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ProInspire Alum Launches New Initiative to Help Others Build a Career They LoveBy Erica Soultanian, 2016 ProInspire Fellow At this time last year, I had reached a low point in my life. I felt stuck in a job that I hated. I had been trying to get out for over a year, but a steady stream of rejection letters wasn’t getting me anywhere. My self-esteem was at an […]…
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The Logbook: ProInspire alum Alice Liu shares her method for capturing insights and accelerating goalsIn a recent article on Medium, 2014 Bay Area ProInspire Fellow Alice Liu wrote about The Logbook System, a simple method she devised to capture thoughts, ideas, and learnings as a way to lead a more intentional life and achieve her goals. A more simplified version of a journal, the Logbook is hosted…
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Bold Goal Strategy 2: Creating Pathways for Leaders at All LevelsBy Kristen Lucas ProInspire was founded with the idea that we need to expand career pathways into the social sector and increase diversity in the field. In order to achieve ProInspire’s Bold Goal that social sector organizations have high performing leaders at all levels in order to fulfill their …
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In Which I Learned to Be Less Alone: Lessons From My Year as a ProInspire FellowBy Elaine Choi, 2015 ProInspire Fellow at College Track For most of my life, alone is how I’ve been. Although I have siblings, I was the youngest of three, and the age gap between my brothers and me was wide enough that we never shared the same life experiences at any given time. I pursued solo …
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Announcing 2015 Managing for Success and ProInspire FellowsIt has been a busy Fall around here as we welcome over 60 emerging leaders into ProInspire’s programs. Over the past few months, we placed and launched the 2015 class of ProInspire Fellows in Washington D.C. and the San Francisco Bay Area. In September we kicked off the the inaugural San Fra…
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Sector Switching: Navigating the Transition from the Private Sector to the Social Impact SectorBy John Troy, Founder of WorkMonger Over the last 6 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of people looking to switch from the private sector to an organization where social impact, not profit, is the primary bottom line. I too switched from the private sector to a non-profit, and as a non-profit di…
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Be Bold: 10 pieces of leadership advice from Share our Strength President Tom NelsonBy Sophia Oliverio, ProInspire Intern Tom Nelson is a father, a husband, an introvert, a country music fan, a sporadic yet very capable cyclist, and a man who has dedicated his career to serving nonprofits in several different roles. Tom serves on ProInspire’s Board of Directors, and as the Presid…
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ProInspire at Forté MBA Women’s Leadership ConferenceProInspire is participating in the Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference on June 19-20 at Georgetown University. ProInspire CEO, Monisha Kapila, is speaking about how to navigate the nonprofit and government job market. 2011 ProInspire Fellow, Nikita Mitchell is speaking on a panel about how to…
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What’s Your Story? Tips on Developing a Career NarrativeBy Tracy Williams, 2014 ProInspire Fellow What’s your story? What matters to you? Tell me about yourself. Can you clearly articulate who you are in a way that is authentic, compelling, intentional, and relatable? Whether you are applying to graduate school, looking to make a career switch, or netw…
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ProInspire Managing for Success Featured in Standard Social Innovation ReviewProInspire and our partners are highlighted in the latest post in Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Talent Matters series. Talent Matters (co-curated by ProInspire and Net Impact) recently launched its third phase, focused on how social sector organizations are putting talent development into pr…
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The Beauty Girl turned Social Change Maker: My Transition to the Social SectorBy Angela Richardson, 2014 ProInspire Fellow Have you ever had a moment when the light bulb turned on right above your head? I did. It was a cold, brisk morning in the middle of December 2011. I was headed to my “dream job” – or at least I thought it was my dream job. My […]…
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The MBA Debate…What should YOU do?By Christin Prats, 2014 ProInspire Fellow Why Start Down this Path? For many high-achievers in the professional world, you’re accustomed to pushing yourself to the “next level” of mastery in your field/industry. You did well in college, landed the respectable job, landed your sec…
