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Today I was lucky to be invited as a guest to participate in an advisory committee meeting with the HR Council for the Voluntary & Non-profit Sector. I met great people from across Canada that work in the sector, learn in the sector, and support HR growth in the sector. A great table of people, with a great table of food a few feet away. Two of my favourite things.
Before I get into the fun stuff, let me preface this by sharing that there was a lot of very invigorating discussion and a lot of work was accomplished.
We reviewed and discussed research done by Decode about university students on their opinions about work, comparing the full data set to students who had indicated interest in the nonprofit sector. We went over questions for an upcoming online focus group about students’ attitudes towards work in the nonprofit sector. We went over possible knowledge dissemination venues for the results of the final research report, stakeholders, possible practical products of the research, the scope of the recommendations, and strategic themes of the recommendations.
But, back to the fun stuff.
We also got creative. The scope of the research discussed today relates to recruitment of new/young/recently graduated potential employees to the nonprofit sector. So we brainstormed messaging that could be tested in online focus groups.
“There are no bad ideas,” we joked, “until no one votes for them when we whittle down the ideas.”
The messaging ideas spanned facts, heartstrings, and humour.
NOTE: These are from memory. Actual ideas, which will be flushed out further by skilled people that actually do this sort of stuff for a living, may have been better or worse.
Facts/Realities of the work
- Did you know there are 70,000 employers and over 1 million employees in the nonprofit sector? Where do you fit in?
- IT. Media and marketing. Accounting. There’s an opportunity for you in the nonprofit sector.
- Today I: helped a family, wrote a strategic plan, and met with business leaders. All in a day’s work in the nonprofit sector. (Umm…I think strategic plans take more than a day though, just sayin’.)
Heartstrings
- Every day is different when you are making a difference.
- Use your talents for good – work with people who care. (This actually would have been in the awkward humour section before it was changed from “Use your talents for good, not evil.”)
- Find work. Find balance. Find purpose.
Humour
- Finally, a job you want to talk about at parties.
- Dangit, I’m forgetting the funny ones. Can anybody else from the meeting help me out?
What tagline would you use to help recruit new employees to the nonprofit sector? Give me your facts, your funny, and your heart.
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Comments
09.13.09
I have a few friends who have worked in both the non-profit sector and the corporate sector. Ironically, they all say that the worst organization politics were all in the non-profit world! :-)
09.13.09
@Scott - I wouldn't say it's ironic - there are definitely politics and difficult personalities in every sector. Sorry to hear your friends had more politicking in nonprofit organizations. There are millions of nonprofit organizations world wide, so perhaps they'll find better luck at other ones!
10.01.09
Great post! I thought a lot about this exact topic while working on a project called Nonprofit Career Month that just launched today (www.nonprofitcareermonth.org). We couldn't decide on just one tagline because there are all sorts of reasons for working in a nonprofit organization. However, we decided that in general, most people look for work that: pays, challenges, matters, values skill, and needs you. So, for our branding strategy, we've got a nametag-like logo with the "Work that______" with the five phrases rotating through. We also did a short promo video to show how we were thinking about this idea. Both the video and the nametag logo are visible on the homepage of the Nonprofit Career Month site.
Let me know what you think of our results as well as what you all create!
10.01.09
@Meg - Thanks for the great insight into what you're working on! I'll be sure to share this with the advisory committee.
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