Whether you are the Queen Bee, the girl next door, or Mother Nature, most women possess a great deal of power. The power is in their ability to love humanity, understand what needs undertaking, and devise a plan to get it done. Unfortunately, women often underestimate that power. Women can achieve great things professionally while making the world a better place. Women can impact and make positive progress by pursuing careers in organizations that address social injustice, societal needs, and inequalities in our society.

Despite the fact that women comprise the largest portion of employees in the nonprofit sector, only 21% of the largest nonprofits are led by women CEOs. This is not a surprising statistic but a foolish one when it has been shown that women in nonprofits are equated with success.

According to Guidestar, a database providing updated information on nonprofits, there are approximately 1.8 million recognized nonprofit organizations in the United States. Annual revenues in the US nonprofit sector have risen from $1.04 trillion in 1998 to $2.62 trillion in 2016, according to a study released in 2020 by the German database company Statista. This data points to the enormous economic and societal impact of the nonprofit sector as the nonprofit sector in the US is the third-largest workforce in the nation.

If you are a woman with lived experiences, a passion, a fire burning within, follow it into the career you desire. Whether your background is in the corporate or nonprofit sector, you can identify transferable skills for a proper match in your job search. There are a diversity of career paths to pursue in the nonprofit sector.

Women in nonprofit work are addressing social injustice and inequality while redefining leadership. A global consulting firm, Korn Ferry has identified women as “better at using soft skills, crucial for effective leadership and superior business performance and outperform men in 11 of 12 key emotional intelligence (EI) competencies.” EI is often the distinguishing factor between great leaders and average leaders according to a variety of studies.

While many women have founded nonprofit organizations, much success is found, as well, by women working within organizational structures. The following women have a direct impact on how society reacts to the cause that they are advocating for in the nonprofit sector: Cameron Vigil, the Engagement Manager for Young Invincibles, working as an advocate for youth; Shirley Anne Smith, the Executive Director for Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department; Gabriela Proano, the Research Project Manager for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; and Mona Kafeel, the Executive Director of the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation.  Each one of them identified a cause they were passionate about and began involvement with either volunteer work, entry-level work, or applying their skills and knowledge from a corporate background.Like all career paths, a nonprofit career path and journey requires dedication, hard work, and passion to be successful. If you have a burning passion, want to make a difference, and want to affect change, a nonprofit career may meet your needs.

Following a professional journey in the nonprofit sector has many similarities to following a path in the corporate sector. You must lay the groundwork, build your network, educate yourself, and work hard to be successful.

Laying the groundwork can include an internship, volunteering, or joining an organization in a role that meets your skill level.  When you bring experience and transferable skills and knowledge to the organization based on their job description, you must ensure that your skills and expertise are identified with the value you bring to the nonprofit organization.

It also includes identifying the opportunities aligned with your areas of interest and requires extensive research on organizations and roles.

Once you have identified the appropriate organizations, begin building your network. Build your network utilizing LinkedIn to search for connections within the organizations of interest and reach out to others to build connections. Cultivating trusted partnerships through your volunteerism or early work experience will prove to be beneficial. Making connections with mentors who can assist you on your journey is always invaluable.

As you move along this path, you must continuously educate yourself; Identifying what skills and experience are important in the sector of interest to you. The organizations you target and the roles you seek will provide you with knowledge of the important aspects needed to be successful in your search. In addition, your trusted partners and mentors can also be vital sources for education and valuable information on how they built their career paths. Never hesitate to inquire about how someone started in their career and what they found helpful on their career path.

As with any career goal, strategic planning, research, and much work is needed to be done in order to move forward. For success in reaching your objective, you must invest the necessary time and effort. The reward will be a success in acquiring the role you desire.

So, can women save the world? They absolutely can and surely must. We have seen the impact of the success in our governments with the addition of so many female representatives. With women’s insight and perspective, I believe change can happen. Whether women make individual contributions or follow a professional career path, they can have a substantial impact and make the world a better place. I, for one, anticipate and look forward to seeing the change.