more 'profitable' so to speak, I might have a different perspective because of my academic background as a geographer. Paula suggests: "Develop relationships with the rich and powerful in your area." And I agree wholeheartedly. But I also believe that there is something important about 'jumping scale' (as Geographer Neil Smith coined the term). Do not only look for those who are rich and powerful in your area, but try to link up with more 'global' organizations, making yourself a part of a larger issue, expanding your political (with a small p) landscape.
This is somewhat like networking, only networking 'up'. Not to digress too much, but in my dissertation, I discuss this idea of a politics of scale, in which an indigenous organization in Argentina has used the internet to 'scale up' their local concerns by linking them with a broader, indeed global discourse on indigeneity. This all has the political effect of lending more legitimacy to their local efforts and affording them a measure of empowerment. Perhaps this seems obvious, but being explicit about scaling up as a tactic in your strategic planning should also help with becoming more profitable, not only in terms of linking to organizations with resources, but also the other intangible factors of "networking".
With respect to K.N.'s question about non-writing activities of 'writing for nonprofits', I would have to respond that the writing part does actually REQUIRE one to do those non-writing activities. They really go hand-in-hand. For my freelancing, I designed my services package to allow for clients to choose my level of involvement, from simply editing and critiquing an already written grant to full services of researching funding sources / planning / writing / evaluation / etc. In practice, though, I always consulted and planned with them at length before I composed a single word. Sometimes I was also able to use text they had written and improve upon it for the grant narratives. Developing budgets also require a great deal of research and strategizing as well.
K.N. also reminds me of the MAIN reason why I had chosen to eschew the path of tenure professorship and embark down the road of nonprofit work instead: working with others. I have found academia (and especially the process of writing a dissertation) to be generally lonely and isolating. I really enjoy working with others, working on a team, working with clients, and generally being able to see how my work might make a difference in people's lives.
Beverly also talks about "nonwriting" at nonprofits:
Just thought I'd weigh in on the subject of editing, research, and collaborative writing. And sorry to come late to the ball--since I don't have access to this e-mail account during the evening, most of what I have to say this morning will just second what Patricia and Cathy have already had to say.
K.N. said:
>Translating and editing other's texts I find interesting, because it is yet another way to learn something new, become acquainted with various fields other than my own, etc. My question is: Do any of you work collaboratively with another whose job is to do your research for you, prepare the information, edit your texts, etc.?<
As I said in my intro, I do a *lot* of editing and collaborative writing in my current position; a significant piece of what I do entails taking input from as many as a dozen colleagues and presenting it all in one Woodrow Wilson "voice." In fact, I recall that, when Paula first asked me to participate here and talk about writing, I said something along the lines of, "Gee, I do as much editing as writing, but after all, isn't editing writing too?" Like you, K.N., I really enjoy weaving together other people's work and learning from it. At my previous post--the university institute that operated like an independent nonprofit--a huge part of my job involved taking data from faculty, grad assistants, and consultants and weaving it into one large regional policy report. So yes, from my perspective, that is exactly the kind of translation process that writing for nonprofits typically involves.
My experience of collaboration is not quite the same as Cathy's--i.e., I don't write collaboratively with others in the communications department because, well, uh, I *am* the communications department. Still, as her comments suggest, this kind of work demands a willingness to collaborate and a high tolerance for round after round of revision. Back in my President's Office days (and this really *is* cheating, because that wasn't quite nonprofit work), I would kick any document around with the president for at least three or four drafts before sharing it with VPs, incorporating their perspectives, and going back for another few rounds thereafter with the boss. That experience has stood me in good stead with the subsequent nonprofit jobs, where I've *always* gathered information from and written collaboratively with others. I agree with Patricia that writing *with* a group of people (as opposed to hiding at the back of the library creating solitary scholarship) is, for me, one of the great pleasures of this kind of work.
So back to the way you originally framed the question, K.N.: Although I don't have the luxury here of having someone do research and prep work for me, I do take advice, input, and drafts from colleagues, which probably amounts to the same thing. And in the end I'm not sure it would be such a luxury to have someone do that background work for me. A big part of the fun of making bread is putting together the ingredients and getting one's hands into the dough, and a big part of the pleasure of this work is putting together disparate elements and kneading them into a written product. Indeed, I glean my sense of what the organization is and does by talking directly to my colleagues about their work and how I can best present it.
