Happiness doesn't start at retirement

Penelope Trunk is one of my favorite career writers. She recently wrote a post about Gen X and Y finding fulfillment before retiring to the lake cabin. From Penelope:

Maybe the reason we’re so bad at saving for retirement is that retirement seems so ridiculous today. The workplace no longer demands that we put off our hopes and dreams until we’ve worked 40 years. And Baby Boomers aren’t exactly retiring in droves either, which makes younger people think that maybe they won’t want to retire either.

This demographic shift in thinking about careers leads to a new way to think about retirement and dream jobs and team work. Young people think their parents—Baby Boomers—missed out on this phase. Baby Boomers worked longer hours than any other generation and there’s a nagging feeling that it wasn’t all that necessary - that we can have engaging, rewarding careers without spending such a large percentage of our life at the office.

In fact, today there’s an intense peer pressure among young people to find the fulfilling dream job right away. This younger generation watched their parents put off their dreams until they paid their dues only to find themselves laid off mid-career, or underfunded for retirement late in their career. So Generation Y is not waiting. Read the rest here.

Jobs in Minnesota

The Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is looking for a Development Officer responsible for designing and implementing fund development strategies to achieve SMIF’s financial and program goals. Specific areas include endowment & program fundraising, major gift cultivation, partnership development, planned giving, and donor services. A full description can be found here.

The Foundation for Minneapolis Parks (FMP) is looking for an Executive Director. The agency serves as an important nonprofit partner to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB). The foundation's mission, to enhance, support and sustain Minneapolis public parks operated and owned by MPRB for the benefit of the general public, is the cornerstone of foundation activities. More information about the position can be found here.

Philanthrapalooza (Part 2)

Every day brings us a little bit closer to the Council on Foundation's national conference in DC on May 4-7, and I, for one, am very excited. I know that the words excitement and conference don't usually go together. Convention halls filled with people twice your age with less than half an interest in anything that you have to say is not usually how you might like to spend your out-of-town time but this conference promises to be different. So today I bring you the top 10 reasons why the Philanthropy Summit is going to be the best four professional development days of 2008:

1. Thanks to the hard work of EPIP, RG, and 21/64 there will be a whole conference track devoted to generational issues (a COF first)
2. There will be Emerging Leaders Salons which give you an opportunity to have engaging discussions with philanthropy's greatest thinkers like Luz Vega-Marquis (Marguerite Casey Foundation) and Susan V. Berresford (recently retired from Ford Foundation).
3. There will be an Emerging Leader Reception and I don't want to raise any hopes here, but last year this fabulous event included a macaroni and cheese bar, where you picked your own toppings. This has to be the most innovative thing that has happened to food since the creation of macaroni and cheese.
4. Right in the exhibition hall there will be a Next Gen lounge where you can get great resources and meet new colleagues from across the country.
5. EPIP will have a hosted suite in the conference hotel where you can relax with new friends and have some refreshments, instead of the normal evening conference activity of watching Discovery Channel alone in your hotel room.
6. A Generational Leadership Program Facebook Group has been created. I will admit that I have already hooked my proverbial online social networking wagon to LinkedIn but if you are already Facebook proficient or can even handle more than one social networking site, I commend your multitasking skills and this Facebook group is meant for you.
   
7. There are opportunities for you to blog about the programs at the COF conference for New Voices of Philanthropy and EPIPhanies. You can write about one session or ten to provide valuable information to our colleagues nationally and internationally who aren't able to attend the conference. Just contact me at tristaharris (at) gmail (dot) com to get set up.
8. There will be Next Gen scholarships available to cover registration costs, which will bring many new philanthropy professionals to the conference that might not otherwise be able to attend.
9. We will be one of the first groups to use the Gaylord Conference center, which is a beautiful new facility that many groups will be using for their conferences, so the next time you have something scheduled there you will already be an old pro.
   
