Welcome to the virtual intern experience.

It really boils down to growth and scale of the organization. So advancing the mission forward, advancing the organization forward, and that happens through two kind of primary components. One is revenue, so fundraising oversight. I have a team of development professionals that write grants and reach out to corporations and individuals. The other side of that is how do we as an organization, go to the community and go to the market and tell our story? How do we get people inspired to understand all of the things that we do?

So, marketing, communications, PR, all of those components work together to ultimately move things forward, secure more dollars, and scale. Funding at Downtown Boxing Gym is, unfortunately, for many organizations, one of the largest barriers or one of the largest distractions. So as a licensed 501(c)(3), our dollars come to us, you know, not in exchange for making a profit, but in exchange for supporting the services that we’re providing for us.

And this is not unique to organizations like us. Most of the funding comes from the private community, which means foundations and corporate foundations and family foundations, individual donors, and very, very little funding from the government. So at a local level or at a federal level, at Downtown Boxing Gym, it is primarily private or individual support.

Uh, how you doing? My name is Terry Whitfield. I am a partnership manager at the Skillman Foundation. The Skillman Foundation is an embedded philanthropist. It’s been around for, uh, wow, 62 years now. And so within that, the focus is around grant making that improves the outcomes of Detroit’s young people.

So what would it take in order to ensure that all Detroit’s young people have access to high-quality education, both during school and before and after school? And then what does that mean to support the systems to improve their practices in which they serve and support young people? And that’s happening from both an organizing perspective as well as a policy-making perspective.

People regularly say, you don’t leave jobs, you leave managers or directors. We’re people, we’re relational beings. Like you have to really believe in the people that are setting the vision, establishing the culture. And if there’s alignment there on the things that you know are important to you and that leader, it usually works out well.

And so at Downtown Boxing Gym, the first time I met Colli, the founder, I was really struck with the difference in approach, the difference in discipline to the work, the pure commitment to the work. The organization that I was at when I met Downtown Boxing Gym gave food to 260 other organizations that were doing amazing things in the community.

So I met a lot of people that were, you know, great and had a good heart. There was something noticeably different. You know, Collie, when he started doing this work, did it with his own money. It wasn’t a nonprofit. He did it and invested every ounce of himself and his resources, became homeless doing the work, was living out of the facility, living out of his car, and was just uncompromisingly committed to the culture and committed to doing it in a way that was proven to move the needle, like truly making a lasting impact.

So when you have those experiences to meet someone like that, if you can find an opportunity to spend more time with that person, it usually pays a lot of dividends. So that was initially what drew me in. You hear the stories about the vehicle of boxing being a way to engage young people in a host of other experiences.

You hear about the transportation barriers that they help young people to overcome. You hear about the academic supports that they receive, like all the intangibles that really make a high-quality program is what you hear. It is the leadership that really helped to cement the foundations, um, partnership with Downtown Boxing Gym.

The work that Khali Sweeney does, the work that Jessica does and the rest of the team, is really what helps me as a funder to have confidence that the resources and the supports that come from the foundation are going to be put to use in a way that really helps everybody. Because at the end of the day, it is really improving outcomes for young people.

In the nonprofit space, which, you know, I have worked in, in lots of different capacities for 20 years or more, the most common misconception, especially if you’re talking to someone that works in the business community or another field, is that it doesn’t require the same amount of labor as other industries.

Uh, even when I took this job a year ago and became on staff at Downtown Boxing Gym, I was talking to a board member who used to be a fellow board member. And I’m like, yeah, I’m just, you know, really, really busy. There’s a lot going on. It’s amazing work. He’s like, wow, you’re busier than you were before you were running a shop. And seemed really, I’m like, yeah, that is like, I’m 10 times busier than I was before.

So that’s a misconception of the industry is that it’s just like, it’s more aligned with your heart and your passion. And so maybe the work output is a little bit less—huge misconception. The second is that it’s run differently than a business. It’s not 501(c)(3), it’s a tax status. That is, a nonprofit runs in the same way any other business would.

