Today you might have read this 5 star review of my new book from Joanne Fritz at Nonprofit.About.com.
Here is a small piece of the review:
According to a recent report from CompassPoint, Underdeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising, fundraisers are too often set up for failure by a system that is broken.
In Mazarine Treyz’s book, “Get the Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide,” she takes that problem on directly and eloquently.
The Problem
There is a revolving door for fundraisers, especially Development Directors. They get fired, or they quit in frustration. It doesn’t take a study to know this if you’re in fundraising now or looking for a job there. What questions should you ask in the interview?
- How does the board feel about fundraising? If the board thinks fundraising isn’t their job, watch out.
- Do you have an up-to-date donor database? If the answer is no, it’s a clue that there is no infrastructure, and you’ll have to spend a lot of time getting it into place before you can bring in new money.
These are just a few of questions you might want to ask. I’d say that this book is worth the price just to learn how to avoid the “setup.” Most of us wish we had been this aware early in our careers!
Once you’re in the door, Mazarine has much, much more to help, from how to negotiate your salary to a detailed plan for what to do from day one. You’ll learn what conversations to have with whom, how to delegate, how to climb your own career ladder, and how to handle a bully boss.
Why is all of this important anyway?
Well, if you walk into a setup and fail, your name will be mud when you look for your next job. It won’t matter that it wasn’t your fault.
Or you might become discouraged and decide fundraising isn’t for you after all. And that would be sad. You might be very good at it in the right circumstances.
Fundraising is hard, and it’s gotten a lot harder. Mazarine’s book is just about the most honest approach to the topic that I’ve seen. Read it before you go a step further.