There are benefits to drawing younger members to a board, and during a recent Symposium for Nonprofit Professionals and Volunteers at the Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management, Mary Morten of the Morten Group outlined those benefits, which go beyond figuring out why the computer isn’t working.
According to Morten, the advantages are as follows:
- An injection of energy that can help reinvigorate an organization;
- The addition of fresh and creative ideas and a different perspective on most issues — and how to communicate that to a new audience;
- A greater level of inclusion to ensure the organization is truly representative of variety community interest groups at both a formal and an informal level;
- A bridge to the next generation of community leaders that helps protect the future of the organization;
- A greater level of flexibility and adaptability to make the most of new technologies and trends;
- Creating a diversity of experience and skills and the ability to use new technologies to spread the organization’s message and its work;
- Access to expertise on issues and challenges facing youth and the things that matter to them; and,
- Access to new networks, which in turn can mean the organization will grow and gain increased community support.
