Help Someone Else Succeed

Wouldn’t we all love to work for someone who’s willing to actively contribute to our professional development and help educate, train and mentor us?

If you don’t have someone like this at your organization — someone you can reach out to and look up to for good counsel and inspiration as you pave the way in your own career — seek one out from another nonprofit by taking advantage of mentoring programs offered by professional fundraising associations in your region.

Advocate for others’ advancement
High-level mentoring opportunities with senior fundraisers facilitate professional growth and development. For the employee, mentoring can help enhance core competencies and maximize job performance. For the senior fundraiser who serves as a mentor, rest assured that what you are doing will enhance staff retention. Your commitment to support your employees’ long-term professional development creates immense job satisfaction.

Helping others succeed broadens your own exposure in the fundraising arena and galvanizes you as a valued resource and advocate for younger people advancing through the field. Serving on the board or committees of a professional fundraising association in your region is a great way to get networked and help others succeed. What’s more, becoming a faculty presenter to share your successes or writing an article for a professional journal are other ways to help tothers succeed.

You have to ask yourself: How much of your professional talent are your using? How much of it are you giving back? Mentoring someone else and teaching others further sharpens your competitive edge.

Attention neophytes
Are you intentionally taking steps to learn from the best and brightest in our field? If you don’t consistently sharpen your professional skills, you set yourself up to fail. If you have not personally taken charge of your career development, no one else will watch out for you. Find yourself a mentor. Think about those people who you admire most in our profession and take steps to get to know them. If you have already achieved success, offer to be a mentor to staff or other aspiring professionals. I think you will find that one of the greatest rewards you can experience in your career is to have another successful fundraiser credit you as their inspiration — their mentor.