Cathy agrees with Beverly that editing and writing go hand-in-hand:
Beverly's comments about editing and collaborative writing made me think about how closely related editing and writing are in the work I do. Editing, especially substantive editing, involves writing or rewriting and collaborative writing necessitates editing the words of others and a willingness to be edited yourself. This may seem obvious, but I point it out because there is sometimes an assumption that editing is easier than writing, or a lower form of writing. I've found that editing a piece someone else has written is sometimes much harder work than if I had written the piece myself. You need to work within the parameters that the author has established, understand the choices the author has made, and determine what needs to be reframed or added or moved around, all while preserving the author's voice and meaning (unless you're working toward a collaborative final product, but even then you may have an organizational message that you need to convey in the right way). The art of editing and the art of writing are closely related and definitely inform each other, but demand somewhat different skills and present different challenges. I've found my "nonprofit writing" job challenging and enjoyable precisely because it involves more than just writing.
Paula introduces the topic of freelancing:
I would like to comment on these words from Kris:
>I admit that I probably could not do this if I did not have a spouse with a reliable salary. However, I am earning more than I would earn as a starting professor at many colleges and universities--even though I am working for many nonprofits--so it's not like I am completely dependent on that second income.<
I am glad Kris is with us because I wanted to make sure at least one freelancer on the panel. Freelancing is definitely an option if one wants to write for nonprofits. As a freelancer myself for the last year and a half, I would like to echo Kris' remark and say that a healthy freelance practice like Kris has created does take time, and economic support, to develop. In the beginning, it is essential to have either a regular job of your own or a spouse who has a regular job, in order to live while starting the practice.
On the other hand, it IS possible to build a healthy practice (and thus be financially self-supporting) within 1 to 3 years or so. Whether it takes 1 or 3 depends on a lot of things--how well you market yourself, who your first clients are and how much they like your services, where you live, how much you truly enjoy the freelance lifestyle, how much you enjoy the work itself, etc. Many of those things are within the freelancer's control, but some are not.
Anyway, thank you, Kris, for pointing out the economic (down)side (initially) of becoming a freelancer. It isn't an option for everyone, but it is a good option for some, and with persistence and a little bit of luck, it definitely IS possible to attain an excellent independent lifestyle.
Kris Conner comments on her work as a freelancer:
Hi:
Just getting back to my email after an afternoon of meetings.
Yes, it's so true -- my husband's steady income made it possible for me to start freelancing. I would say that, by year 3, I was self-sustaining (and I even supported us during a six-month period when he lost his dot-com job in the late 1990s). In part, I was helped along by the fact that I started working part-time at Thinkframe, which pays me a regular salary and offers health benefits. However, I must say that even my nonprofit clients have paid me pretty well. Occasionally I take a corporate assignment because it tends to pay more, but in general I have been able to make it financially working for nonprofit and government clients.
I think what keeps me going is the variety and the constant challenge. I like being self-directed and not having to wait for work to filter down to me. When I'm busy, I'm busy, and when I'm not, I go out and find a way to get busy. It works well for me.
Again, though, it's nice to know that everything isn't riding on me financially. If it were, I think I would be too nervous to freelance.
Paula makes a correction and comments further on the freelancer's lifestyle:
Of course I should have mentioned that we have not one but two freelancers on the panel, Kris and Patricia. Sorry Patricia, I didn't mean to overlook you.
What Patricia said about educating her clients is absolutely right on. In my own freelance practice I have had to do a lot of education. That is one of the burdens of the freelance lifestyle: you don't have this big infrastructure in place, this big marketing and branding machine, that educates people (customers, students, clients) about what you do. So it falls to YOU to deliver that message. It falls to you to explain your services and articulate their value again and again. It's definitely possible, but you have to be patient and realize that each person deserves the same understanding and helpfulness from you that the first ten people got.
Worth thinking about for those of you who fantasize about being full-time independent contractors.
B.R. asks:
I have some questions for the freelance writers: How do you go about marketing your services? Do you have a systematic approach to this? Or do you find that work is so plentiful that you don't have to do it at all?
And for those who have salaried positions at non-profits: Do you use freelancers? And if so, how do you find them?
Patricia discusses her experiences marketing herself as a freelancer:
B.R. asks about marketing freelancing services. I have to say that I purposefully only did the minimum amount of marketing because I did not want to make my consulting a full time job since I have always done it while otherwise (part or fulltime) employed. Even so, I have been able to get *enough* clients to keep me 'in business' so to speak (i.e. make it worth my time).
