Leverage Your Worth by Volunteering
Now there's evidence that it is possible to have a life and a career at the same time. The trick is not to view the two endeavors as mutually exclusive.
A growing number of communications professionals are lending their expertise beyond their office walls to business coalitions, charities, community groups and professional associations. Yeah, they're doing it because they love it. But they're finding that the investment of time is helping to leverage their value in the marketplace.
Russ Klettke paints a nice example. After stints with several agencies and nonprofits, Klettke jumped to the client side and worked in PR for Nutrasweet, all the while chairing community swim team fundraisers in his spare time. Before long, his local volunteer gigs produced an opportunity to chair a citywide fundraiser in Chicago on behalf of a national athletic organization. Meanwhile, he began taking on media relations projects for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest education and lobbying organization for the gay and lesbian community, with 300,000 members.
When Klettke launched his own PR firm (Klettke Public Relations) in 1994, he didn't have to look too far for clients. Heavy hitters-in Chicago and beyond-already knew his name and his niche. Before long, his firm was hired to promote Miller Brewing Co.'s sponsorship of the Gay Games in Amsterdam. "I've never had trouble finding stuff to do," he says. "All nonprofits need PR. [Once you start] it's easy to get known. And this translates into paying work."
Not Just For Free Agents
Of course, you don't have to be a sole proprietor to mine valuable nuggets from volunteer work. "If you're looking to make a career switch, prospective employers will want to know about any portable relationships you have that may help them grow their businesses," says Helga Luest, media relations manager for the Greystone Companies, a strategic management and PR firm with offices in Grand Rapids, Mich. and Arlington, Va.
Luest brought a considerable amount of relationship capital with her when she joined Greystone in 1998. She serves on multiple committees of the Greater Washington DC Board of Trade, where she has monthly contact with CEOs and vice presidents from many of the area's Fortune 100 companies. "[Board of Trade] involvement gives me a platform in the community to talk about what our company does and how we've been successful," she says. "It also offers a great place to develop relationships with vendors - which often results in bottom line savings. When they know you before you hire them, they'll often offer discounts and throw in extras at no cost."
Lisa Kovitz, senior vice president of media relations for the New York firm Cairns & Associates, says that her volunteer work creates fruitful synergies with her full-time job. At a recent luncheon sponsored by the Publicity Club of New York, Kovitz addressed a crowd of 200. "I was speaking in front of some high-level journalists whom I might not otherwise have been able to access. And I didn't even have to pitch to them," she says.
The Snowball Effect
Getting into the volunteer scene isn't hard, considering most all nonprofit organizations are more than willing to accept free professional counsel. "Just be judicious about who you work with," Klettke says. "Some groups are not organized enough to appreciate good skills." You don't want to waste your free time spinning your wheels for an organization that is incapable of implementing the strategies you recommend.
Plug into a good cause, however, and your roots will spread with very little watering. When Luest parlayed her knowledge of video production into an article for HR Magazine (focusing on the use of video in human resource training), she was later offered a speaking engagement by the magazine's sponsoring organization, the Society for Human Resource Management. This shot at the podium offered yet another opportunity to build her employer's brand equity in the local marketplace-not to mention a payoff in fortifying her professional reputation as an individual.
Angels With Motives
Volunteer for a nonprofit and you'll gain not only a halo over your head, but a chance to stretch your wings. Klettke says community involvement proved to be an ego-booster when he first started out. "It was those leadership roles that eventually gave me the confidence to start my own business," he says. "I realized that I had the power to pull people together and make things happen."
Kovitz agrees. Her current post as vp of Women Executives in PR has forced her to master electronic communication, considering email is the glue that binds the group's 150 members. "I learned by doing," she says. This was a direct dividend she took back to the office.
In the end, volunteering isn't just about moral fortitude. Employers' ears will perk up if you can show that you've helped move the needle for another organization, observes Richard George, director of PR for PRSA.
Maybe the last thing you want to do after a hard day's work is more work. But the payoffs are good, if you're patient. "Maybe there's a U.S. senator chairing an initiative you're working on," George says. "You never know who you might meet. And they could become future contacts, clients or employers."
If you're in PR and you aren't deploying serendipity as a strategy, you may be missing out.
(Luest at Greystone, 703/243-8242; Kovitz at Cairns, 212/413-0519; Klettke PR, 312/957-0496; George at PRSA, 212/460-0310)
More Than Moonlighting
Volunteering is a labor of love, and some pros choose to take their commitment to the next level by jumping full-time into the nonprofit sector.
Whereas for-profit PR salaries rose 7% in 1998, pay scales at charitable organizations barely outpaced inflation that same year, and foundation salaries rose a more modest 5%, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Association salaries ran slightly higher. We culled some nonprofit salary averages from the American Society of Association Executives' most recent Association Executive Compensation Study:
| Director of Government Relations | $90,424 |
| Director of Marketing | $71,731 |
| Director of Communications | $70,868 |
| Director of Conventions | $59,920 |