My First 90 Days at Good360
By 2012 Fellow Gillian Perron
Just before my graduation from the University of Vermont, I had a meeting with my favorite professor. That conversation remains a vivid memory, specifically her advice on beginning a new career. She told me that life is full of transitions—some more poignant than others. She was right, of course. Since graduating, I have made several key transitions in my career and otherwise—none more significant than my recent shift from the corporate world to the nonprofit community.
Prior to finding the ProInspire Fellowship, I was a Financial Advisor at Edward Jones Investments. My experience in this role was rewarding but very sequestered—I independently supervised an office while generating new clients through networking and then developed and executed tailored financial investment plans based on each client’s goals. I was drawn to the ProInspire Fellowship opportunity because I knew that my career, while prominent in my community and monetarily rewarding, was lacking. Call me an idealist, but my passion is to create social impact; I need to be working for a greater good. Thankfully, Good360 and ProInspire entered the picture.
While interviewing for the Manager of Business Development & Special Projects role with Good360, I made many assumptions about how my days would be structured. Ever the over-achiever, I pride myself in setting schedules and nothing gives me greater satisfaction than crossing items off of my ever-growing to-do list. While working in my previous job, I had complete authority to set my own schedule and make all final decisions, both of which have pros and cons. The benefits of determining your day-to-day routine and making all business decisions also holds you accountable for the end-results. I assumed that my new position in the nonprofit sector would have a similar level of autonomy. However, over the past 90 days I have transitioned to a cross-departmental role at Good360 where teamwork is crucial.
In a recent project, I worked to implement a new concept for our year-end donor campaign. It is called Good360’s Giving Market and is a representation of our leveraged giving model. By securing corporate product donations, every dollar donated to Good360 enables us to deliver, on average, $70 worth of these critically needed goods; these products are delivered to our network of over 32,000 nonprofits, schools, hospitals and libraries serving countless causes, communities and people worldwide. In order to finalize and launch this message to our donors, there were multiple people across several departments who played a role in shaping and marketing this idea, resulting in a well-articulated and thoughtful campaign. The key ingredient in this project was teamwork.
While such collaborative efforts remain a new practice for me and are a stark contrast to my previous career experience, I continue to see the benefits of teamwork each day at Good360. Making decisions and implementing new practices in my role at Edward Jones Investments was certainly less time-consuming, but Good360 has proven that having multiple minds working together can result in a more successful and well-rounded outcome. While I am certain there are more transitions in my future, I must say that the lessons I have learned during my first 90 days through Good360 and my ProInspire Fellowship will carry far. I am excited to see where this journey leads.