I couldn't agree more Caitlin. I spent 15 years in the charity sector and I often surprised when people outside the sector assume I have no 'commercial' skills from glancing at my CV. Yes I didn't work in the traditional business sense, but I managed project budgets, fundraised large amounts and ran my own consultancy for 7 years. These all require understanding business - and as you say - with that added layer of social accountability and mission layered on top.
Exactly. I heard someone say that nonprofit board experience isn't legitimate because you don't really have fiduciary authority or responsibilities. (Someone who had served at $B dollar corporations). The wild amount of misinformation is staggering. Nonprofit boards carry legal fiduciary duties—duty of care, duty of loyalty, duty of obedience—and can be held personally liable for breaches. The idea that running a mission-driven organization with constrained resources and complex stakeholder accountability is somehow 'less real' than corporate work is absurd and dismissive of incredibly consequential work.
I couldn't agree more Caitlin. I spent 15 years in the charity sector and I often surprised when people outside the sector assume I have no 'commercial' skills from glancing at my CV. Yes I didn't work in the traditional business sense, but I managed project budgets, fundraised large amounts and ran my own consultancy for 7 years. These all require understanding business - and as you say - with that added layer of social accountability and mission layered on top.
Exactly. I heard someone say that nonprofit board experience isn't legitimate because you don't really have fiduciary authority or responsibilities. (Someone who had served at $B dollar corporations). The wild amount of misinformation is staggering. Nonprofit boards carry legal fiduciary duties—duty of care, duty of loyalty, duty of obedience—and can be held personally liable for breaches. The idea that running a mission-driven organization with constrained resources and complex stakeholder accountability is somehow 'less real' than corporate work is absurd and dismissive of incredibly consequential work.