self care

The importance of being flexible

By Michael PrideauxNonprofit Outreach SpecialistNonprofits Assistance Fund

For many, the combination of graduate school deadlines, year-end reports, finals, and more brings about a feeling of being simultaneously forward and backward looking. And with this comes the need to be flexible when outcomes are not as planned. 

I remember in high school we had to attend a “career day” with a person from a temp firm telling us how to get entry level positions. While none of the actual content of the workshop was impactful, one thing the presenter said definitely resonates with me. She had mentioned how she has worked at least six other jobs in her relatively young adulthood and said she foresaw many more. This uncertainty in the eyes of a high school senior is terrifying, but I am learning more and more that to stay together mentally, emotionally, and even in your career, you have to embrace unpredictability. 

Why are we here, again? A mental tooklit for surviving capacity building work

By Kate Fridley, Nonprofit Outreach SpecialistNonprofits Assistance Fund

I was huddled in my cubicle at the Nonprofits Assistance Fund (NAF), reading up on the latest nonprofit news and generally minding my own business, when suddenly I heard a loud "WHOOP" from down the hallway. 

One of my coworkers burst out of her office and slammed her hand down on a small call bell by the filing cabinet, ringing it several times. Other people trickled out into the hallway to cheer and patting each other on the back.

We had just received a grant to establish a financial leadership cohort, an opportunity we'd been coveting that would allow us to train nonprofit leaders in savvy financial practices. It turns out that ringing the bell is a way to acknowledge that achievement – and to let everyone know that we've hit a critical milestone in pursuing our mission.