As Independent Sector holds a meeting in Colorado this week to discuss the future of the nonprofit world, questions are being raised about who has been invited to the event.

Seventy-five nonprofit leaders and others are attending the Washington charitable association’s gathering, including Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Rosetta Thurman, a charity consultant, writes that the effort could be “very groundbreaking” but says it has not done enough to include people under 30. “For a country that is teeming with millions of Generation Y leaders (the second largest generation behind Baby Boomers), this is a huge oversight on the part of a group that seeks to examine trends in the nonprofit sector and develop a plan for the future,” she writes on her blog.

On The Chronicle’s Web site, other charity officials have written similar concerns about whether the conference will include a diversity of viewpoints.

“Once again the Independent Sector is demonstrating its own sense of exclusivity in a sector that needs coalescing and unity,” writes Mike Burns, a nonprofit consultant and author of the Nonprofit Board Crisis blog.

Independent Sector, which represents about 600 charities and grant makers, has said the event is the beginning of a larger dialogue. It has promised to use Internet tools to solicit the views of more people and continue the conversation during its annual meeting in November.

Mitch Nauffts, editorial director for the Foundation Center, a research organization in New York, writes that Independent Sector’s effort to reach a broader audience “sounds reasonable.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the initiative unfold over the next few months,” he writes on the center’s blog.

What do you think? Has Independent Sector satisfied the concerns about the meeting?