Non Profit Job Search

If you’ve decided that you’d like to pursue a non profit career just out of college, or as a mid-career shift, you might now know exactly where to look.

Luckily, there are many resources both online and otherwise that can help your with your non profit job search.

Idealist.org – The most popular place for online nonprofit job posting is Idealist.org. They feature thousands of jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities, and include profiles of each organization that posts an opportunity. But Idealist is so much more than a job search engine: the website is chock full of information about nonprofit organizations in general, job and resume tips for nonprofit jobseekers, forums with discussion by current nonprofit employees and other ways to get involved in social causes. Idealist also hosts periodic job and graduate school fairs, which are a great way to network and get more information about non profit jobs.

Foundation Center – Philanthropy News Digest – The Foundation Center is a wonderful resource of information about funding opportunities for nonprofit organizations. They also sponsor a “Jobs Corner” under their Philanthropy News Digest service, which lists nonprofit jobs of all types, and in locations around the world. While many of the jobs lean towards development and fundraising, you can also find management and programmatic nonprofit jobs. The best part of PND is the ability to sign up for email alerts, based on your job preference, which are emailed directly to your email account periodically.

Opportunity Knocks – Opportunity Knock is a slightly less comprehensive website than Idealist that is focused on finding jobs for people in the non-profit sector. You can search for jobs by keyword, location and type. Perhaps even more helpful than the job search is the annual wage and benefit report for non profit jobs, which gives jobseekers a frame of reference for appropriate salaries and benefits for types of nonprofit jobs. You can also simply post your resume on the website for employers to review

Common Good Careers – Common Good careers is an executive-level search engine and employment firm that focuses on program and executive management jobs. In addition to posting opportunities on their website, Common Good assists not-for-profit organizations with their own searches, serving as a liaison between the non-profit organization and potential employees. While the listings are somewhat limited, Common Good careers has a great track record for matching the right people with the right non profit jobs.

Craigslist – While you may have to sort through all kinds of jobs to find a nonprofit job gem, they are in there. For many small nonprofit organizations, the expense of posting to a paid job site is too much, so Craigslist provide a free alternative.
Since Craigslist also allows you to focus your search by type, keyword and location, you can seriously narrow down your job options and find a good fit.

Any Search Engine – Sometimes it is best to go directly to the source. If you have an idea of the type of organization you’d like to work for, or even the specific non-profit organization that you’d like to join – Google them and do it often! You never know when an organization might decide to post and open job, and finding a job that fits your passions should be your priority. A good place to start with your nonprofit job search is to compile a list of organizations that fit your passions, and then dive deeper into the work that they do to see if there is place for you.