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April 02, 2008

How to Close the Generation Gap in the Fund-Raising Office

The tensions between young fund raisers and older ones are deep in many nonprofit offices, but the generation gap can be closed with a few relatively easy steps, said speakers at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, which wrapped up in San Diego today.

One key difference between the generations is that baby boomers prefer to work independently and assume that their staff members feel the same way. But younger employees are comfortable with a high level of oversight and would prefer more guidance, said Amie Latterman, development director at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.

“You can never talk too much to younger staff,” said Ms. Latterman, ,herself a member of Generation X (those born from 1965 to 1979).

Ms. Latterman also said that younger staff members are more productive if they are involved in the decision-making process from start to finish. Rather than being told to set up a special event, for example, they want to be engaged in discussing what kind of event to have and what goals it will accomplish.

“It can take a lot of time, but it really pays off,” she said. “Everyone understands the goals and objectives, and the schedule you’re on.”

A young fund raiser in the audience said that being involved in decision-making often enables her to be more creative in solving problems. Rather than feeling she must follow orders, she said, she feels that she can try new approaches.

Ms. Latterman said baby boomers also can help younger employees in the following ways:

• Define and teach the skills younger employees need to do their jobs well, and evaluate them on their mastery of those skills.

• Articulate how they make decisions and get other employees to do the same as they are grappling with a particular problem, so that younger members can learn from such reasoning.

• Use role-playing to help new employees learn how to speak with donors or handle other situations.

• Demonstrate by example how they hope younger employees will act in particular situations.

• Offer to mentor young workers and encourage them to find mentors.

• Pay for professional coaching for promising employees.

— Elizabeth Schwinn

Wednesday April 2, 2008 | Permalink

Comments

1. I wish this was entirely true-
   There is a generation Gap— and it may be true younger employees are comfortable with a high level of oversight and would prefer more guidance— but the opposite is also true— some dislike taking guidance.

   — M.    Apr 3, 03:52 PM    #

2. Obviously, this is a generalized theory about how older and younger employees are more effective in their jobs. But one point I would like to address is the suggestion of offering mentorship to younger employees. We’ve really lost the art of mentoring in the professional world in my opinion. Now, it seems as though it’s not valued and not the job of elder employees to take a newer generation under their wing. This is detrimental to the learning process of developing the next generation and gives a sense of expectation that the younger generation should just no how do tackle this field with little guidance. At least, this has been my experience.

   — S    Apr 3, 04:13 PM    #

3. Dear Amie, I will share this at our Board meeting tomorrow. I work with the students of the Downtowners Campus Ministry who fundraise with me. Love, Aunt Ellen www.downtownersministry.com

   — Ellen O'SHAUGHNESSY PADBERG    Apr 3, 11:15 PM    #

4. I think that most of us “older” fundraisers would say that we felt the same way when we were “younger” fundraisers and still feel that way today. None of us like to be told to go raise funds for projects that we weren’t part of creating and/or don’t understand.

   — Elaine Maly    Apr 4, 12:44 PM    #

5. There is a lot of great research and information out there about bridging the gaps between the generations. Check out: edaconsulting.org/emergingleaders.
   There are strategies that funder, boards, executives, and emerging leaders can use to work collaboratively and address these issues. The issues do need to be addressed though in order to retain a nonprofit work force and share the knowledge of those seasoned professionals.
   Emily, edaconsulting@gmail.com

   — Emily    Apr 5, 11:46 AM    #

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