Why Your Nonprofit Should Have a Young Professionals Group

by Maria Lind

Being a young professional can be hard and time consuming.

We keep a lot of balls in the air while smiling and desperately trying to make it all look easy.

We constantly prioritize and re-prioritize all the things competing for attention in our lives. Graduation. Weddings. Volunteering. Career changes. Going back to school. Having children. Moving. Oh, and did I mention a worldwide pandemic and mental health wellness while the world seems to be burning around you (literally and figuratively)?

So why start a young professional group for your nonprofit when there are already so many in the Twin Cities and people are TIRED?

On hard days I wonder about that, but the facts don’t lie. The health of your nonprofit and the future of your mission depend on it. I am here to offer you the case for your nonprofit to develop a young professional group because I believe in it so fiercely.

Don’t Fall into the Trap of Negative Outlook

Some people have trouble seeing the value in young professional groups for nonprofits because they are not thinking in the long-term. And they have a point - if you are looking at the short-term benefit, developing a young professional group for a nonprofit might seem foolish. Broadly speaking, young professionals don’t have a lot of money to donate. They may not have a lot of time to donate. They are constantly being pulled in a million different directions and volunteering is the thing that has to be removed from their plate in order to continue on with life (we’ve all been there).

This is okay! 

Keep in touch with them and welcome them back when things calm down. They will likely come back if they feel that their time, energy, and resources are respected by staff. No one wants to feel pressured to do something that they know they don’t have time for. 

High turnover rates are common for young professional groups. You may lose a good percentage of your young professionals to moving, family stressors, career changes, and a host of other life events.  You will inevitably see turnover due to your members aging out of that “young professional” title. However, turnover in this case has a silver lining that I will touch on later. 

Young Professionals Offer Motivation for Your Mission

The people who seek out your nonprofit’s young professionals group often have the most compelling stories for why they are so passionate about the mission. For example, the Alzheimer’s Association’s where I work has a young professional group called Young Champions. They are acutely aware of the assumption that Alzheimer’s and dementia is an “old people disease.” They actively work to dismantle that stereotype and their tagline couldn’t ring more true. They really are “changing the face of Alzheimer’s.” 

Bringing this type of energy often drives our seasoned donors to do more. Your retired donors will hear their stories, look at all of the work they are doing and develop a mindset of “if they can do that at their age with their limited resources, I can certainly do more.” While young professionals generally hold less traditional power in their career than your board members, they can be a shining reminder of the passion and hope that got the board members involved in the first place.

Accessibility to Your Organization

Where a board seat, pillar committee, or event chair position at your organization might be too daunting and intensive during early employment, a young professionals group offers the unique opportunity to learn about all parts of the organization while developing leadership skills through volunteering. When your nonprofit has a young professional group, you are offering younger volunteers the unique opportunity to build their resume while fulfilling their desire to make a difference with a mission that is important to them. It also allows them to find and build friendships with people in similar stages of life who care about these same causes.

Investment in Your Mission and Your Organization’s Future

Once you have fostered  relationships with your organization’s young professionals they will begin to move up the volunteer pipeline. After a few years committed to the group that brought them friends, transferable skills, and fulfillment, your young professionals will be invested in seeing your organization thrive. 

When they feel they have outgrown the young professionals group, they will graduate to a new opportunity within the organization. Whether it is becoming an ambassador for your advocacy program, sitting on the Gala committee, or joining the Board, they will find new ways to use their leadership skills to further your organization’s mission. Your nonprofit becomes part of their story and integral to their identity. They will direct loved ones to your resources, tell corporate connections about sponsorship opportunities, and encourage businesses they patron to support your organization. Once this is happening, your organization leadership will really recognize the value in stewarding young professionals. 

The Bottom Line

All of this may sound like a pipe dream, but the numbers don’t lie. A Forbes article about philanthropy trends in 2022 cited a Fidelity Charitable study that found 74% of Millenials say that they consider themselves to be philanthropists, which is staggering compared to the 35% of Baby Boomers who think the same. We have an incredibly generous and philanthropic generation in the early stages of their career right now. And they are poised to inherit $73 trillion over the next two generations according to Cerulli Associates. 

It is vital to the growth and fulfillment of your nonprofit’s mission to make sure young professionals are finding joy, connections, skills, passions, and friendships through your organization. Consider taking small steps toward the creation of your young professionals group every week, and start by doing some market research. As a starting point, check out the nonprofits that already have a young professionals group, such as the Red Cross, Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Ronald McDonald House, and the Alzheimer’s Association.  You will never regret the time you spend investing in the young people who support your organization!

- Maria Lind -