NOTE: If you haven't read my blog entry, Get ad agency experience without the ad agency, start there first. And if this is your first time hearing about my Ad Grad Project, make sure you check it out here to understand what's going on.

There's gold in non-profits. And I'm not just saying that as a bad pun, because I found a job opportunity in Alaska. (I'm sure many of you were wondering what I'd mine up there - sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

If you are looking for a career as an art director, copywriter or marketer, non-profits probably haven't been your first stops to shop for a job.

Reconsider. Now.

I have a thing for non-profits - as a volunteer, intern and employee. I can't recommend them enough. One of my first jobs was with the American Red Cross as a communications specialist. I developed several additional skills over the years with them - layouts, event marketing and photography, shooting everything from fires to floods.

Here's the great thing about non-profits: Experience. Experience. Experience. If you can't get a job, maybe you can volunteer. They are in constant need of writers and designers to create direct mail, web sites, events and more. Volunteers are unlikely to be turned away. So if you can't get work, you may end up with some samples for your portfolio and/or experience managing various programs.

So it's not sexy to say you're a web designer for the Salvation Army. Get over your ego. Go in with an open mind and you may see non-profits as a good career move. I know many former ad people who left agency life by choice for non-profits. But don't be fooled. It ain't all grassroots. Many of your larger non-profits run themselves like major companies. Depending on where you go, it may feel like you never left corporate life. The opportunities are what you make them.

 

Here's week two's findings for the next eleven states:
Marketing and Development Specialist for the American Red Cross (Anchorage, Alaska)
Development Associate for Hagar USA (Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It doesn't sound like it, but it's web/social networking.)
Web Developer for Carbonfund.org Foundation (Silver Springs, Maryland)
Media Relations Specialist for Ronald McDonald House Charities (Gainesville, Florida. You must be an art director/copywriter combo)
Communications Specialist for The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Communications Specialist for The Mississippi Center for Justice (Jackson, Mississippi)
Marketing Coordinator for The Cranston Chamber of Commerce (Cranston, Rhode Island)
Web Designer for The 5.4.7 Arts Center (Greensburg, Kansas)
Intern for the Naturehood Project (Cleveland, Ohio. Writing and event planning)
Graphic Design/Web Interns for Faceless International (Nashville, Tennessee)
Interns for the Inner Wisdom Foundation, Inc. (Montpelier, Vermont. Web design, events and more)

Here are some sources for non-profit jobs:
Idealist.org
Opportunity Knocks.org

Now go forth with a job that will do some good in the world.