The motivations and how you are driving revenue into the business is different versus, you know, on a publicly traded company, you’re reporting out your earnings or your shares to a board. In a private company, you want to make the business profitable so that you can scale the business. But the same principles apply to a nonprofit.

However, since you are not transacting a product or service, the need to be really, really creative in how you secure revenue and really invest it in all the relationships that make that engine go is so important. Whereas in a business, you kind of position, “Hey, we do this for this type of client and we do really well. We need more of those.” Lots of partners can be supportive to this mission.

So how do you think really creatively and strategically and like, what do those relationships look like and how do I leverage ’em so that it is a win-win on both sides? It’s, this isn’t charity. It’s not about writing a check and, you know, I did something that feels good. This should be a relationship where there is a return on both sides.

One misconception that people might have is that the mindset that it takes to run a nonprofit is different than what it might take to run a business, when really they are both in the same, the product is different. Um, the product for downtown boxing gym are the young people and the way in which it helps them to overcome obstacles and become their best self. If I’m making widgets, my product is like the widget. And how is it being of service, uh, to the customer? At the end of the day? The back office work, the operations that it takes to run both is very similar. The how do you engage staff is very similar. How do you recruit and retain staff? Very similar, um, different outcomes, different products. But the mindset is the same.

If you’re considering a career in nonprofit, which is a big broad brush stroke, right? There’s lots of different components to nonprofit. There’s marketing technologies and donor software and the organizations themselves and funders and philanthropies. So there’s lots of pieces to nonprofit. However, I really believe that to do this work effectively, it’s not that dissimilar from a startup, is you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable because of the way that dollars are circulated into the organization and the lack of stability. You have to, like, you’re just always knowing that, um, there’s an opportunity to evolve. There’s an opportunity to change your approach to the market.

The way that philanthropy has been, um, changing in our country is really dramatic. You know, less and less people are giving, less foundations are being created, less individuals are being motivated to get behind a cause. So you’re seeing dips overall in the amount of dollars in the market available to fund organizations like Downtown Boxing Gym, and at the same time, lots and lots of new organizations being formed, right? So it creates this, you know, sort of competitive landscape where there’s less dollars in the market, more businesses that are in it going after the same dollars. So how do, how does each organization create a compelling narrative and a value proposition that the funder on the other side sees and wants to respond to? Um, it is a, it’s a really wild industry, but if you can find a cause that you are aligned with in a new generation, right, younger than me, there’s lots of misconceptions about millennials and Gen X and 99% of the things that are set out there are not true just period. Like data says it’s not true. The one thing that is true is the need for younger generation to believe in the thing that they are calling their work, right? Their vocation have purpose. Have, you know, that intrinsic value component I was talking about, like that is true. The data points to that is important.

So if you can find that in a nonprofit and you can make a comfortable living, it checks the box on your basic needs for your family and also gives you that value that know you, it’s bigger than you, it’s bigger than a job, you’re part of an ecosystem that is really trying to make systemic change in the country or in the community, like, then that’s a, a great potential avenue for someone looking.

What I would suggest that they look to as they’re evaluating, is this the spot for me? Um, one is leadership. So I would always advise people, what does effective leadership look like to you? What are examples? Who are examples of effective leaders that you’ve had in your life? And begin to jot down what those characteristics are so that as you’re in interviews, you could begin to ask the questions that will then illuminate, is this the leader that I need in my life right now? Because that will really shape the experience that they have once they are employed at that organization to a staffing. Uh, and not just who is there, but what’s the turnover? Nonprofits tend to have high turnover rates for a lot of different reasons. Pay, um, some type of stress of the work can be overwhelming. So what is the experience of the employees at that organization? Like pay is one thing, but what are the other benefits that come with working at that organization from a self-care perspective, uh, from a leadership development perspective, what are the other ways in which the organization is pouring into its employees? Uh, and what does that mean for them?

