That’s because the passion for your cause is enormous. It makes it much easier to carry out your mission when everyone is invested in the meaning behind your organization.
But hiring for passion can also lead to problems in fulfilling your mission. Untrained staff can cost you time and money and even open your organization up to legal issues. That’s why the key to successful nonprofit growth is finding the perfect balance between passionate team members and mission experts.
So how do you turn passion into expertise for your mission and staff? Effective nonprofit professional development ! And lucky for you, we’ve put together five easy steps to help you do just that. Let’s jump in!
1. Determine your primary mission.
Considering your nonprofit’s mission in the context of staff training is the first and probably most important step.
For example, where does training fit in? Do your staff members need more information about the circumstances of your mission? Even if someone has a specialty that might not seem mission-related at first glance (like fundraising , b2b email list for example) are there training programs that combine your mission and their job description?
Just like everything in your organization, effective nonprofit training starts with your mission.
The good news is that you don’t have to connect your mission and staff training in a vacuum. You may already have the perfect tool: joel rasmussen your case statement.
This statement is the rationale behind your mission and why people and organizations should give to it. It describes all of your programming caseno data and exactly what you expect your mission to do for those you serve. Doesn’t this also sound like a great guide to your training?
If your vision statement is about your much-needed homeless shelter program and you plan to raise money for a new shelter through a major gift drive, then you need to consider what you’ll need to make it happen. For example, modern shelter design standards, building construction or rehabilitation management, gift policies and infrastructure, soliciting major gifts, and campaign implementation and marketing , to name a few.
2. Assess the needs of your staff and volunteers.
Your next step is to assess the needs of each person on your team (both paid staff and volunteers ) in relation to their role within your mission.
What will make them productive at work? What can help them grow personally? These can be based on hard skills, like learning the latest software related to their job, or based on soft skills , like presentation skills or becoming a better networker.
Assessing a person’s training needs should always be done with that person’s active participation. You may have an idea of what you think they need. That’s fine. But forcing that viewpoint on your staff member can lead to resentment, wasted time and money, and the loss of other needs that could be more productive to address.V