2015 Professional Development Calls - Non-Profit Communicators

Since the beginning of 2015 I've been calling my fellow non-profit communications professionals to talk to them about their market conditions. So far, the calls have been extremely illuminating. I'll continue to call for the duration of the first quarter, but I may extend the calls after that if I feel like there's a need for it.

The calls have been really great for me as a contractor, and the professionals I've spoken to have found them to be productive and helpful for their organizations as well as themselves. Too often, we get so caught up in our own individual work that we don't realize that some, if not most of the issues we thing are ours alone are industry or market-wide phenomena.

Talking to my fellow communications workers has been illuminating to me as well, not just because of the information I get, but also because I am constantly being reminded of how innovative and amazing our industry is. We are, by our nature hard working optimists. We wear lots of hats, and even though we never can seem to get everything we want done, that's usually due to a surplus of ambition, rather than a lack of anything on our parts.

Working non-profit communications takes a real commitment from someone who isn't afraid to do last-minute project triage, but who also isn't afraid to dream big, plan big, and work big. Non-profit workers so often make due with available resources, and turn them into massive success stories for their organization and their market. We are a rare and amazing breed, and understanding what forces are working on our industry is the first step to providing superior service to the industry.

I will, of course, be sharing and talking about my findings here on the blog.

I look forward to talking to you about your working conditions. Please email marina@marinaforhire.com or call 310-876-8538 to participate.