Developing Millennial Leadership for the Future, Today

Jul 20 2012 Published by under Guest Post

post written by Anna Mahalak.

By 2020, 46% of all U.S. workers will be millennials. By that time, we can also expect an exodus of the bubble of baby boomers from the workforce, rapidly leaving leadership gaps in organizations across a variety of sectors. The face, skills, and expectations of the average American worker will be dramatically different.

What does the next generation of leadership look like for organizations?

 

How can the leadership development pipeline begin to strengthen its paths today?

These were the questions asked by the “Creating Millennial Leadership Programs” presenters Zeke Spier (Executive Director, Social Justice Fund) and Kris Putman-Walkerly (Founder and President, Putnam Community Investment Consulting Inc.) at MCON2012.

Telescope

flickr photo by Ryan Wick

Today, millennials are already providing an insight into their organizational and leadership values. These are: authentic relationships, inclusivity and diversity, and openness to change. Zeke Spier explored these values through his organization in their fundraising efforts. They found that developing leaders within peer groups and within volunteers multiplied the impact – those leaders welcomed the challenge and responsibility and that leadership pathway gave volunteers steps to follow that tied their personal development to organizational development.

The big lesson this strategy revealed was that young millennials have expendable income to give, they want to be asked and will giving meaningful contributions when asked in an authentic manner by a mission-driven organization. Social Justice Fund did not set a minimum contribution in their fundraising campaign, but instead they found that donors, especially millennials, gave more than they  would have expected if they had set a minimum contribution. By focusing on the values of authenticity, diversity, and openness to change, the organization tapped into the values of millennials.

Practically, where does the leadership pipeline begin for future millennial leaders outside of involvement in nonprofit campaigns?

Kris Putnam-Walkerly pointed to a variety of internship programs that are equipping millennials with the experiences and skills to thrive in the workforce. These internships and entry-level opportunities are especially apparent in the nonprofit sector, which contrary to the private sector, actually grew by 2% during the recession. Ultimately, millennials are prioritizing meaningful work over higher pay, and they are finding these opportunities to contribute and grow in their careers through the nonprofit sector.

Two great examples of internship opportunities in the nonprofit sector include opportunities coordinated by the Cleveland Foundation and the Exxon Mobil Community Summer Jobs Program.

What types of internship or volunteer opportunities contributed to your leadership growth as a millennial?
How is your school or community fostering opportunities for young people to develop their leadership skills in the workplace?
What do you envision a millennial-led workforce will look like in the future? What will they value?

3 responses so far

3 things I learned at #MCON2012

Jul 20 2012 Published by under Guest Post

post written by Jereme Bivins, a winner of a FREE REG to #MCON2012!

MCON, a conference dedicated to the impact of millennials in the social sector, rocked the digital space with an all-day livestream of expert speakers, virtual exhibition hall, and online networking events. Needless to say, this was a techie’s fantasy conference come true. Now after listening to the MCON session presenters, dutifully taking notes (read: Tweeting), and thinking about how each lesson might apply to me and my organization, I distilled three invaluable points from Jean Case that deserve deeper reflection:

1) Failure is flattering

Much of what we do and don’t do is governed by our fear — fear of rejection, fear of looking foolish, fear of hurting someone’s feelings, and most often, fear of failure. But failure’s not always a bad thing. Failure teaches us what doesn’t work, so that we can correct our mistakes and try something new. Now think of how we treat fear in our personal lives, that treatment is ten-fold for organizations. Before we launch any campaign, press release, direct mail, email, or even tweet, we have to be sure that everything is perfect. There’s no margin for error. Failure is not an option.

However what’s true about failure in our personal lives must be a celebrated part of our organizational culture. It’s alright to fail, provided that we learn from our mistakes. It’s how we grow, how things change, and how innovation happens. So maybe failure’s really not so bad.

Remember: Fail quickly, fail forward.

Serious Squirrel

flickr photo by Navicore

2) Slacktivism is a myth

The Millennial generation is notorious for slacktivism. Millennials claim to care about causes, say they want to be involved, but they don’t give money and they don’t give their time. Therefore, they are slacktivists. Wrong.

