Boards: Engaging the Next Generation

Emily Davis from EDA Consulting had a great post awhile back on recruiting emerging leaders for your board. As I thought about this, I realized that the board I sit on, for a local food Co-op (which is not a nonprofit, but similar), is already there. We are young business owners, young nonprofit professionals, and young community leaders, as well as experienced community organizers, professors, and business-people, and others with a long and varied history to draw from. 

Why?

Well, Emily provides a great list in her post.  I would add:

• Young people will give you an entry into a new, and likely highly engaged community of new supporters.  
  
• Emerging leaders can help provide a bridge to understanding their generation and how it thinks, what it cares about, and what it is looking for in a cause
• On that same note, young people can help an organization engage new constituents through tools, namely social media.

In addition to the organizations Emily lists, take a look at the other nonprofits in your field.  Are there young emerging leaders in those organizations that you have worked with and could approach about serving on your board?  Ask your colleague's if they have any bright, shining stars that might be interested.  

Its also a great way for an organization that cannot afford to promote their younger workers to encourage and support their development through introductions to leadership opportunities outside of work, such as serving on a board.