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Announcing 2014 Managing for Success DC Spring CohortI am pleased to announce ProInspire’s 2014 Managing for Success DC Spring Cohort. These 19 Management Fellows are emerging leaders at nonprofits and foundations in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD. Management Fellows have taken on new responsibility for managing people or projects in the past…
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ProInspire CEO, Monisha Kapila featured in Devex on “3 things ‘sector switchers’ should address”From business to development: 3 things ‘sector switchers’ should address Professionals who want to move into international development often don’t know where to start. When I think about my own experience moving from a career in business to international development, a few things stand…
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ProInspire CEO, Monisha Kapila shares her take on how to be successful with IdealistWant to be a successful nonprofit manager? Master these 3 key relationships: Becoming a manager is an exciting and challenging step in one’s career. In addition to taking on new responsibilities, you have to shift how you view yourself and how others view you. As a manager, you have to manage down…
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Being an effective multi-taskerBy: Kelly Pierson ProInspire Fellow 2013, National 4-H Council My name is Kelly Pierson, and I am an ineffective multi-tasker. After years of internal fighting, I can finally admit this truth. While I love to think that I can switch seamlessly between projects without skipping a beat, I simply canno…
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Monisha Kapila: How Harvard Business School Can Change the World for WomenBy Monisha Kapila, CEO of ProInspire This past week, Harvard Business School commemorated the 50th anniversary of letting women into its two-year MBA program. Most interesting to me—a graduate of 2005—were discussions on the school’s role in accelerating the ascension of women…
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Start Your Nonprofit Career With a Fellowship ProgramBy 2010 ProInspire Fellow Crystal Moore We're on the final day of our 5 Days of Giving series on the blog with the goal of helping each and every one of you with your goals to change the world, in both big and small ways. So you have already made the decision that you would like to [&h…
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You Don’t Have to be a Corporate Titan to Serve on a Nonprofit BoardBy 2009 ProInspire Fellow and Board Member, Nick Takamine We're on Day 2 of our 5 Days of Giving series on the blog with the goal of helping each and every one of you with your goals to change the world, in both big and small ways. Nonprofits in San Francisco, home to ProInspire’s ne…
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Lessons from “Emerging Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations”By Lucila Crena, Program Director and 2009 ProInspire Fellow The nonprofit leadership deficit is, by now, a well-known social sector challenge. The Bridgespan Group’s game-changing “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit” put stunning figures to the problem and, in the process, mobilized …
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Can you have stability and passion?This post was written by Kathryn Gray, 2011 ProInspire Fellow, for the Social Citizens blog. If you had asked me two years ago where I would hope to be on February 27th 2012, I would have never imagined the career and personal satisfaction I have today. Originally from Southern California, when aske…
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Book Review: Good to Great by Jim CollinsProInspire is no stranger to Jim Collins. Good to Great and the Social Sectors: a Monograph to Accompany Good to Great is an introductory read for all Fellows within the first few months in the sector. However after reading the monograph and receiving so many recommendations to read his best seller …
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7 Lessons from the 2010 Inspire FellowsThis month we kicked off the third class of Inspire Fellows! We have a fantastic group of individuals joining the nonprofit sector with backgrounds in consulting, banking, private equity, and marketing. During our Foundations Training, which is provided to everyone at the beginning of their Fellowsh…
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Alum Book Review: How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar: 50 Ways to Accelerate your CareerWhen I was in 6th grade, my biggest fear was of wasting my life. I was a strange kid. I even wrote a long, sappy poem about it. Re-reading that poem in the midst of a recent closet-cleaning exercise brought a bit of chagrin, but also a realization: living intentionally has been the hound at [&hellip…
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10 Interview Tips for Sector SwitchersNext week, Inspire Fellows candidates will be coming to Washington D.C. to interview with our 18 nonprofit partners. Based on the experience of our pilot class of Inspire Fellows, we put together a list of tips that can help any sector switcher prepare for interviews in the nonprofit sector: 1. Prep…
