April 21, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
How can charities cultivate young leaders?
The Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog describes how speakers at a recent roundtable discussion answered that question.
Patrick A. Corvington of the Annie E. Casey Foundation described a recent survey his foundation and other organizations conducted showing that 75 percent of young people love their work at charities. They’re willing to accept slightly lower salaries and long hours, but they’re not willing to sacrifice everything, he said.
“We don’t talk enough about how we treat talent in the sector,” he said. That “combination of finance and treatment can be fatal.”
One challenge the survey identified is that young people are pigeonholed — as marketers, fund raisers, or program people — and aren’t given a chance to learn general skills.
Mr. Corvington and other speakers, including Cheryl Dorsey, of Echoing Green — a group that supports aspiring nonprofit leaders — suggested a few ways that charities can encourage young people to stay in the nonprofit world:
- Put more money into professional-development programs.
- Take the issue seriously.
- Give young people a chance to serve as trustees.
- Teach young people that they can be innovative within existing charities, and don’t necessarily have to leave and start a new group to use their skills.
- Don’t make people who want professional development feel guilty about it.
