Summer 2007
Resources
Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit
Peter C. Brinckerhoff, Fieldstone Alliance,
232 pages, March 2007
This new book by Peter Brinckerhoff sounds a wake-up call to nonprofit boards and staff alike: now is the time to plan for generational change.
Brinckerhoff, a nonprofit mission expert, describes the differences in perspectives, tastes and expectations of the generations currently working in philanthropy and nonprofits. According to his research, here’s what we can expect as this transition unfolds over the next 15 years:
- Financial stress as the impending retirement of the Baby Boomers stresses the social safety net as never before.
- Boomer-wearying technological acceleration comes with the expectation that we are available and reachable 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Diversity of population becomes an issue for all nonprofits, not just those in urban areas, and traditional concepts of racial diversity, self-identity, cultural competence, family traditions and related cultural identifiers are all in flux.
• Redefining the family has repercussions on health care benefits, social security, generational legacies and a dozen other areas affecting foundations, associations and nonprofits in recruiting and retaining staff.
- MeBranding, marketing segmented to the individual consumer, impacts expectations of staff, volunteers, boards, grantees, grantmakers, donors, clients, museum attendees, play-goers, concert-goers, students and parents.
- Work-life balance, almost purely a generation issue, means more trained women drop out of the workforce, and more people want to work from home.
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Up Next: Generation Change and the Leadership of Nonprofit Organizations
Francis Kunreuther, The Executive Transitions Monograph Series, The Annie E. Casey Foundation in conjunction with the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, 24 pages, 2005
A project completed by the Building Movement Project at Démos, this report on nonprofits promoting social change found that young nonprofit leaders face critical challenges that threaten organizational sustainability, which must be addressed before their Baby Boomer counterparts retire. Among the recommendations:
- Invest in young leaders.
- Identify and nurture more leaders of color.
- Make it viable for directors to imagine and pursue a transition.
- Broaden sites of intergenerational discussion.
- Examine current organizational structures and expectations.
- Promote a healthier balance between work and personal life.
> Download at aecf.org
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EngAGEment Series of Briefings
Grantmakers In Aging, 2006
The EngAGEment Initiative, funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, is a pilot program to introduce funders to aging through a partnership between Grantmakers In Aging and six Regional Associations of Grantmakers. The five briefing papers:
- Turning Silver to Gold in Our Communities looks at how grantmakers can play a significant role in connecting the generations.
- Funding Across the Lifespan delves into how older adults increasingly affect many aspects of grantmaking.
- Linking Generations for a Stronger Community shows how investing in programs on both ends of the age spectrum can help grantmakers create opportunities for young and old.
- Home for Life expands on the idea of "aging in place."
- Promoting Health, Strengthening Communities suggests initiatives for promoting health and forestalling disease for a rapidly aging population.
> Download at giaging.org
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Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy:
The Next Generation
Alison Goldberg, Karen Pittleman and Resource Generation, Soft Skull Press, 192 pages, January 2007
This new book is written specifically for people ages 15-35 but can also be an essential resource for all those working with wealthy families, from philanthropic advisors to financial managers to fundraisers.
The book's premise is that many families are looking for ways to engage the next generation in philanthropy. But for next generation members, getting involved raises complicated questions: How can they bring their values to the table? How can they move more resources to social justice? The guide gives young people the tools they need not just to participate but also help transform the field itself.
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When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work.
Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, HarperCollins, 384 pages, 2002
From their extensive consulting work with business and social organizations across many sectors, the authors explain why the different generations act the way they do to shed new and much needed light on how to solve problems that arise between them.
The book offers practical advice on how to handle the different generations at work, from the Traditionalists to the Baby Boomers to the Generation Xers and the Millennials, and how to recruit, retain, motivate and manage each of them more effectively.
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Daring to Lead 2006:
A National Study of Nonprofit Executive Leadership
Jeanne Bell, Richard Moyers and Timothy Wolfred, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyer Foundation, 40 pages, 2006
Three surprising findings from CompassPoint’s national study on executive directors:
- Thirty percent of executives leave their jobs involuntarily (either fired or forced out).
- Executive directors plan to leave their jobs but will stay active in the nonprofit sector.
- A key driver of executive burnout is frustration with funders.
> Download at compasspoint.org (PDF)
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Generations of Giving: Leadership and
Continuity in Family Foundations
Kelin Gersick, Lexington Publishers and National Center for Family Philanthropy, 304 pages, 2004
This groundbreaking study by Gersick and his team at Lansberg, Gersick & Associates explores continuity and leadership in family foundations across time and generations.
Based a study of foundations in the United States and Canada that have survived through at least two generations, the authors ask probing questions, including why the foundations were started, what they looked like at the beginning, how the families of the founders became involved, and how they have organized themselves to do their work from year to year and decade to decade.
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Thank you to the sponsor of this issue of Giving Forum:
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© Copyright 2007 Minnesota Council on Foundations
Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher
is prohibited.
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