Comments on: Not your Mama’s Philanthropy

By: Hey, that young kid’s pretty smart

Hey, that young kid’s pretty smart — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:49:52 +0000

[...] Different generations have different perspectives and different life experiences… from New Voices in Philanthropy [...]

By: Terri Barreiro

Terri Barreiro — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:44:31 +0000

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.

By: Sarah M. Heaton

Sarah M. Heaton — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:04:37 +0000

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.

By: Carolynn L. Sween

Carolynn L. Sween — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:30:56 +0000

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