Nonprofit Resume Builder. Your resume made professional

Dollars raised, people served and volunteers engaged show what your nonprofit work achieved, so put those figures where a reader sees them first. Tie each number to a program or campaign: grant awards, donor retention, households reached, or a budget you managed against outcomes promised to a funder.

Volunteer roles, board service and AmeriCorps terms can show relevant experience, so give them dates, hours and duties like any paid job. Fundraisers may add the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) credential from CFRE International, and experienced grant writers sometimes hold the Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential from the Grant Professionals Certification Institute. If you've worked as a registered fundraiser, list the state, since some states require certain fundraisers to register. Name the donor database or case-management system you've used, such as Raiser's Edge, Bloomerang or Salesforce.

For example: "Recruited and scheduled 85 weekend volunteers, which let the food pantry add a Saturday distribution for about 140 households."

• Where should volunteer work go on a nonprofit resume?

  Put unpaid work that matches the job in your main Experience section, in date order, and mark the title, as in "Food Pantry Coordinator (volunteer)." A separate section at the bottom undersells it. The federal government's General Schedule hiring rules, for one, credit experience with little or no pay the same as comparable paid experience, judged by the same criteria.

  If your paid jobs sit outside the sector, a heading such as "Nonprofit Experience" lets mission work lead the page, with other jobs after it. A one-day event, such as a fun run or a park cleanup, fits on a single Community line.

• How do I put Eagle Scout on my resume?

  List it under Honors as "Eagle Scout, Scouting America" with the year you earned it. Scouting America is a trade name for the Boy Scouts of America, which keeps that legal name, so add it in parentheses if that's what your certificate says. Then show what the rank took: 21 merit badges and a service project you planned and led for an organization other than Scouting America, with the proposal approved before work began.

  Give the project a bullet with what you built, the volunteers you led and their hours. See the Boy Scout example. After a few years of jobs, keep the single Honors line.

• How do I list board of directors service on a resume?

  Write the seat, the organization and the years, as in "Board Member, Lakeview Youth Arts, 2022 to present," then a line or two on what the board did while you served, such as a capital campaign you chaired or the finance committee you joined. Say whether it was a governing board or an advisory one.

  Governing directors carry legal duties: Minnesota's attorney general, for example, describes them as fiduciaries with duties of care, loyalty and obedience to the law, responsible for the organization's management and finances. Label an advisory seat as advisory, so a reader doesn't assume those duties. See the Advisory Board Member example.

• How do I move from food pantry assistant to coordinator?

  Show the coordinator tasks you've already taken on. A Food Pantry Assistant resume usually covers stocking, client check-in and packing orders; to read as a Food Pantry Coordinator, add the parts that run the operation, like volunteer schedules, orders from your partner food bank and distribution records.

  If your pantry hands out USDA Foods through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), mention any intake you handled: households taking that food home must meet statewide income eligibility guidelines. Close with numbers, such as households served a month or pounds distributed.