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Tips on Working at a Small NonprofitSimilar to for-profit organizations, there are substantial benefits and drawbacks to working at a small nonprofit organization rather than a larger one. For example, it may be confusing and overwhelming to work at a large organization where you might feel lost in the sea of other colleagues serving …
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Nick’s Application Tips: 5 Questions to Ask YourselfApplications for the 2010 Inspire Fellows program are open. For what it’s worth, I’m offering my advice for creating a strong application. As you go through the application process, ask yourself these five questions. (Note that this is my personal advice; I don’t speak on behalf of…
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ProInspire Spotlight: Keiva Dennis, National Housing Trust Community Development FundProInspire Spotlight is our monthly feature profiling sector switchers and people using their business experience in the social sector. This month we spotlight Keiva Dennis at the National Housing Trust Community Development Fund. Keiva used her experience at Deutsche Bank and her MBA from Yale Scho…
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ProInspire Spotlight: Amitabh Saxena, ACCION InternationalProInspire Spotlight is our monthly feature profiling sector switchers and people using their business experience in the social sector. This month we spotlight Amitabh Saxena at ACCION International. Amitabh is doing great work helping microfinance institutions leverage new channels like mobile phon…
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ProInspire Spotlight: Valerie Faillace, KIPP FoundationWe are starting a new monthly feature on our blog. ProInspire Spotlight will feature sector switchers and people using their business experience in the social sector. This month we speak with Valerie Faillace at the KIPP Foundation. Valerie and I were roommates at Harvard Business School – she…
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Sector Switchers: Five challenges to prepare for in your new nonprofit jobI wrote today’s post for Nonprofit Career Month. In August, ProInspire launched the Inspire Fellows program for young business professionals transitioning into the nonprofit sector. As part of our orientation, we led a discussion on challenges faced by sector switchers. While many sector switc…
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Grad school advice from ProInspire Fellows panelOn Friday we had our monthly Inspire Fellows Professional Development workshop. This was the first workshop since Fellows started working, so we focused on career development. The highlight of the workshop was a panel about the role of graduate school in nonprofit careers. The panel featured: –…
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Article: What Nonprofit Employers Want to Know About Job SeekersLast week the Chronicle of Philanthropy had a great article (see below) about how jobseekers can make their resumes stand out for nonprofit employers. A few things from the article stood out to me as areas where I have seen sector switchers struggle: 1. Applications for nonprofit jobs have gotten mu…
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Check out Jobs for ChangeLast week Change.org launched Jobs for Change, which aims to spark a nationwide movement toward careers in the common good. They plan to build the largest database of nonprofit, government, and social enterprise jobs on the web. Change.org has hired a team of career advisors to provide daily advice …
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Action steps for a nonprofit job searchYesterday I led a session on Making a Career Transition into the Nonprofit Sector at LaidOffCampNY. It was a great discussion with 20 people who had different levels of experience (from early career to very experienced) and a variety of professional backgrounds (advertising, finance, IT, etc.). Here…
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Bridgespan’s latest report on the leadership deficitLast week the Bridgespan Group published Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits – an update to their leadership deficit study from 2006. Many people have been wondering if the leadership deficit is no longer an issue because of the recession. Bridgespan polled 433 nonprofit EDs with re…
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Why you should go to happy hours and other networking eventsYesterday I attended a happy hour hosted by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and Greater DC Cares. I almost did not go because I had too much work to do and I was not in the mood for mingling with people I do not know. I am glad I went because it was a reminder […]…
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What kinds of nonprofit jobs are good for sector switchers?One of the first questions that sector switchers ask is “What kind of jobs can I do in a nonprofit organization?” This is a complicated question because the nonprofit sector is so diverse, and made up of many “sub-sectors.” To make things simple, nonprofit jobs usually fall into 2 buckets: 1…