There are three things I have done:
1.) [I] reserved a domain name ( www.yournamefree.com ) and got a website. Feel free to check out my site for ideas, and if you have comments for me back, I'd also love to hear them: www.TheGrantDoctor.com If it is inappropriate, forgive me, but I highly recommend my webmaster. She specializes in high content, clear, organized, stylish but not too flashy design and hosting. Her services and most importantly her prices are geared toward a small business and nonprofit market: www.jensharp.com .
2.) I earned a certification as a Grants Specialist with the National Grant
Writers Association ( www.grantexperts.com ) -- they have a directory and refer you to inquiring prospects.
3.) I believe the richest source of clients have come from word-of-mouth and good old fashioned on-the-ground networking. I give out my business cards and talk to people I meet through other avenues (e.g. academic conferences).
Surely there are many other ideas. One I have thought about doing (but feared not having time to deal with too many clients) is to list my services on pointer sites like www.elance.com and www.experts.com and www.creativemoonlighter.com/
I have also thought about writing guest articles for nonprofit newsletters like the one from the Gilbert Center: http://www.gilbert.org/ This provides exposure while showing prospective clients the quality of your work. Another helpful website specific to writers for ideas on startup and marketing: http://freelancewrite.about.com
From the other end, an article about how nonprofits should use gain the most
value from their consultants can be found at: http://www.ncfp.org/publications-excerpt-resources.html (This also seems to be a good marketing tool.)
Lots of links, sorry, but I hope you find some of this useful.
Kris Conner also comments:
B.R.:
When I was getting started, I sent letters and resumes to the editorial directors/ communications directors/ PR directors of various organizations that interested me. Then I would follow up with a phone call and perhaps an email every few months or so. This really was what got me started. For example, when I moved to Philadelphia from Washington, I immediately contacted many of the cancer organizations that are headquartered here and introduced myself as someone who had been working for the NCI. That opened many doors. For about three years, for example, I worked steadily for the Web site Oncolink ( www.oncolink.com ), which is based at Penn, and got to travel to many of the big oncology meetings. And that led to more networking opportunities!
My usual pattern has been to devote Fridays to marketing efforts--writing letters, making phone calls, etc. etc. However, I have been too busy for the past 6 months to do active marketing. I will need to pick up on this in the new year. I found it essential (and worthwhile) to purchase ACT software to keep track of all of my contacts.
Writing blind letters and cold-calling was hard for me at first. But I came to realize that many of these people were used to hearing pitches from freelance writers. In addition, I've found that doing your best work is probably the most effective form of marketing. Once you're known to be good, people start coming to you. It takes time, though--that has just started happening to me after years of plugging away to get more doors open!
Then Cathy talks about her recent experience with freelancers:
We use freelancers occasionally here at AAAS Project 2061, usually when we have a very large writing or editing project that we don't have time to complete ourselves. We also have a media consultant who runs her own business and provides us with anything from a draft of a press release to help with procuring local media coverage of our events.
Most of our freelancers are people who have come to us by word-of-mouth or from a prior professional connection to someone on our staff. We also use temporary writers and editors from the Washington, DC-based firm EEI Communications, which specializes in temporary staffing in publications and communications. However, I do think that our communications director would welcome what Kris has called "blind letters," if someone had experience related to our organization's field. But since our use of freelancers is sporadic, dependent on when large, special projects reach a point in their development requiring a freelancer's efforts, the response to a blind letter might come only after several months or longer. A follow-up call, to emphasize your interest and availability and to renew attention to your resume, would be necessary.
One resource that I don't think has been mentioned yet is the Editorial Freelancers Association ( http://www.the-efa.org/ ), whose members are editors, writers, desktop publishers, indexers, and others.
Kris agrees that the use of freelancers tends to be infrequent:
Yes, I have found that "sporadic" use of freelancers is often the rule. Sometimes I will get a call from an organization up to a year after I first queried someone there about freelance writing opportunities. That's why occasional checking in--without becoming a pest, of course--is so important. There have been so many times that I have made a follow-up call or e-mail and just happened to reach the person at a time when they were looking for a freelancer. Of course, I have had my share of "no's" too! It comes with the territory!
BREAKING INTO WRITING FOR NONPROFITS:
D.A. asks:
Many thanks to the speakers for a very interesting and informative
discussion!