According to the Millennial Impact Report, 75% of millennials made a gift in 2011 (which is pretty good considering the high levels of unemployment among that group). Of that group interested in helping a cause, 16% said they’d give money again, 47% said they’d give time, and 37% said they’d give both. They don’t sound like slacktivists to me. It seems more likely that many organizations just haven’t found effective ways to reach them. As the most highly-connected (read: technology addicted) generation in history, has your organization instituted a mobile strategy? Do you use social media to cultivate and build relationships with younger constituents? Orgazniations like DoSomething.org have and with fantastic success. Millennials want to help, you just have to engage them where they are: mobile devices, social networks, and at offline events.

3) It’s a new day for philanthropy

Philanthropy means ‘the love of humanity’, yet often when we hear the word, visions of old men, or immensely endowed organizations cutting multi-million dollar checks are immediately conjured. While these people and institutions do exist, that’s not the entire foundation of philanthropy. The philanthropic sector is changing, adapting, and growing. There are new ways for all of us to contribute besides writing grandiose checks: micro and standard volunteer opportunities, pro-bono work, smaller monthly donations, converting our friends, serving on a nonprofit board, etc. However we feel we can make a difference, we should do so. Organizations that are nimble enough to cater to this new wave of donors and volunteers will reap the reward of their contributions, both in the short and long terms.

So one day later, I’m pledging to Be Fearless, find new ways to make a difference, and get other millennials involved in social good. Because real change only comes from fearlessly trying new things, and slacktivism is just an urban legend.

What did you learn from MCON this year?

17 responses so far

My experience with CrowdFunding – the way it was meant to be.

May 08 2012 Published by under Liz B.

Preface: I love philanthropy and supporting causes and this is not my first time GIVING! However, this is my first time falling for the “crowdfunding” trick.

And in general I’ve always been wary of Kickstarter and Indie Go Go because of the fees associated with their services and a little skepticism behind who and what causes can put a project up on the site.

Working for Building Tomorrow we see crowdfunding happen every day. Every on-campus event our chapters host has some sort of crowd funding. Millennials love giving this way. They know that their $1 donation will be paired with hundreds of other $1 donations that will in turn make an impact.

This on-campus crowd funding works on one level. The chapter raises funds and each donor feels significant when they give.

Kickstarter and the likes however, work on another level. They show you exactly who else is giving and therefore how your $1 or $10 donation has already been paired up with a $100 and a $250 donation to make that $1000 goal actually attainable.

My best friend from high school is writing the lyrics for a musical that’s showing off Broadway in New York. Her team used Kickstarter to raise $1000 to help cover the costs of putting the show together, rehearsing and all that entails. Check out her project here!

A little more background, I’m not a glamorous giver or even an impulse giver. All of my donations are monthly direct deposits – I know living on the edge. But I gave to my friend’s project. One of my few impulse donations of the year.

 

Here is why:

1. Accountability.

Despite not always loving Kickstarter and other crowd funding tools they DO do a good job of creating accountability and demonstrating the need. After the project was funded we received an email from my friend outlining the budget for the project and where money would be spent.

2. Guaranteed impact.

My fear usually in donating to a friend’s cause or project is that the impact won’t matter. It won’t be significant enough or the project overall won’t receive enough funding to “make it.” With Kickstarter, I saw very clearly that they would reach their goal. They already had larger supporters – $250 or $500. I knew that my donation would be part of the total impact. Something that I’m usually not fooled by but in seeing how many other “Backers” were already on board. It actually did make me feel more confident that my donation would be impactful.

3. It was my friend.

Might be obvious but this is a HUGE reason that millennials give and that crowdfunding can work. I had every confidence in her and I could actually see her personality in the project – in the description, the picture, her name was on it, everything. It was excited to join with her in this project because she owned it. I gave not only because I cared about the project but I cared about her and could see her in the project.

Bottom Line: Crowdfunding is the future. There is no question about it. Millennial donors are leading the way in this. They give knowing that their gift will be made significant by the many others giving. They give knowing that the funds will be used for a specific project. And they give because of personal reasons – they listen to their peers and will give $1, $10, $25 to a cause that their friend has taken up as their own.

One response so far