My Account

You control your data

We and our partners use cookies to provide you with our services and, depending on your settings, gather analytics and marketing data. Find more information on our Cookie Policy. Tap "Settings” to set preferences. To accept all cookies, click “Accept”.

Settings Accept

Cookie settings

Click on the types of cookies below to learn more about them and customize your experience on our Site. You may freely give, refuse or withdraw your consent. Keep in mind that disabling cookies may affect your experience on the Site. For more information, please visit our Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

Choose type of cookies to accept

Analytics

These cookies allow us to analyze our performance to offer you a better experience of creating resumes and cover letters. Analytics related cookies used on our Site are not used by Us for the purpose of identifying who you are or to send you targeted advertising. For example, we may use cookies/tracking technologies for analytics related purposes to determine the number of visitors to our Site, identify how visitors move around the Site and, in particular, which pages they visit. This allows us to improve our Site and our services.

Performance and Personalization

These cookies give you access to a customized experience of our products. Personalization cookies are also used to deliver content, including ads, relevant to your interests on our Site and third-party sites based on how you interact with our advertisements or content as well as track the content you access (including video viewing). We may also collect password information from you when you log in, as well as computer and/or connection information. During some visits, we may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, download errors, time spent on certain pages and page interaction information.

Advertising

These cookies are placed by third-party companies to deliver targeted content based on relevant topics that are of interest to you. And allow you to better interact with social media platforms such as Facebook.

Necessary

These cookies are essential for the Site's performance and for you to be able to use its features. For example, essential cookies include: cookies dropped to provide the service, maintain your account, provide builder access, payment pages, create IDs for your documents and store your consents.

To see a detailed list of cookies, click here.

Save preferences

Our customers have been hired by:

You're on a quest to find the perfect nonprofit job, but is everything prepared for the journey?

Fear not! We'll guide you in building a nonprofit resume as powerful as your passion for change, making hiring managers eager to enlist you in their world-saving endeavors. Get ready to conquer the nonprofit realm!

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Create your resume now

Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume examples here.

Check out our other guides centered around supportive roles:

Sample Nonprofit Resume Template

Virgo Kauffman

virgozety.kauffman@gmail.com

937-823-7639

Professional Summary

Friendly and outgoing accountant with 3+ years of experience in managing books and ledgers, with a speciality in using free/low-cost digital tools to streamline company finances. Seeking to leverage skills and love for nonprofit missions to raise the quality of financial processes at World Now.

Work Experience

Voices for Children, Chicago, IL

Staff Accountant

Feb 2018- Dec 2019

  • Provided monthly and year-end operational support to Finance and Accounting Manager.
  • Oversaw billing for fee-to-service customers.
  • Oversaw all aspects of budgeting including managing payments and chasing. outstanding amounts owed.
  • Assisted with all financial reporting, statements, and audits.

Key achievement

  • Assisted in implementing new expense tracking software that lead to a decrease in incorrectly submitted expenses by 20%.

Chicago Homeless Initiative, Chicago, IL

Bookkeeper

Jan 2016-2018

  • Entered and maintained accurate financial data.
  • Prepared monthly financial reports and reviewed for accuracy.
  • Generated invoices and monitored cash flow on an ongoing basis.

Education

2014-2016, Bachelor’s in Finance

Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • Detail-oriented
  • Accounting 
  • General Ledger
  • Data analysis
  • Quick Books
  • SAP
  • Tax law
  • Problem solving skills

Volunteering

  • Weekend volunteer at the local YMCA working with underprivileged youth

This is how to write a job-winning nonprofit resume:

1. Use the Best Format for Your Nonprofit Resume

Let’s make one thing clear—nonprofit organizations do make a profit. The difference is that they invest their profits back into their business. They mostly revolve around services that tackle all kinds of social problems and several are also religiously affiliated.

The thing is, nonprofits aren’t a specific role and most things you can do in for-profit companies you can also do in a nonprofit. The mission is just different.

And it’s understanding that mission that can help you stand out from other candidates like a halo hanging over your head.

To make sure you let recruiters see the light of your nonprofit resume, follow these resume formatting guidelines:

  • First, add your contact information
  • Of all the resume formats you could choose, pick the chronological resume layout. It puts the spotlight on your experience and professional skills, helping you put your best foot forward.
  • Use a modern resume font and don’t forget about leaving some white space to make your text stand out.
  • Save your nonprofit resume in PDF to make sure that your resume layout doesn’t go topsy-turvy when opened.

You might be asking yourself how many pages does a good resume have? If you have enough experience and achievements to fill up two pages then go for it. Otherwise, one-page resume template will be more than enough.