I wanted to ask the guest speakers if they could possibly provide tips for those interested in writing for nonprofits who may not have significant experience writing for nonprofits prior to leaving graduate school. It struck me in reading Patricia and Cathy's introductions that they were both able to gain very useful writing and editing experience in the nonprofit sector before they'd finished school, work which then led them logically (or serendipitously?) to careers as writers in that area.
But what about those people who may be finishing or have already left academia but would like to explore opportunities in this field? I know that volunteer work and internships have already been mentioned, which I'm sure are excellent ideas. Could the speakers also suggest ways of setting up informational interviews with individuals who write for nonprofits? Are there major directories for nonprofits one can consult for addresses and general information? Which individuals might one contact besides those who work in communications or PR? I'm sorry if this has been covered already or
seems too basic a question.
Finally, would you have some sense of whether Ph.D.s' prospects for breaking into writing for nonprofits might be any less difficult than in more traditional fields like book publishing (presently my targeted field)? Perhaps nonprofits' socially-conscious mission and their generally flexible work environments make them somehow more conducive to integrating former humanities folks into their teams. If career paths for those working in
nonprofits are indeed less traditional than in other fields, does that imply that ABDs or Ph.D.s considering pursuing careers in the nonprofit sector may not necessarily be looking exclusively at entry-level positions? I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Patricia Solis responds:
D.A. asked about ideas for "people who may be finishing or have already left academia but would like to explore opportunities." Since I gained much of my initial experience while in school, I cannot offer too much insight directly speaking. However, I would remind you that when you WRITE, you always have to write ABOUT something. For this reason, I encourage you to have a clear focus about what type of writing you can do and have already done in a different setting perhaps.
For instance, my involvement began and has remained centered around "community development" and/or the"environment" and so I find myself very often writing about these issues although not exclusively. The idea is to develop a specialty of sorts, even if you do write for many different types of projects. This specialty would of course be based upon what previous experience you do have.
As to whether I believe PhDs have any more or less difficulty, I cannot say, since I am just getting my degree this December. I think it might depend upon what type of clientele / employer you are seeking to work with. For instance, my new job in DC actually requires a PhD. However, in the past, I have consulted with local nonprofits where I played down my credentials and educational level (not PhD yet) in order to communicate comfortably with my clients.
Paula provides some tips:
Actually, I can offer some concrete suggestions for how to find nonprofit jobs. Check out the following websites:
http://www.craigslist.org Craig's List is an information-gathering site that started in San Francisco but has now branched out to other cities. Select the city you want to search, then look under the "jobs" list for "nonprofits."
http://www.idealist.org/ Idealist is a whole site all about nonprofits--jobs, opportunities, etc. in the nonprofit world.
Both of these sites are user-friendly and filled with nonprofit jobs at all levels.
S.K. suggests a website, too:
In addition to the two that Paula mentioned, I like OpportunityNOCS --
http://www.opportunitynocs.org/index.jsp
A.T. provides more online resources:
www.nonprofitjops.org
www.cof.org
www.sustainablebusiness.com
www.internships.wetfeet.com
www.guidestar.org
For the internship one, some are paid and some aren't. Possibly a good way in the door. The sustainablebusiness website is mostly environment. There is also www.ecojobs.com just for the environment, and it has an internship search, etc.
And, finally, J.M. suggests a jobs website for Washington, D.C.:
A good source for a wide variety of freelance writing jobs in the Washington DC area is the online job board posted by the National Writer's Union. Members have access to the postings for a nominal membership fee.
Dear WRK4US,
Well, it's Friday at the close of business, and we've had a very informative week! On behalf of all WRK4US subscribers, I'd like to extend a hearty collective "THANK YOU" to our four Guest Speakers--Beverly Sanford, Cathy Tramontana, Kristine Connor, and Patricia Solis. They gave generously of their time and careful thought to share some great information with us, so that we could navigate our professional waters with more and better information than we had before. Kudos!
Thanks as well to those subscribers who contributed by asking questions, and even to those who just listened. Everyone matters, so thanks to all of you for being here and making this discussion happen.
This was the last Guest Speaker Discussion of the year 2002. WRK4US will now return to its usual mode of free-form, unstructured discussion for the rest of the year. The next Guest Speaker Discussion will take place sometime in January or February, on a topic yet to be selected.
Take care, everyone, and once again, high praise to us all for making this discussion so fruitful.
Paula Foster
WRK4US list manager