July 26, 2007
Young Nonprofit Workers Face Career Hurdles
As the Nonprofit 2020: Issues and Answers from the Next Generation conference begins today in Grand Rapids, Mich., Rosetta Thurman of the blog Perspectives from the Pipeline cautions the nonprofit world to recognize the challenges it faces in recruiting and nurturing young nonprofit professionals like herself.
Citing what she calls “some pretty fundamental leadership deficits in the nonprofit sector,” Ms. Thurman, director of development and finance at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, writes about the need for greater professionalism at the executive level.
A discussion of this topic this month with Kathleen Enright, Executive Director of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations at a DC Young Nonprofit Professionals Network meeting, Ms. Thurman writes, left her unsatisfied, she writes.
Ms. Enright said that she believed the coming generational shift at the top levels of nonprofit organizations would result in greater emphasis on professionalism and effectiveness.
“OK, maybe,” writes Ms. Thurman. “But to my mind, that generational shift cannot in any way possibly happen if young people don’t 1) come into the nonprofit sector in the first place and 2) stay in the nonprofit sector long enough to want and be able to influence change.”
Current nonprofit leaders, Ms. Thurman writes, need to do more to “cultivate their younger staff to take over their jobs when they retire in the next decade or so.” And a recent study by the Building Movement project underscores her conclusion.
To read more about the frustrations of young nonprofit professionals, read this recent Chronicle article. And share your thoughts about the challenges faced by twenty- and thirtysomethings in the nonprofit world by clicking on the comments box below.
—Heather Joslyn
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I couldn’t agree more with Ms. Thurman’s comments. If young people are given the freedom and creativity they desire in their nonprofit role, they’ll begin to leave the sector. The good thing is that they may be able to do more good out of it than in it. Of course this doesn’t bode well for nonprofit staffing issues into the near future.
— Sam Davidson Jul 27, 06:04 AM #
I also agree wholeheartedly wit Ms. Thurman’s comments. The organization I run, New Sector Alliance, has begun to tackle this issue by launching a year-long nonprofit management & leadership program for young professionals: The Residency in Social Enterprise http://www.newsector.org/students/residency.php
Hopefully, as we grow this program we can give more and more young leaders the support and tools they need to stay in the sector and make a real difference
— Valerie Bockstette Jul 30, 10:38 AM #