In our recent blog post, we shared easy ways to refresh your network by documenting your contacts, reviewing your recent engagements with your connections and thinking about your networking goals. Your networking goals should stem from your career goals. What are you hoping to accomplish this year and who in your network can help you achieve it? If you’re looking to change professions or learn more about a different industry, then an informational interview can be a very effective networking tool to accomplish this. 

Thanksgiving: a time to give thanks, feast, and – network? While your professional life may not be on the forefront of your mind during the holiday, Thanksgiving can be a great opportunity to nurture your network.

This summer, YNPN Boston surveyed over 400 young nonprofit professionals in the Greater Boston Area about their professional development needs. We’re here to share the top five professional development needs of the survey participants and while we’re at it, provide a few resources to help get you started with addressing these needs.

When Jodi Benenson joined YNPN Boston at its first-ever Knowledge Manager, she found the all-volunteer organization in a position many organizations find themselves in: They knew that data was important, but they didn't know how to strategically collect & use it.

Jodi is now the Director of Research at YNPN Boston and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. She facilitated a Lunch & Learn Oct. 15 about Creating a Data-Positive Culture at Nonprofit Organizations. Here's what we learned:

By: Alyson Weiss, YNPN Boston Communications & Marketing Ambassador | Young Professional Outreach Coordinator & Social Media Specialist at Career Moves – a division of JVS

Does this scenario sound familiar: It’s 4 PM and all of a sudden you realize you haven’t posted anything to your nonprofit’s social media channels. “Hey!” you bellow to your unpaid intern. “Do you have time to find something related to [insert cause here] to post before you go?”

We all experience it. You walk into a networking event and feel nervous, lost, and don’t know where to start. But networking doesn’t have to be scary! On Tuesday, October 28th, YNPN Boston held a Fright-Free Networking event at Cornwall’s Pub. Here were some of the tips we shared to help you get past the fear of networking!

Imari Paris Jeffries has had a prolific career - and he's just getting started. He began his nonprofit career after developing a life-long value of service while serving in the military, which he joined as a homeless high school graduate. He almost left the sector for good when he didn't have $100 in his bank account to put his parents up in a hotel after their house burned down. Though Imari stayed in the sector, reaching executive-level leadership before he turned 30, lack of fair compensation is one of the fatal flaws he sees in the nonprofit industry.