Hey y’all! These stories are always interesting- I hope to see more posts. For me, I’m a program associate at a community foundation in South Carolina. I started off as a grantwriter for the arts, and the foundation to which I submitted proposals had an opening. I was familiar with the community, the grants process, and the foundation itself. It’s been a great learning experience every since. Best! Allyson Reaves
My career began in association management and nonprofit communications/development, which led to corporate community relations and foundation activities. I like to believe there’s rhyme and reason to how I got started, but it was more than likely “right place, right time.” I love hearing these stories, too…do tell!
After college, a good family friend offered to help me tweak my resume and offer it around to his professional contacts. He was, and still is the head of a foundation in support of a large state school. After a week of developing my resume he offered to hire me and let me try all aspects of fund-raising within the foundation.
In retrospect the experience was not the standard interview process, but the work I did on my resume very much mirrored the grant writing process… he was testing me the entire time.
Long story short, I had the opportunity to work in public affairs, alumni relations, foundation relations, and corporate relations. I built an amazing toolkit of experience and discovered I really enjoyed the non-profit world and excelled at the work.
I’ve returned to my alma mater to develop a new area of effort, student and young alumni programing to cultivate a new cohort of donors. I’m also currently enrolled in a Philanthropy and Development master’s program.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Hey y’all! These stories are always interesting- I hope to see more posts. For me, I’m a program associate at a community foundation in South Carolina. I started off as a grantwriter for the arts, and the foundation to which I submitted proposals had an opening. I was familiar with the community, the grants process, and the foundation itself. It’s been a great learning experience every since. Best! Allyson Reaves
May 31st, 2007 at 7:29 am
My career began in association management and nonprofit communications/development, which led to corporate community relations and foundation activities. I like to believe there’s rhyme and reason to how I got started, but it was more than likely “right place, right time.” I love hearing these stories, too…do tell!
June 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
After college, a good family friend offered to help me tweak my resume and offer it around to his professional contacts. He was, and still is the head of a foundation in support of a large state school. After a week of developing my resume he offered to hire me and let me try all aspects of fund-raising within the foundation.
In retrospect the experience was not the standard interview process, but the work I did on my resume very much mirrored the grant writing process… he was testing me the entire time.
Long story short, I had the opportunity to work in public affairs, alumni relations, foundation relations, and corporate relations. I built an amazing toolkit of experience and discovered I really enjoyed the non-profit world and excelled at the work.
I’ve returned to my alma mater to develop a new area of effort, student and young alumni programing to cultivate a new cohort of donors. I’m also currently enrolled in a Philanthropy and Development master’s program.