I see the third piece would then be the reputation that the organization has in the community, because that then goes a long way if the leadership is not strong, if the staff are not happy, invariably, the relationship with the community and the perspective the community has of the organization, uh, will be one that you’ll know very quickly. You don’t wanna work there. So leadership is one, having an idea for yourself, what type of leader you wanna work for, and being clear about that. Uh, two, the employees. How are the employees taken care of and do they seem to be happy? And then three, what is the perspective or the relationship between the organization and the community? Because that is where your, um, your work product is going to be most impactful. And if the community doesn’t want anything to do with you, that’s invariably going to impact the way in which you want to do your work.

I say regularly, as many have, uh, your network is your net worth, right? So because of the way that fundraising and revenue is secured in an organization, you are forced really to build a lot of relationships. And those could be funders, they could be volunteers, they could be partners. So many, uh, potential relationships. And if you lean into that and you build those meaningful relationships that connect at a very different level than if you’re selling your product or service, the value that you can take from that if you decide to move out of nonprofit or do something different or start your own company, is so insanely valuable.

There are other businesses that that also is true, but I think in nonprofit there, it’s somewhat of an outlier.

The other thing that is potential to nonprofit that maybe is not often found in the business world, because there’s usually resource constraints. We don’t have enough funding to have all of the people in the seats that we know need to be there to run this thing. So we’re forced to wear multiple hats and get exposure into all aspects of how this business is run is a huge opportunity if you insert yourself into this space.

My challenge to anyone that is exploring this field or a job in nonprofit is if you see something that is like even maybe strikes a nerve that you want to explore more, reach out, have a conversation, don’t look at the job description. The industry as a whole has done a disservice to future candidates of not properly telling the story of what it means to work in this field. Spend a day shadowing, like what does it mean? What’s a day in the life? Like, get as much exposure as you can, sit on a board for a couple of years and volunteer and get exposure into how the staff works with the board. That’s a huge opportunity.

So there’s a lot of ways to kind of get into this work. There is no shortage of need, especially of a unique skillset that can bring value to the mission, no shortage of needs. So if you really want to be in this space, you can do it. Find the right leader, the right leadership in an organization that aligns with your personal values and core values.

As we know, there isn’t a clear pathway into becoming a nonprofit professional. And so where I always lean on is in the listening and in the engagement. So I would come up with a list of like a hundred organizations that you would like to have a conversation with and reach out to the president, the CEO, the vice president, the leadership of the organization, and ask them for 30 minutes of their time. Craft a set of questions to get a better understanding of what are the challenges that they face? What is the work that they do? What advice would they give you as somebody that is looking to get into the space?

Why I would suggest that is that it doesn’t happen. And so in my psychology background, there’s something about people having the opportunity to talk and just have a conversation that people will talk all day. So my encouragement would be to identify a hundred people you want to have a conversation with. Put a timer on the length of time you want to give yourself to have these conversations. Could be a hundred days, could be 200 days, could be over the course of a year, and begin to have conversations.

I would structure the questions in a way that give you the most information from that organization, but also helps that leader to illuminate more about who they are and who the organization is. So no yes or no questions, all open-ended and allow for them to really speak to you and give you a better understanding of who they are as leaders, who the organization is and the mission that they do, and where they fit into the broader scheme of the nonprofit space that you might be in.

There’s an appetite, especially from the business community, to create more partnership, more collaboration. There are huge initiatives in impact investing and social impact and B Corps and all of these business terms that like, yeah, we need to make money, but I also want to do something that is going to make the world a better place when I’m gone. Like, what is my legacy? So how do we, specifically in 501(c)(3) nonprofit, rethink our approach to working with partners, working with staff and team members in a way that we’re really perceived as any other business and doing things that are sustainable, like going out to raise money, net new money every year and not knowing where it’s coming from and who it’s coming from.

The guessing game isn’t fun for anyone. So building in models no different than what happens in a business. It’s a very common practice. People understand it. Funders and investors get behind it. In philanthropy that doesn’t happen. It’s really scattered. You might get a gift this month and that, and then, you know, in six months if you don’t know where the next one’s coming from.

So how do we get those that are interested in investing in social impact to come together to fund causes that are proven and can really scale? And so I think that is the opportunity where I’d like to see this industry go.

Thank you for watching. To learn more, check out virtualinternexperience.com.