Young Nonprofit Workers Encouraged to Embrace New Opportunities

The economic crisis could push some young people to leave the nonprofit world but may present others with new opportunities to advance, said speakers and participants at a conference here last month.

“Business as usual is out,” said Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector. “You may have thought that long before the economic crisis, but now you’ll have a lot of executives who will be interested in the kinds of solutions you have in mind. This is the time for creativity and innovation.”

Nearly 200 nonprofit workers, most in their 20s and 30s, attended the annual conference of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.

At sessions focused on how young people can advance their careers and work effectively with other generations, the discussions were similar to those at the network’s previous conferences, but they took on a darker hue because of the economy.

Speakers said that the sour economy has made some employers more open to the sort of feedback Ms. Aviv described, but is causing others to hunker down and enter survival mode. They encouraged young workers to push their employers to look for new approaches and embrace risky ideas.

Helping their bosses discover new technology is one way for younger employees to shine, speakers said. But Frances Kunreuther, who leads the Building Movement Project, which seeks to strengthen social-change organizations, said she is worried that nonprofit leaders are taking a too-narrow view of the contributions younger employees can make and need to fundamentally restructure their organizations to cultivate young leadership.

“When we think about multigenerational organizations, most people are thinking about millennials who ‘tweet,’” she said, referring to Twitter, the social-media site that allows people to send short updates on what they are doing and thinking to people who sign up for their profile.

Participants, too, said they wanted to be valued for more than just their Facebook and Twitter savvy — and some noted that they weren’t any more adept with social media than their older colleagues.

Ms. Kunreuther and other speakers talked about the much-publicized “leadership gap” at nonprofit groups. The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization, published a survey last month that said 28 percent of charities have plans to fill senior-level positions this year (The Chronicle, April 23).

While some speakers said the leadership gap would mean more jobs for young people, others talked about whether the bad economy was shrinking that gap or whether it ever really existed at all.

“We’re not seeing it,” said Ms. Kunreuther. She described how older workers who had left the nonprofit world for other jobs were migrating back to nonprofit groups, and how graduate programs in nonprofit management were seeing a big jump in applicants.

Feeling the Strain

Others talked about how the economic crisis could present new opportunities. Rick Moyers, director of programs at the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, said some younger workers are getting “cool new jobs” because seasoned employees are leaving their positions or have been laid off.

“That’s not the best way to get professional-development opportunities, but it’s a way,” he said. Mr. Moyers said he was promoted just a few months ago because his predecessor left for another organization and the Meyer Foundation couldn’t afford to hire anyone new.

Young people attending the conference also heard another refrain: Don’t leave the nonprofit world, even though times are tough. People in their 20s and 30s are often considered “sector hoppers,” unwilling or uninterested in staying in one job or one type of group for too long.

Speakers said they were concerned that the economic crisis and the strain it is putting on workers — not to mention the salary cuts some workers are being forced to take — will accelerate that trend. But never has the nonprofit world needed good leaders more than now, said Independent Sector’s Ms. Aviv.

“We need smart, connected people who are interested in making the world a better place,” she said. Ms. Aviv said she understands just how challenging the work is, ending her speech with a poem entitled “I’m Tired, I’m Whipped.”

The mood at the conference was sober but hopeful. During an exercise in which participants were asked to stand between two ends of the conference room based on how optimistic or pessimistic they felt about the state of the nonprofit field, most chose a place in the middle.

Over beers at a social event the first night of the conference, Brad Scriber described his outlook as “55 percent optimism.” Mr. Scriber, who works as a researcher at National Geographic, said he was worried about how the economy was shaking up the nonprofit world, but agreed that employers were more open to new ideas.

“No one feels comfortable right now, but there’s still a lot of innovation going on,” he said.

Increased Competition

Others talked about recent layoffs and other frustrating experiences that were causing them to flee the nonprofit field. After losing a job and witnessing a merger gone awry, Emily Martin of Grand Rapids, Mich., said she was probably going to leave nonprofit work, perhaps for a job in government. Or, she said, she may start a home canning business.

“I see a lot of problems that will have a hard time being addressed in this economy,” Ms. Martin said, citing the dearth of staff members and opportunities to advance.

Others who are in the job hunt said they were acutely aware of how the economy has ratcheted up competition.

Josh Solomon, co-chair of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, decided to leave his job in the fall as managing director of alumni engagement and operations at Teach for America. He is now working as a consultant to nonprofit groups as he looks for a permanent position.

Mr. Solomon said he believes the number of people applying for open jobs has doubled or tripled in the last six months.

“Lots of people with private-sector experience — in some cases 15 to 20 years — are applying for positions listed with 7 to 10 years experience,” he said.

Mr. Solomon said the greater interest from people in the business world could be a good thing for nonprofit organizations, assuming those people stay at charities after the recession ends.

If the transplants don’t stick around, he said, nonprofit groups that have failed to develop leadership within their organizations could be in trouble.

“Organizations need to think about how can you bring in someone who has 15 or 20 years of experience and pair them with a more junior person who they can train or who can replace them if they go back,” he said. “There are great opportunities as long as organizations can take the long view.”