June 17, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Q. Do nonprofit groups ever employ people who handle their advertising, or are such jobs usually handled by people outside the organizations? I recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and I am looking for a job at a charity that would be similar to an account manager in the for-profit field.
A. Nonprofit organizations are certainly looking for people with marketing and advertising backgrounds, says Katharine Day Bremer, who serves on the boards of both the American Marketing Association Foundation and the Georgia Center for Nonprofits.
“Increasingly, nonprofit organizations are looking at the marketing discipline as a path to better communicating with their audience and thus enlisting them in helping them with the mission,” she says. “Communications are a critical part of what nonprofit organizations need to do, and thus someone with a marketing degree should find many opportunities within the nonprofit sector.”
Just as it is in the for-profit world, she says, some nonprofit groups hire their own advertising or marketing professionals, and some hire outside agencies to handle their communications needs — it varies from organization to organization.
The best way to track down marketing jobs in a nonprofit setting is to meet as many people as you can in the field, advises Ms. Bremer. One opportunity to do that is coming up: The American Marketing Association holds its first marketing conference aimed at nonprofit organizations next month. The meeting is slated for July 8 through 10 at the Wyndham Chicago. The registration fee ranges from $560 to $755, depending on whether you’re a member of the association. If you become a member, you can also connect with one of the group’s chapters in your local area. (There are 82 scattered around the country, click here http://www.ama.org/index.php?& for a directory.) The American Marketing Association offers a discounted membership for recent college graduates for $75 a year.
