<p>If non profit organization can’t afford to pay sustainable wages, why not consider something else. </p>
<p>Just be thankful that she only spent 6 months of her life on this job. Good riddance to it! She’ll find something better. Onward and upward. . . </p>
<p>I don’t want to derail this thread, but…D2 wants to be a lawyer someday. She is all for the underdog and a do gooder in her heart. She worked at legal aid this summer and loved her experience. I know if she were to marry someone who could afford for her to donate her time to do pro bono work, she could do a lot of good out there, but short of that, she’ll need to make enough money to be self supporting, and making 50K at legal aid is not going to do it for her. </p>
<p>There is also something to be said about making some decent money at for profit organization and donate money for good cause.</p>
<p>One of the problems with many nonprofits (and public health) is keeping good staff because we can’t afford to pay the wages we’d like to attract and retain folks that need to pay bills. Sadly, there are few highly skilled independently wealthy folks wanting to volunteer or “work” for minimal wages for nonprofits, no matter how worthy. So many people have told me they love what the orgs stand for but have to pay bills and find a job that will allow them to repay loans and have a decent standard of living. Many in the nonprofit and public health fields in our state are working several jobs to make ends meet.</p>
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<p>She could have been flipping burgers for 6 months at McDonalds for $16K instead. </p>
<p>A $24K salary equates to an hourly wage of roughly $11.50 – not a whole lot of money, but well above minimum wage in most states. </p>
<p>I agree that a college grad should hope for and expect more… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the new grad will actually find a job that pays much more. </p>
<p>At least when the OP’s daughter looks for work right now, she’s got some real-world work experience under her belt --that might help with job #2.</p>
<p>I’d add one more things: a lot of the canvassing work is essentially seasonal – the groups will hire more staff in the summers, pare back the rest of the year. My son worked year-round, but he got moved around a lot, and there was always more going on, and more “assistant director” positions opening up in the summers. So it might be that there is pressure at the OP’s agency to wind things down – her lay off at this time might not be so much of a function of not meeting a basic quota, but more a situation of not doing as well at quota-meeting as others in the same position. If they have 6 assistant directors and can only keep 2 on the payroll come September, then they will keep the two with the best performance records… </p>
<p>Oldfort etal, derail away. That was the intent of this thread. </p>
<p>Haha ^ calmom did you not read her hours? Her hourly wage worked out to be, AT BEST, $6.40/hr.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input all. She has gained a lot of experience in many managerial areas and learned that she disliked canvassing. She told us yesterday that this is behind her. Although she was still teary.</p>
<p>Her big decision now is whether to stay in the city she is in. She had a summer lease that ends this week. Should she move into another apartmen that she committed to, occupied by people who work for the place she just got fired from, or move home? There are many more opportunities in the city she is in vs the small upstate city we live in. We suggested she stay put and look for a job. But they may not let her move into the cheap “company” apartment. Ugh. So much is up in the air.</p>
<p>Oldfort again, D1 immediately said to send her a resume. But D2 wants to work for an organization saving the world. D’s are great friends and both are intelligent and actually have very similar view points but have very different approaches to the working world.</p>
<p>Did your daughter’s job require all of those hours, or did your daughter choose to work longer hours than she had to because of commitment to the cause? I know that my son pretty much lived and breathed his job back in the days when he was canvassing, but there was also a lot of down time and socializing going on. Not the sort of constant, on-your-feet, someone always looking over your shoulder experience that people experience in low-paid retail or food service jobs. </p>
<p>morrismm, I’m glad that your daughter is doing better. What a terrible experience for her, after working so hard. But I hope she takes her sister up on her offer, and realizing that if she makes a good salary and donates much of it, she can do the world an awful lot of good. She doesn’t have to suffer and starve to make a difference. Nothing better than a family job connection from someone who loves you.</p>
<p>There are many nonprofit jobs that pay a living wage. $24K is NOT representative of starting salaries for college grads in the nonprofit field-- but it is typical for canvassing and political campaign jobs. </p>
<p>Also, long hours are not necessary either. Nonprofits also have employment opportunities that have reasonable hours. My daughter prefers regular hours, and her jobs have generally been 9-5 work weeks. She is attending grad school part time now while also working a full time nonprofit job, and her employer has been very reasonable about her need to be leaving the office promptly two or three days a week in time to get to her evening classes. There are sometime projects that come up that require extra hours… but for the most part my kids expect to be working regular business hours. </p>
<p>Again, many different types of nonprofits and many different functions to fill. </p>
<p>I’d also add that for the people with a talent for raising money, the pay down the line with can be very generous with a lot of perks. Canvassers are the low end – on the high end there are people who have the talent and experience to spend their time wining and dining wealthy donors. A person who is able to bring in several million in annual donations is going to be paid at a level appropriate to their talents. </p>
