Not your Mama’s Philanthropy
Philanthropists are pretty comfortable talking about how diversity of staff improves their foundation’s grantmaking. We have sessions at the COF conference where we talk about exemplary foundations that went beyond their comfort zone and hired someone with a different racial background and the foundation presidents will go on and on about how suddenly the foundation had new connections in the community and a fresh perspective as deliberations were being made. Then the audience will start to get into the conversation and regale the rest of the audience with stories about how their foundation took these diversity conversations even farther and starting looking at how many women vs. men were on their boards, or how they made an effort to find a LGBT staff member, or how it is important to have people with disabilities or even different political perspectives on staff to stretch our thinking and improve our collective decision-making. Our differences are what make our work better and the crowd cheers.
Then I ask the panelists “where does diversity in age, not number of years foundation experience, but diversity of age, fit into this conversation?” The panelists grimace, the moderator moves on to the next question and the age question gets left on the table again. When I ask this question in smaller settings, the common refrain is “gen x and gen y don’t want to pay their dues” and “you don’t just come in at age 30 and get a foundation job, it is a reward for a long career in nonprofits.” In the diversity conversation it is not ok to say “don’t ask that question, you are going to make the panelists feel too white” but it is definitely ok to say “don’t ask that question, you are going to make the panelists feel too old.”
So how does the presence of multiple generations in a foundation improve grantmaking?
Different generations have different perspectives and different life experiences. Someone who graduated from high school in 2000, has a different perspective on the education system than someone who graduated from high school in 1965. Foundations that are making education grants would benefit if they had both of those experiences on staff. One could tell you about the pitfalls of re-segregating schools, the other could talk to you about the security realities of a post-Columbine school. Both perspectives are important and add depth to your deliberations.
A pipeline of leadership in your organization strengthens your foundation and the field. The hardest leadership trait to hire for is a matching value set. Having a multigenerational staff ensures that as more and more of your staff become retirement age, there are staff available that understand the organizational culture and values and have been prepared to assume leadership.
Different generations have different skill sets. A Baby Boomer program officer who has been with a foundation for many years might better understand some of the historical foundation relationships, a Generation X or Y staff member may have more comfort with technology or a more robust professional network. Both perspectives are important.
Has generational diversity been a topic of conversation at your foundation? What are some of the barriers and opportunities you are seeing as a result of generational shifts?
Trista Harris is Executive Director of the Headwaters Foundation, the blogger behind New Voices of Philanthropy, and co-chair of the Council on Foundation’s Next Generation Task Force.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
This post hit home for me, a 29-year old ‘veteran’ of foundation work. I’ve been the Program Director of my local community foundation for 8 years, and spent two years before that as a member of our own youth philanthropy board. My CEO at the foundation is an exception to the rule- hiring bright young staff because she does value their abilities and perspectives…but sadly, she is one in a million. I know personally that too often, having more years of direct work experience in the field of grant making/professional philanthropy is still less important in hiring decisions than is chronological age, for many foundations. While many of my gen-x peers do play the game of jumping from job to job to pad a resume, instead of paying their dues at one organization, we also have often been more strategic about our employment and experiences, so as to ensure our marketability. This is something unique to our generation too, I think… so a colleague who is in their 40′s-50′s may have less direct experience in the field, despite their additional years in the work force. As philanthropy becomes ever more professionalized, direct experience in the field should be considered more thoughtfully. Young professionals in philanthropy will have less of a learning curve than an older employee who comes from a completely unrelated sector.
Thanks for your insights and for bringing this topic to light. As the boomers retire, this will continue to be an issue in our field.
My best,
Carolynn L. Sween
September 16th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Similar to Carolynn, this post really hit a nerve with me. When I graduated with my Masters last year at the age of 23, a lot of people told me that it would be impossible for me to get a good job in the funding side of philanthropy immediately. This includes organizations that I interned with during graduate school where I had successfully led and completed large and complex projects. At the end of my internship, I was offered an entry-level job which I didn’t think allowed the organization to capitalize on my full skill set and it didn’t give me opportunities to learn additional skills.
In the end, I was really fortunate to be hired by a small, private family foundation with an Executive Director who really values all forms of diversity– including age. Every full-time staff person is under 40 (at the time of this posting) and our board (composed of family members) is also represented by multiple generations of the family.
That being said, I can understand an organization’s desire to reward years of high quality service and a lifetime of dedication to the field. I can also understand how a young person’s demand for promotion within an organization can be misinterpreted as entitlement and the fear that a person’s inexperience and “naïveté” make them a less effective worker. With these thoughts in mind, I think it is important to advance this position (which advocates for a diverse representation of age within an organization) by structuring arguments based on how age diversity is important for the organization to achieve their mission and/or goals. I think the example you gave on education was fantastic– but I don’t think that this argument is solely limited to foundations that fund youth-related activities.
For the same reason that people of color bring an experience that complements their skill set to an organization, the experiences I had at particular ages has shaped my development and the way I see and think about the world. Quite frankly, I grew up in a different America than my parents and even my older and younger siblings. Until 2009, my entire adult life and most of my young adult life happened under the Bush Administration. While I’m sure that everyone regardless of age was somehow changed or affected by that administration in some way or another, the fact that I has this experience during those formative years when my values, priorities, opinions and principles were being shaped is significant. The additional experience of seeing the Obama campaign– which actively recruited, targeted and challenged young people to get involved in politics– and experiencing that type of political and social activation at such a young age has permanently altered how I view politics and social movements. Foundations should tap into these fresh, unique perspectives, innovative ideas and even some of the “naïveté” of its young workforce. Significant dedication and experience to field or organization over an extended period of time can be a powerful skill and quality to bring to an organization; however, it can breed apathy and jadedness. In the end, I don’t think this is an “either”/”or” solution– the different types of experience complement each other and are necessary for foundations to achieve their goals.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I totally agree! I am a 1967 high school graduate. One of my early jobs was to bring the youth voice to the civic table and I find that I still am pressing the same message, young voices need to be heard! I have been in philanthropy and around it most of the last 30 years and left 5 years ago. I now spend most of my work time with people under 22. They have a perspective different than mine, they address problems with creativity and enthusiasm and they give me great hope for the future.
Take a 20 something to lunch! – Often.