Seattle Works in the blogosphere
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Preparing non-profit boards for more Gen-Xers, even Millenials Non-profit organizations beginning to think about a broader role on their boards of directors for Gen-Xers might be aghast at contemplating how to deal with an influx of Millenials, or Gen-Yers. But Alison Carl White, who as executive director of Seattle Works is charged with guiding younger professionals to get involved in community-benefit activities, is enthused about the prospect of the Millenium Generation becoming a factor in the makeup of non-profit and community boards. The reality of most non-profit boards is that they've seemed to function just fine, guided by executive committees composed of Boomers who reached out to a handful, at best, of Gen-Xers. But most of the boards have been so busy over recent years trying to find women and minority prospects that intentionally strategizing about the role and impact of Gen-Xers, and where to find them, has been a distant concept. And figuring out how to go looking for representation from a third generation, is off the radar screen. Alison White suggests that for many of the region's non-profit boards, dominated by the Baby-Boomer generation, the process of incorporating Gen-Xers has created some dynamic tension because those in their 30s and early 40s have brought a different way of doing things. And she thinks it may well be, since community involvement and helping non-profit causes has been a part of the growing-up process for Millenials, that they will be pressing for a role on boards sooner than current corporate and community leaders anticipate. Seattle Works was founded as The Benefits Gang by what, ironically, was a group of young professionals then of the age of today's Gen-Yers. As Jennifer West, now COO of Rockey Hill & Knowlton's Northwest practice but then a young staff member at the Fearey Group p-r firm recalls, she and folks like Kim Ackerley, Dan Evans Jr., and other off-spring of prominent area families decided to create an opportunity to give back. The organization, which focused on inspiring those in their 20s and 30s to get involved and originally used annual black-tie events to raise money for selected non-profit causes, turns 20 next year. I asked Alison, whom I've known for most of the five years she has guided the organization, to offer a look at the generational characteristics that create dynamic tensions on boards, bearing in mind that generational generalities are risky. She suggests that those in the boomer generation, who at this point are the core, spirit and institutional memory of most boards because of their collective roles in community and business leadership, focus on getting things done the right way and taking the time to do it right, even if they have to work their way through conflict to achieve that. And they are believers in the importance of philanthropy. She sees her Gen-Xer generation, on the other hand, as driven by a desire to "just get moving and get things done. They just want movement forward, or they get frustrated and get out. They want to do things differently than their parents did them." And they're less driven by traditional philanthropy than by what she describes as "conscience consumers," meaning if they're buying a product whose proceeds somehow help a cause, then they're doing their part. Gen- X'ers are frequently seen as not thrilled with corporate life, tending not to trust institutions in general and deeply resentful of the Boomers' confident assumptions that they will be motivated by the same things that Boomers have long cared about. So how about Gen-Yers, who metamorphosed into Millenials when those involved in things like naming generations realized they were coming of age in a new millenium? They are described as wanting to earn a living only on their own terms, which means having a flippant attitude towards management, rules and corporate structure They are characterized by close ties to their parents and being more socially aware, and Alison feels that may well provide the glue to make the multigenerational boards become more like change agents. "My most hopeful self envisions a creative tension at work with multigenerational boards that will allow boards to move from inertia to look at how they should function to make the community they serve a more vital place," she says. But part of setting the stage for that is in the hands of non-profit boards to begin preparing for different ways of doing things. (To view previous Flynn's Harp notes, click on masthead. |