<p>OP; was this a canvissing jpb in boston? If so pm me.</p>
<p>I second calmom that most non-profits do pay living wages. My workplace does employ some attorneys, and while they aren’t making big law salaries, they are all making over $50K. They also have some degree of work/life balance that doesn’t exist in corporate law. On the other hand, it also depends on what you consider a living wage. I would have been happy to make $50K out of college (and I do realize that law school loans can turn what you need to make into a whole different ballgame). </p>
<p>It’s also quite possibly illegal for a salary that low to be an exempt position. My first non-profit job was non-exempt. I always worked less than 40 hours. Currently I am in an exempt position, but it’s generally 9-5, although more time as needed. I’d hate to paint all non-profit work with a bad brush because of this one position. For me, I want to connect with the mission of the work that I am doing, so it’s not as simple as saying “work somewhere else and make more money and donate it.” That’s me, but it’s often not that simple where one career is interchangeable for another. I also greatly appreciate all of our board members who do work other places and are enormously generous with their time and money - and we do have one or two board members who are generous donors and actually work at non-profits. Some of our own staff also make enough to be significant donors.</p>
<p>Morrismm, if your daughter is looking in the Boston area, it’s possible that I could have some connections.</p>
<p>^^^Nothing like having a CC connection. :)</p>
<p>It’s good to want to do good, and there are many different ways to do so. I hope your daughter finds what she is looking for, but just pass along the fact that getting skills in the for profit world while donating can lead to long term meaningful work in the non profits. </p>
<p>Whichever way she goes, cold call sales might not be for her. It’s not for everyone and that’s all right. </p>
<p>Sorry about your daughter losing the job. It hurts and angers when our great kids get rejected for anything especially when they work really hard. Help her make it positive by learning how to move forward .She will be tougher for the next disappointment which will eventually come. </p>
<p>Good luck with the housing situation. How very frustrating for all of you.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D–what she was doing is difficult and I agree with everyone who says that it takes a certain personality type to do cold calling/asking for money, even if you’re working for a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. If your D wants to make a break with the old job/organization, it seems like living with people who are working for that organization would be difficult. Does she have friends in that area with whom she could live even for a short period until she finds a new position?</p>
<p>$200 a day is what, about 50K a year? If they have to provide anything else for her in addition to salary (like social security, medicare, health insurance) it makes sense they require that $200 a day. Else there’s just no reason.</p>
<p>Don’t work for a company which doesn’t create market value. It just sounds like a terrible idea. </p>
<p>It is a just a sign of the times. There are students who get great jobs right of UG. Some stay and others get burned out. There are students who do not get very lucky in interviews (and many other reasons) and land lower paid jobs for that hard to overcome 1-3 years of experience that is often required. </p>
<p>Many view college as years of exploration and self-discovery. The same can be said for jobs in the first years. The poor economy and glut of graduates in the recent 5 years have led to even worse hiring practices by firms that rely on low pay if not that ugly masquerade of internships. </p>
<p>All in all, people should not despair during the time it takes to transition from college to a … career. It just happens that our generations start a lot “older” and our 30 might be the old 22! </p>
<p>Does not mean that it is easy to accept, but knowing that there are LOTS of people in similar situations might help. Aspiring PhDs also lead a “monkish” life and survive years of economic deprivation. In the end, the degrees and gained experience should provide great equalizers. </p>
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<p>They didn’t come up with the $24,000 figure by accident. </p>
<p>From: US Dept. of Labor Fact Sheet #17G: Salary Basis Requirement and the Part 541 Exemptions
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) </p>
<p>Link: <a href=“WHD Fact Sheets | U.S. Department of Labor”>http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17g_salary.pdf</a></p>
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<p>$455 x 52 weeks = $23,660.</p>
<p>–
It is low pay and long hours – but again, it is also a learning and resume-building experience. “Assistant Director” looks a lot better on a resume than “intern” or “receptionist”. </p>
<p>A lot of transferable skills.</p>
<p>The canvassing jobs are bottom-of-the-payscale, but they are also respected within the nonprofit community. Basically it is where a lot of people got their start - and some of these organizations have a very wide alumni network. My son came through a PIRG affiliate. So did Barack Obama – Obama was a PIRG rep In the early 1980’s, at a salary of less than $10K a year; he lasted 3 months. Basically, these jobs function as something of a boot camp for a large part of the nonprofit and grassroots campaign sector. </p>
<p>Now it may be that the biggest lesson that OP’s daughter has learned after 6 months is that she doesn’t want this job or anything like it ever again … but the skills are transferable to small business management, sales, marketing, public relations, event planning, etc. </p>
<p>(To the OP: if your daughter needs help with her resume, PM me. I know someone who is very good at helping with resumes. )</p>
<p>OP, have your daughter write a review of her job and post it. </p>
<p>A friend’s daughter almost took a position like that, but quickly realized the canvassing part was not for her. </p>