Women who have left the nonprofit field to go to cooperate or vise-versa, why did you do it? How is it going?

3 comments

1. I left non profit back in 2010 and went into finance as I was burnt out. After a year of finance work I went back to non profit as I felt I was wasting my degree and skills. Then after 10 years I burnt out again and now between jobs but don’t think I’ll go back to non profit. I don’t think the support is there for staff to prevent burn out when subject to really traumatic things. They are run like business now all about the money. I’m thinking of going into a government type job for pension and security and probably less pressure and stress.

2. Money.

   It’s going well.

3. I started my career in the private sector and hated it. I’ve been working at either nonprofits, philanthropies, or other mission-driven organizations for the past ten years.

   There are plenty of well-resourced nonprofits, foundations, and social enterprises and “non-profit” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re working for low pay. I make over 6 figures at my current non-profit job which is way more than I made at my job in the private sector. The pros: you work with like-minded people who are committed to the mission and you get to feel like you’re making a difference every day. The cons: there can be a lot of infighting with other organizations who are all competing for scarce resources, even if you’re all *technically* supposed to be working towards the same goal.

   “Nonprofit” is a huge umbrella term, and like with any field, working at a tiny NGO is going to be a much different experience than working at research center or at a billionaire’s foundation.