2. Write a Nonprofit Resume Objective or Resume Summary

A career objective and a career summary are two sides of the same coin—the resume profile.

It’s a brief, concise paragraph at the top of your resume that lets the recruiter know why you are the one to hire. In business terms, it’s like an elevator pitch for your candidacy.

A career summary is great if you have more than 2 years of relevant experience:

  • Brainstorm a file of all your great “selling points.”
  • Use 3-4 of those points that match the job description when you sit down to write your nonprofit resume summary section.

A career objective is a better option for fresh graduates, candidates with very little experience or career changers:

  • Demonstrate what you’ve learned so far and show what a great fit you’d be for the company.
  • Stay detailed and use numbers to prove your skills and successes.

Pro Tip: Especially if you’re transitioning from for-profit industries, hiring managers might think you’ll be too expensive to hire. Be sure to make it very clear why you want to shift to nonprofit.

3. Create the Perfect Nonprofit Resume Job Description

You’re entering America’s third largest workforce—your nonprofit resume experience section needs to be just as supportive to you as you are to others:

  • Include your most recent work first and follow it with previous positions as you go back in time.
  • Each entry should include: job title, company name, dates of employment, and up to 6 bullet points.
  • As you go back in your professional experience, lower the number of bullet points you use. Really old positions should have no more than 3 relevant bullet points.
  • Use power verbs to start off your bullet points strong.
  • Don’t just create a boring laundry list of duties. Focus on your achievements and quantifiable, professional results.
  • Tailor your resume—make sure your work experience section reflects the job you’re applying for.

4. Have Your Nonprofit Resume Education Section Make a Difference

A lot of candidates breeze past their resume education section thinking it’s irrelevant. 

The thing is—it’s super relevant, especially if you have little work experience to show:

  • If you have more than 5 years of work experience, only list: school name and location, years in school, degree. The same goes for adding unfinished college on your resume.
  • Have only a couple years of experience or are a fresher looking for their first job? Use wins from your student days to beef up your education section. Use the same process as you did for your work experience and use 4-6 bold accomplishments that fit the job ad.

Pro Tip: If you’re a fresh grad, you can add a GPA to your resume. But do it only if it’s 3.5 or higher. Otherwise, it’s not a safe move.

5. Highlight Your Nonprofit Skills

Here’s how to put skills on a nonprofit resume:

  • Build a master list of all the job skills you already have: think about soft skills and hard skills, technical skills, and other professional skills.
  • Pick the skills that are most relevant to the job ad and include them in your non-profit resume. For added appeal, list those skills that your work experience and education can prove.

Nonprofit Resume Skills

Pro Tip: Coming up a little shy when listing your skills? There are a ton of online courses on platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, or Skillshare that could teach you a few things relevant to the job you want.

Creating a resume with our builder is incredibly simple. Follow our step-by-step guide and use content from Certified Professional Resume Writers to have a resume ready in minutes.

When you’re done, our professional resume builder will score your resume and our ATS resume checker will tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Add Other Sections to Your Nonprofit Resume

This is a great section to really stand out from other candidates with the things that make you unique.

Feel free to divide this into separate sections such as:

These are just some tips. Feel free to add anything else that you think will prove a good fit.

Remember that volunteer work always looks great on a non-profit resume as it demonstrates an internal drive to help and connect with others who need support. It looks extra nice on an entry level non-profit resume and helps mask the lack of work experience.

Pro Tip: If the job ad asks for any specific tool knowledge or certifications, don’t send the hiring manager on a hunt and search mission. Add them to a separate section to make them super visible.

7. Attach a Cover Letter to Your Nonprofit Resume

Any resume for nonprofit organizations will sink without a cover letter—that’s how important cover letters are. A with demand for non-profit organizations rising, you need to stand out.

Write a stunning nonprofit cover letter using the following steps:

Pro Tip: Don’t forget about a phone call or follow up email after sending your resume. It only takes a couple of minutes, but demonstrates that the role is more than just another job for you.

Need to write a short cover letter? Check out our guide nere: Short Cover Letter Examples for Quick Application

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Voilà! 

You now have every tip and piece of advice you need to write a perfect nonprofit resume.

Is writing a nonprofit resume hard? Do you know how to make a resume for nonprofit even better? Let us know in the comments below!

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

Rate my article: non profit resume example
Article Helpfulness: 4.86 (7 votes)
Thank you for voting
Oliwia Wolkowicz
Oliwia is a writer and career expert with a solid background in consulting. At Zety, she writes dedicated, advice-driven guides to help readers create great resumes and cover letters to land the job of their dreams.
Linkedin

Similar articles