Beyond the Ivory Tower

Online Resources for Careers in the Nonprofit World

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By Gwendolyn Bradley

Here is a sampling of resources for information on careers in the nonprofit world:

Books

There are many books on careers in nonprofit organizations, which can easily be found through bookstores. Though they are often written for a general audience and include such nonspecific career advice as how to write a cover letter and behave during an interview, they can be useful tools for two reasons: They include extensive resource lists of Web sites, books, and organizations, and they discuss in some detail the categories into which nonprofits are generally organized. An example of this type of book is Jobs and Careers with Nonprofit Organizations: Profitable Opportunities in the Nonprofit Sector (Impact Publishers, 1998), by Ronald Krannich and Caryl Krannich.

Other useful books: Careers for Dreamers and Doers: A Guide to Management Careers in the Nonprofit Sector (Foundation Center, 1989), by Lilly Cohen and Dennis R. Young. This book came out more than a decade ago, so some of the specifics are dated. But it has comparisons of compensation by nonprofit subcategory that are probably still applicable, useful lists of types of nonprofit job titles, and life stories and advice from people in the field.

The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management (Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1984), edited by Robert D. Herman. This is not a job-search handbook but a fairly weighty academic volume with essays on the history, social context, structure, and management of nonprofit institutions. It's interesting reading if you're seriously considering a career in a nonprofit organization and want to get a deeper understanding of the third sector.

The Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations, by Gale Research. This volume has annotated entries on about 25,000 associations.

You might also want to look at The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annotated list of books on nonprofit careers.

Both The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Nonprofit Times have listings for nonprofit jobs.

Other career sites abound. Two major ones are http://www.nonprofitjobs.org and http://www.idealist.org.

The Council on Foundations' Web site is a membership organization with job postings and links to sources of information about foundations.

Association Trends is a newsletter about the world of associations and has job postings.

The National Society of Fund Raising Executives offers professional-development activities, conferences, publications, employment help, and an information resource center to members. Some services are available to nonmembers, too.