Now that social media has fully infiltrated the hallowed halls of the nonprofit sector, blogging has finally started to be seen as more than a fun hobby for moms and college students. We now know that blogging is a useful professional tool for learning, networking, jobseeking, personal branding and thought leadership. And what many of us are finding is that the more strategic we are with our blogging, the more it benefits our careers! Have you been hesitant to jump on the blogging train or inconsistent in your blogging efforts thus far? Chances are, you could be passing up opportunities for greater visibility in the nonprofit sector.
Since I know that little intro was not sufficient enough to convince you, here are 16 more ways that blogging can enhance your nonprofit career.
1. Blogging can help you “get seen” in the nonprofit field, even if you have an entry-level job. Even if you’re not the CEO of your organization, blogging can allow you to become well-known in the nonprofit sector. Although you might be a lowly administrative assistant at your organization, the democratic nature of the internet makes it possible for you to become a rockstar.
2. Blogging can give you an outlet to narrate your work. Blogging is a great way to reflect on your day to day activities in the pursuit of social change. Shanley Knox does this so beautifully on her blog about her work to help empower women artisans in Africa. Amber Cooney blogs about what’s she’s doing and learning as she starts a foundation from scratch, as well as resources in her local community. Chapin Cole uses her blog to share her thoughts about what it’s like working in the nonprofit sector.
3. Blogging can give you a voice and identity beyond your nonprofit job. Even if you have few opportunities to share your ideas at your 9 to 5, you have the ability to share them on your blog. I was talking with a social media manager at a nonprofit a while ago and something she said really stuck with me: “No one knows that I’m the person behind the tweets.” It wasn’t her voice, it was the institution’s voice. But with a blog, you can differentiate yourself from your organization and begin to develop a professional identity outside of your nonprofit job that people can connect with. Jessica Diaz does this well with her blog that is not about her job, but a way to share information with the broader nonprofit community in south Florida.
4. Blogging can make people more likely to listen to you on important issues in the field. Just a month after I started blogging, the Chronicle of Philanthropy starting linking to my blog posts and presto! I had an audience. In October 2007, I wrote a guest post about the lack of racial diversity in the nonprofit sector for the Stanford Social Innovation Review called Philanthropy Doesn’t Care About Black People. It was SSIR’s most-read post of 2007. Because of that exposure, many nonprofit leaders began to listen to my ideas.
5. Blogging can get you invited to speak to groups about issues you care about. Since blogging shows people that you have something to say, it’s a natural fit for event organizers looking for speakers. Since 2007, I’ve been invited to participate in about 80 speaking opportunities – mostly through people who read this blog. (Thank you all for having me!)
6. Blogging can be a tool to explore different nonprofit career paths. Because blogging gives you wider visibility to decisionmakers in the sector, you may be exposed to various career options you may not have previously considered. I never envisioned myself as a speaker, coach or consultant, but due to all the opportunities I’ve had to work with nonprofit clients through my blog, I ended up branching out into full-time consulting in January 2010.
7. Blogging can help you get published. Several nonprofit bloggers have written, published and contributed to books in the past few years, to great acclaim, including me! Beth Kanter, Allison Fine, Amy Sample Ward, Emily Davis and Heather Mansfield are just a few who come to mind that have been able to leverage their online presence. My story is that in 2010, I was approached by a major nonprofit book publisher to possibly write a career advice book for a new generation of leaders. I did not end up working with them, but just the fact that they came to me proves that the possibility is out there for nonprofit bloggers.
8. Blogging can connect you to a national network of nonprofit leaders. Because of this blog, I’ve met and had the opportunity to work with some amazing organizations, not to mention fellow bloggers like Allison Jones and Trista Harris, Heather Carpenter and many more of you dear readers. I’m grateful that my blog has served as an online calling card for attracting like-minded nonprofit professionals to my network.
9. Blogging can help you become a better writer. Blogging is great writing practice, especially if you commit to doing it at least once a week! Knowing that you have an audience (no matter how small) pushes you to bring your “A” game in how you express your thoughts and ideas about the nonprofit sector.
10. Blogging can help you stay up-to-date on current issues in the nonprofit field. Many times, I know right away about developments in the sector. Why? Because many organizations recognize bloggers as media (we are!) and send me press releases and reports that help inform me about the broader landscape of social change.
11. Blogging can help you make extra money. If you’re a good writer with good ideas, other organizations may be interested in having you write for them. I took advantage of this possibility when I got paid to write a nonprofit career advice column for Change.org when they launched their Jobs for Change initiative. Besides freelance writing, you also have the option of advertising on your blog to earn extra income.
12. Blogging allows you to use your voice to spread the word about issues you care about. I love the way Akhila Kolisetty uses her blog to share thoughts, ideas and information about social change, justice and women’s issues. As another example, the two guys behind 2 CU Guys blog have been doing a great job using social media tools to highlight the work of emerging leaders in the credit union industry.
13. Blogging can help you become known as a thought leader in a subsector of the nonprofit field. Andre Blackman has been using his blog, Pulse + Signal to market himself as an expert in the field of public health and technology. Ian David Moss is widely respected as a go-to person on all things arts policy, in large part due to his popular industry blog Createquity. And Adrianne Russell and Colleen Dilenschneider are two of the go-to online mavens blogging about museums and the arts industry.
14. Blogging can help you land your dream nonprofit job. Jessica Journey used her blog to build her brand while she was still in grad school as a way to make herself more attractive to employers. And while Elizabeth Campbell is new to the nonprofit scene, she used her blog, Will Work for Free, to make it very clear to employers that she was a recent grad who wanted to land a job in nonprofit administration. Want a true story? Ask a Manager recounts how she hired someone partly based on their blog presence.
15. Blogging can help you look good when people search your name in Google. Have you Googled yourself yet? If not, go ahead and do it now. I’ll wait. Chances are, if you have a blog, it’s very likely to come up in the first page of results when you search for your name. Because Google ranks blogs pretty highly in their search engine, having a blog makes it easier for potential employers and colleagues to find you and see how awesome you are.
16. Your blog can get you (and your nonprofit!) noticed by traditional media. Because of the knowledge I share on my blogs, I’ve been featured in many press outlets such as JET Magazine, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post, Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Network Journal, Hawaii Public Radio, Fox 5 News in DC and WPPR 1680 AM in Michigan. The side effect of this is that the more people see you in the media, the more they perceive you as an expert in the sector!
Wanna Learn More About Blogging?
If you don’t have a professional blog to enhance your nonprofit career yet, I highly recommend you download my FREE 37-page ebook, The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Blog. I created this resource for newbie bloggers as an easy-to-read guide that will take you from soup to nuts in terms of your blog concept, software, design, content, promotion and analytics. The ebook also covers how to build your personal brand online through blogging.
If you want to go deeper, register for The Blogging School, my 4-week online course to help you create a professional blog, build your personal brand online and become known as a leader in your industry. Or, purchase your copy of my popular 90-minute webinar training, Personal Branding 101: How to Use Social Media to Accelerate Your Career.
