5 Nonprofit Staff Training Tips for Long-Term Success
From writing job descriptions to interviewing candidates, recruiting new talent can be a long and labor-intensive process. But once a new employee joins your nonprofit, they can be an invaluable asset to your team—as long as they have the right training.
You may think of training as a limited period of time when employees first join your organization, but in truth, nonprofits should continually encourage their employees to expand their skills and provide them with the resources to do so.
Whether an employee needs a tutorial on how to use your CRM or wants to learn new strategies to support your nonprofit’s strategic plan, there are numerous ways you can help employees continuously learn the skills they need. In this guide, we’ll explore five professional development tips to set your team up for long-term success.
1. Create an organized onboarding process.
After you’ve concluded the recruiting process, help your new hires hit the ground running in their roles. During onboarding, employees should receive the foundational training they’ll use for the rest of their time at your nonprofit.
Your onboarding process should have a formal structure so it is clear when employees have officially been onboarded and are full-fledged members of your team. It should not end after an arbitrary amount of time, but after clear training objectives have been completed, such as finishing training modules, earning accreditations, or fulfilling specific new hire assignments.
Additionally, prepare an employee handbook that provides reference materials employees can look back on throughout and after onboarding. Since your employees will need to absorb a lot of new information quickly, they’ll appreciate having a reference book to refresh their memory.
2. Set up mentorships.
New hires have a lot to learn when they first join your nonprofit, and even with a thorough onboarding process, they’re likely to have questions about their day-to-day responsibilities. A mentorship provides someone they can turn to for any and all of these questions.
Since your employees already have managers, you might wonder what the point of mentors is. These roles differ in a few key ways:
- Managers are formal supervisors who assess employees’ work, pass down assignments, and provide progress reports to leadership as needed.
- Mentors are senior colleagues who handle many of the same responsibilities as new hires, provide informal advice, and aren’t expected to elevate new hires’ comments and questions.
Some mentorship programs may be more involved, such as requiring mentors to put together presentations or take new hires out to lunch. In general, however, employee mentors act as a comparatively informal resource new employees can turn to for guidance.
3. Promote training courses.
While your employees should always be learning, the formal training process can only last so long. Provide your employees with the resources they need to further their careers by promoting training opportunities they can enroll in.
Laridae recommends providing a range of training resources, including:
- Virtual classrooms. Most training courses take place online. However, there’s a big difference between a course that auto-plays several videos in a row and one that puts attendees in a virtual classroom where they can interact with instructors and learn from their peers.
- One-on-one coaching. Employees can receive tailored lessons, get specific questions answered, and set personalized professional goals with a dedicated mentor.
- Take-home tools. Learning should continue even in between training sessions. Look for training courses that provide employees with guides and take-home tools they can continue to rely on even after the course wraps up.
When helping employees find and attend training courses, look for offerings that provide lessons relevant to employees’ career objectives, offer in-depth training, and use interactive teaching methods that will make lessons stick.
4. Attend nonprofit conferences.
Every year, thousands of nonprofit professionals gather at a number of conferences hosted across the world. These gatherings are opportunities to learn about the latest trends in the nonprofit sector, from microinteractions to AI technology.
Conferences usually consist of lectures and workshops where attendees can improve their skills. NXUnite provides a short list of nonprofit conferences your organization can consider sending interested employees:
- Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Summit. Corporate funding, like matching gifts, often goes unclaimed because nonprofit professionals aren’t sure how to discuss it. Double the Donation’s Matching Gift Summit can answer your team’s questions and provide actionable insights into how to earn matching gift revenue.
- The Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference. Hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, this conference covers a wide range of topics, providing workshops and lectures related to nearly every aspect of your nonprofit.
- GrantSummit. Grant writing requires highly specific skills nonprofit professionals might not otherwise pick up through their day-to-day responsibilities. Allow your employees to improve grant-related skills and meet with foundation leaders to get your foot in the door with grantmakers.
- Nonprofit Storytelling Conference. Nonprofits looking for actionable advice on improving their community outreach can upgrade their storytelling skills by attending this annual conference.
- bbcon. Hosted annually by Blackbaud, bbcon provides a deep dive into updates and best practices for Blackbaud’s suite of nonprofit software, making attendance a necessity for nonprofits using Blackbaud tools.
Research conferences in your area or ones that are far away but worth traveling to. From community engagement to technology, nonprofit conferences cover a wide range of topics, so consider your training priorities and which staff members will gain the most from attending these events.
5. Encourage association memberships.
Many nonprofit conferences are hosted by associations. In between annual events, these associations continue to provide high-quality resources and opportunities to their members. Consider encouraging some of your employees to join nonprofit membership associations.
To ensure your employees receive valuable resources for improving their skills, look for associations that provide:
- Credential programs. Along with networking opportunities, many professionals join associations to access credential programs. These courses can advance your team’s skills and allow them to step into new roles.
- Research reports. Many associations conduct research on their fields. These published reports can provide insights into the future of your industry but are often locked behind membership paywalls. When your employees have access to these resources, they can better map out their skill development goals.
- Community. One of the strongest resources any association membership can provide is access to a community of experienced professionals. Look for associations with online community platforms that your members can join and use to connect with other nonprofit professionals. With these tools, they can ask questions, participate in discussions about developments in your field, and even promote job opportunities at your nonprofit to aid recruitment efforts.
You can help your team join associations by offering to help pay for their membership fees. If you do so, consider asking members to use what they learn to help train the rest of your team. For instance, you might ask an employee who comes back from a members-only conference to give a short presentation on what they learned.
Training your nonprofit’s employees isn’t just about getting them up to speed on day one. Instead, effective training involves providing employees with the resources they need to continually improve throughout their careers.
Encourage employees to take their training into their own hands with external courses and conferences, or even consider bringing in a consultant for nonprofit organizations to help your employees develop specific skills. From there, continue to encourage professional growth so your team can power your nonprofit’s success from each year to the next.
