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October 29, 2008, 11:56 AM ET
Tough Times Call for Generation Y Leadership
One way that charities can navigate through rough economic seas is to tap younger workers’ leadership skills more often, writes Rosetta Thurman on her Perspectives from the Pipeline blog.
“What the economic crisis is showing the nonprofit sector is that we can no longer rely on corporate social responsibility, ongoing government funding, or stable donations from even our most loyal donors,” Ms. Thurman writes. In such an unpredictable climate, she adds, “it’s clear that the old top-down hierarchy isn’t the best model for what needs to happen in organizations today.”
What might help charities survive, she says, is turning to Generation Y workers.
“Right now is an opportunity for young nonprofit professionals to bring fresh, innovative ideas for how we do the work of social change,” she writes. By dint of their advanced education (many, she notes, hold master’s degrees and have studied cutting-edge nonprofit management practices), their instinct for collaboration, and their proficiency with social media and technology, the young generation can lead the way in helping charities attract more donations, volunteers, and news-media attention, and help tweak programs and trim costs.
Ms. Thurman concludes on a hopeful note, writing that she can “see so many ways that we can get through the bad economy even stronger on the other side if we only recognize the enormous opportunity for current leaders to partner with the next generation to come up with innovative solutions. It will take all of us to shift our mindsets, but it can be done.”
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