nonprofit management

Now that I'm getting down to the wire, more and more people - from friends to strangers - are beginning to ask me what the heck is making me move (especially when I always seem so dang reluctant about it). The answer that follows is always graduate school. And with that answer comes yet another question: what are you getting your master's in? When I respond with nonprofit management, I am always, always met with a blank stare.

No one seems to know just what nonprofit management is.

To be honest, I didn't know such a degree existed until last December myself. After my second attempt at the GRE (Graduate Record Exam aka The Worst Test You Will Ever Take in Your Entire Life) didn't go so well and my initial plans of going to graduate school for social work were rapidly going out the window, I began to research other options. Graduate school was always the next step for me, I just had to figure out what I would be going to school for.

I searched aimlessly through my state's universities in hopes of finding something that would click. And that would accept me despite my horrendous GRE scores. Not an easy task, I assure you.

Especially since I had absolutely no idea what it was I wanted to do with my life. With only a few weeks left until I graduated from undergrad with a bachelors in psychology, I was feeling the pressure to figure out what I was going to be when I grew up. I have never been one of those people who always knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. It's ranged from doctor to veterinarian to grocery store clerk to the Queen of England. My passion has never been focused in just one place. It's rather fluid, actually. Leaping from one place to another at a moment's notice. I consider myself a wanderer, a searcher. So, all of that combined made it even harder to focus my efforts and choose a graduate program.

My sophomore year of college, I buckled down and picked psychology as my major. That's where the bulk of my passion was concentrated (at the moment, at least) and I knew it was the right choice for me. It also gave me a solid base to stand on for the ultimate goal of social work. So, I take all of the appropriate steps to take myself even closer to that goal. Only, the plans started to fall through and my passion began to drift and I knew that it was not the right choice for me.

I'm proud of my psychology degree. Psychology will always endlessly fascinate me. It will always be a passion. But, on it's own, it's useless. I knew that jumping in, but I jumped anyways. And I'll never regret that.

Besides, my second choice was even less practical (English) so all things considered, it was a good choice. And gave me solid ground to stand on for when I made the ultimate choice to apply to the graduate program in nonprofit management.

When I first discovered the master's of nonprofit management, it instantly clicked with me. Not only is it a more practical degree (management!) it combines my need to do something good and useful for society. The only requirement I've ever had for my career goals is that it involves helping people in some way and makes a difference. The curse of a do-gooder.

So, what exactly is nonprofit management?

The simple answer is basically that it gives me the tools I need to work in a nonprofit (a charity, if you will, ie: The Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc). It will also enable me to write grants, run a business, raise money, and basically all those other important managerial skills one needs.

When I answer what is nonprofit management with this, I often earn more blank stares and head scratches. The nonprofit gets people, I think. I've never claimed I would do something that would make me a millionaire (I mean, I'm certainly not against it) the real goal in all of this is to simply make a difference; to do some good for the world I'm a apart of. That's what influenced this choice.

People don't often understand that deep desire of mine, however.

And then, after that long-winded (and probably not fully understood) answer to what nonprofit management is, I get this question: So, what are you going to do with that?

My answer is usually the same: I don't know.

It's true. I don't really know. Obviously, the goal is to work in a nonprofit some day. To run one, really. Particularly doing something that I'm passionate about. I'm just not sure where, exactly, this degree will get me. Some place wonderful, I hope.

I do admit that I have a dream. A dream that was once forgotten, but quickly remembered once I stumbled upon this degree. A dream that I hope will one day be realized. I hope, I hope...

For now, I'm getting my master's in nonprofit management. What, exactly, I'm doing with it, I wont know until I get there. But, eventually, I believe this will lead to the ultimate goal I have - the once forgotten dream of mine.

I hope, I hope...

*photo: rome, italy. trevi fountain