Show Notes

Ellisa Brown, Founder of Civic Essentials Education Fund, shares her insights on how to land your dream nonprofit job. Ellisa knows a thing or two about starting and running a successful nonprofit. She founded Civic Essentials Education Fund in 2020 with the mission of providing civic education to young people. In this episode, Ellisa shares her must-do’s before starting a nonprofit and can be applied to landing a job at a nonprofit, including:

• Do your research. Learn about the issue that matters most to you and discover which organizations are offering solutions and how they provide them.
• Find your niche. What are your unique skills and perspectives? What will you offer?
• Take a crash course in nonprofit governance. Nonprofit regulations and relationships are different from other organizations, learn the basics before beginning.
• Find two good people. No one can do it all alone. When you’re starting out, it’s important to find two good people who share your passion and can help you achieve your goals. You can’t do it alone, even if you want to.

Further she encourages all changemakers to keep trying. Tell people about your ideas, and eventually you’ll find the right people who will meet your passion with passion. She shares what a founder is thinking when looking to hire. She empowers anyone looking to be hired at a nonprofit to ask a ridiculous amount of questions to understand the vision of the leadership and provides a critical insight: the job a nonprofit is hiring for has likely never been done before, it doesn’t exist and that’s why they are hiring. This is where understanding your own niche and what you can offer will set you apart from other job seekers.