Non-Profit Power: 5 Years In.
Lessons learned from a long tenure
Five years ago, I joined the Steering Committee for the Boston Chapter of the Alumnae-i Network for Harvard Women (ANHW Boston). Three years ago, I took on the role of President. During that time, ANHW Boston has undergone a tremendous transformation. Similar to a startup, we’ve evolved from a patchwork of ideas and barebones administration to an organization with established traditions and resources, enabling us to host six in-person events annually. We’re far from the smooth-operating machine I can envision in my head. Still, we now have a capacity worthy of our mandate: to advance women’s equity and leadership in Greater Boston.
For any non-profit program management professional (PgMP), five years is a compelling professional milestone, simultaneously long and still too short.
Looking back, here are five lessons learned from managing this non-profit program.
Top Five Reflections
1. You have to appreciate your resources beyond money
Despite the “Harvard” name in our title, ANHW Boston has minimal funding. ANHW is an independent, non-profit organization that receives no direct funding from Harvard University. Without sharing specifics, I count our Chapter’s spending in the tens of dollars.
In other words, a run to Staples to make copies is a substantive financial decision.
I’ve learned in the truest sense that the absence of a chunky bank account does not equate to a lack of resources. ANHW Boston boasts impressive assets in its network and brand, which, when leveraged effectively, can yield outstanding results.
We have a mailing list of highly educated women from across industries, living in close proximity, who share a common interest in women’s issues. Furthermore, they pay attention when a group from their alma mater writes.
I also have a fantastic base of committed, long-term volunteers in our Steering Committee. Turnover is typically less than 15% annually. My colleagues continue to volunteer their most precious resource: TIME.
Finally, there’s no denying that the Harvard name opens doors and lends credibility to our cause. Speakers quickly agree to present. It’s easy to build new relationships. In the realm of branding, our name conveys a great deal before we even step through the door.
ANHW Boston may not be rich, but it is wealthy in opportunity and network: the ingredients really needed to conduct our program. From another perspective, we have the assets that many organizations spend considerable money to acquire.
In your non-profit, what are the resources beyond finances that you leverage to accomplish your work?
2. You can find huge professional advancement in smaller, non-profit programs
While established non-profit institutions offer many benefits, one significant downside is an oversaturation of leadership, which can make it difficult to advance. I faced such a dilemma at my day job with Boston Children’s Hospital when I initially volunteered for ANHW Boston’s Steering Committee. It was unexpected, but by shifting my attention to a smaller, non-profit, I found far larger opportunities to advance my professional development.
It began with serving as the moderator for a webinar titled “Women, Work, and Caregiving” in 2021. It featured leading women researchers and writers in the field, including Claudia Goldin, who in 2023 became the Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. I may have moderated from my child’s nursery, but being publicly in the professional company of greats was a major professional stretch. It subsequently was a turning point in my professional trajectory.
Next came my elevation to the President role, which admittedly came more from an unexpected need for a volunteer, rather than my qualifications. Still, the opportunity to lead gave me the chance to run a large team and enact a vision for the group with minimal external oversight. Through ANHW Boston, I have five years of highly positive program management leadership experience.
A mid-career transition to a smaller, nonprofit organization may seem counterintuitive, but it can lead to opportunities to break new ground in one’s professional experiences.
Could you find a larger leadership opportunity at a smaller organization?
3. As the program grows, tailoring gets tough
In program management, tailoring is “the deliberate adaptation of approach, governance, and processes to make them more suitable for the given environment and the work at hand” (1). More simply put, tailoring is often about saying “no” to good ideas.
With a growing program whose public profile is expanding, one of the most challenging aspects is deciding which good options not to pursue.
Admittedly, at the beginning of my tenure, we were novices and had few connections, so almost any idea was worth pursuing. Now the group has reached a point where our most limited resource is people’s time – both members' time to attend events and Steering Committee members' time to plan. We cannot implement all our aspirations, nor can we keep up with the increasing number of opportunities people reach out to us to host. With growth, this has necessitated a more structured approach to decision-making, particularly as we aim to ensure fairness in the events we choose to highlight and accessibility to those events for members. Learning to tailor, or in more precise terms, learning to hone in on the truest core of what the group should do, is a skill I’m rapidly shoring up as ANHW Boston expands.
How has your approach to tailoring changed as your program matures?
4. Benefits need to be personal
With non-profit jobs, it’s often the case that your compensation is lower than what you could get in the for-profit sector. For this reason, it’s essential that a) the program’s mission aligns with your values and b) there’s a joy in being part of the community. I would argue that it’s easier to find organizations that align with your values than it is to find a community that you can be part of over the long term. At five years, I’m grateful to still gain such personal satisfaction from being part of the ANHW community.
I joined ANHW Boston over the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic. The social benefits were immediate and straightforward: the Steering Committee meetings were one of the few opportunities I had to meet new people.
Happily past the social distancing era, ANHW Boston has continued to be a boon socially. Every month, I’m out the door and into the city for a new event related to the organization. I’ve met countless people from across Boston, generations, and industries. Every time I make a new “3rd connection” on LinkedIn, I smile. It’s proof that I’m continuously expanding my social orbit.
Working with ANHW Boston keeps me mentally healthy and stronger in my professional network – two traits I value deeply. Despite a program’s mission, if the community you are a part of doesn’t fulfill a social benefit, it’s not the right place for you over the long term.
Does the community around your program bring you joy?
5. There are tremendous possibilities in a long tenure
ANHW Boston is not all roses and has had its share of thorns. It’s taken a lot of determined drudgery to get basic operations moving, but it's grown inch by inch to become a much bigger instrument for change. In an era where we are often incentivized to change jobs every few years, there is a hard-won joy in bringing a non-profit program from concept to reality.
For program management professionals, there’s something important to recognize in spending a long tenure with one program. Over five years, you deepen your expertise and build your relationships to an intense level. Certainly one where you can deliver exceptional work, perhaps even become capable of achieving benefits that no other person on the planet can replicate.
Long tenures often receive little public attention in business beyond a commemorative gift and applause at a staff meeting. However, the value of long tenures may be another underdeveloped area of knowledge that warrants further attention. In program management, you may need a long tenure to be capable of tackling a truly complex problem.
If you spend five years with your current program, what capabilities will you develop?
“Incredible Machine”
ANHW Boston is not yet in its final form, but with recent successes, I’m confident it’s on its way to even bigger achievements. I end five years, both looking forward to the upcoming year of work and still immensely curious about what surprises are around the corner.
Will I make it to ten years? Perhaps. I dare to imagine what I will have learned by then.
This week’s song pairing is “Incredible Machine (Album Version)” by Sugarland. At a run time of 5:01, it’s a perfect way to cap off an article celebrating five years. Enjoy.
References
The standard for Project Management and A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide). Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute; 2021.