LESLY SIMMONS, APR

You won’t get rich–in fact you might not even get paid, but if you are a PR professional looking for a way to give back to your community, working or volunteering for a nonprofit can be the perfect way to go. To the uninitiated, nonprofits can seem totally daunting, either huge and unwieldy or small and disorganized. But the truth is there are thousands of organizations across the country of all sizes that are tackling almost every issue you can think of, and your passion and expertise can go a long way in helping reach those goals.

Having worked for the Red Cross for 8 years, my first recommendation is to follow your heart. Whether you’re a paid employee or an unpaid volunteer, this work can be hard and even heartbreaking at times. You need a committment to the mission of any group you work with to keep you going during tough times. Trust me, any cause you are interested in supporting probably has an organization devoted to it, but if not, it might be your calling to start one.

Finding volunteer opportunities
A couple great sites to start with if you want to get your feet wet in the world of volunteerism are VolunteerMatch.org and NetworkForGood.org These sites allows you to find orgs that are looking for your skill set or who just need some assistance.

Joining a Board of Directors
If you’re interested in offering your expertise and developing your leadership skills, joining the Board of Directors of a local organization is a good way to get involved with a cause. For people of color its critical to take part in Board opportunities; in 2007 the Urban Institute of Washington, D.C. issued a study that 86% of all persons serving on nonprofit boards nationwide are white, and only 7% are African-American. This is so unbelievably not reflective of the ethnic diversity of the United States that we must get involved.

To start, visit BoardSource.org online or on Twitter for insight on what it means to be part of a board, and more great information on how to get the most out of the experience.

Once you’re ready to jump in, create an account and post your profile at BoardNetUSA.org. When related board opportunities in your community come up you’ll get an email, and groups may contact you directly–I was invited to join a board this way.

Job Opportunities
If your financial situation doesn’t lend itself to giving your time away for free, you can do good and do well by joining a nonprofit staff. Since you’ve already found the cause you’re committed to (right?) a great start is going directly to those organizations online or by phone to learn about their hiring plans.

A few other sites you should know:
Idealist.org–a great list of domestic and international internships and jobs, and active message boards
The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network is a nationwide group for people in their 20s and 30s. If you’ll be in DC in April, YNPNs Annual Leadership Conference is scheduled for the 24th and 25th, and its only $35.

This is just scratching the surface, but I hope its helpful. If you have other resources you’ve used in your nonprofit experience, please share in a comment below.