I have heard a couple of comments lately about people from the private sector mentoring people in the nonprofit sector. As in "there are a ton of people retiring from the for-profit sector and they want to mentor professionals in nonprofits". I think there is something we must distinguish about this scenario.
People in the private sector have many skills and talents they can bring to a cause they are passionate about. The luxury of nonprofits is that we can recruit people with specific skills and talents that will help us solve the particular issue we are trying to solve. And if you are that person we would love to have you. The generalization that people from the private sector are an automatic boon to a nonprofit can be detrimental to collaboration to truly solve social issues; and here is why.
1) It portrays nonprofit employees of lacking some sort of professionalism or intellect. This gives private sector people a false impression of the skill and talent they can work with. It can also turn prospective employees, like students, away from the sector because they think they will be under utilized.
2) It creates a barrier for true collaboration and partnership with people in the private sector because the relationship is not accurately established. Without a clear understanding of why the private sector person was recruited they won't be able to be efficient or effective in their work.
3) It continues the myth that nonprofits are run on some sort of magical organizational plan instead of establishing the reality that succesful nonprofits have a solid business plan just like any business.
People in the private sector have many skills and talents they can bring to a cause they are passionate about. The luxury of nonprofits is that we can recruit people with specific skills and talents that will help us solve the particular issue we are trying to solve. And if you are that person we would love to have you. The generalization that people from the private sector are an automatic boon to a nonprofit can be detrimental to collaboration to truly solve social issues; and here is why.
1) It portrays nonprofit employees of lacking some sort of professionalism or intellect. This gives private sector people a false impression of the skill and talent they can work with. It can also turn prospective employees, like students, away from the sector because they think they will be under utilized.
2) It creates a barrier for true collaboration and partnership with people in the private sector because the relationship is not accurately established. Without a clear understanding of why the private sector person was recruited they won't be able to be efficient or effective in their work.
3) It continues the myth that nonprofits are run on some sort of magical organizational plan instead of establishing the reality that succesful nonprofits have a solid business plan just like any business.
No comments:
Post a Comment