10. The biggest reason why I am so excited to go to the conference is because I will be able to meet many of this blog's readers for the first time in person. I think online communities are fabulous and I truly appreciate the great conversations that happen on this blog but there is nothing like meeting people face to face. So if you see me in the Next Gen lounge or if you come to the session where I am presenting, come say hi. I can't wait to meet you.
    

From comments to front page news

There was a comment in the last posting on Has philanthropy grown comfortable with mediocrity that I wanted to bring forward as a post because I think the author Mary has some very valid points.

I wonder if community solutions (like your examples of after school programs, or
prison-to-community reentry programs) are seemingly less attainable because
foundations in a community don't talk to each other, come up with common goals,
and strategize about how to attain those goals. Furthermore, the folks who would
create these programs often don't have the training to do effective PR, media
outreach, and development, along with launching a project. If nonprofit managers
don't know how to do outreach, and can't talk to grant makers- is it reasonable
to assume that a program can be created ? I know that community foundations and
regional grant making organizations are supposed to foster these
meetings/conversations (both amongst each other and with nonprofits) - but I'm
not sure they really are. Perhaps, like the COF Summit is meant to bring
together different types of grant makers for conversation and collaboration,
regional grant makers need to encourage an agenda and a common set of goals
(along with the appropriate government forces)similar to the millennium goals
set by the UN? So I guess the question now becomes - how do we foster effective
communication in order to set a clear set of needs within a community- and get
grant makers to buy-in to that agenda? Should encouraging regional grant making
umbrella organizations to promote these conversations and a unified agenda be a
priority emphasized in the national philanthropy community? I can't help but
think this will be a forum that will have to be approached from the younger
folks involved in the philanthropic community- as it is a fundamental paradigm
shift from the way grant making is approached now.

What do you think? Could millennium goals for the foundation sector work? How can we all get on the same page for a greater impact?

Has philanthropy grown comfortable with mediocrity?

I was just reading an interesting article in Forbes about the philanthropy of billionaires and this quote from the article hit me over the head like a ton of grant proposals:

It's worth remembering that no philanthropist has solved a worldwide problem since Carnegie brought universal access for the poor to books via libraries (1883-1929), and Rockefeller used his billions to fund the research that would lead to the eradication of polio (1952).

Gates' ambition is on a similar scale. He wants to eradicate the 20 leading diseases in the world during his (or his wife's) lifetime.

I am excited about Gates' vision and I think he has the right pieces in place to accomplish that vision (lots of money, staff experts, and a results oriented funding model) but I am very concerned that his is one of the few foundations that has such a bold vision and a plan to accomplish it. Many foundations either lack the nerve to announce that they will solve a problem, these foundations use statements like "helping people in poverty" or "reducing disparities" or the foundations that have a vision like "ending homelessness" do not have the scale or partners needed to actually make that happen.

My question for you is why is it that the professionalization of philanthropy and the growth in wealth in the "developed" world has not led to a true global solution since polio?

What Would Kiva Do (WWKD)?

So what happens when you harness Gen X and Y’s idealistic and highly entrepreneurial nature, love of technology, and hunger for feedback and use it to bring resources to people in need? Quite simply, you get the hottest nonprofit on the planet.

Kiva connects individual lenders to developing-world entrepreneurs and in the process gives people access to capital rather than a handout. Their donors are closely connected to their mission because they are helping one individual lift themselves out of poverty. 90% of their lenders recirculate their loans, once they are paid back so the amount of funds available keeps growing and growing. Kiva is so popular that after a recent string of great publicity about the organization, they ran out of funding opportunities and stopped taking donations for a short period of time. They also have to consistantly limit how much each individual can lend so that more people have a chance to participate. How often do you hear about nonprofits capping donations?

At the same time that Kiva has been growing beyond anyone but its founders wildest expectations, there has been a lot of concern in the social sector that there is this insurmountable leadership gap that threatens to ruin the entire nonprofit sector that the idealistic baby boomers so carefully created. Who will be the next nonprofit executive director that works 80-hour weeks and spends 75 of those 80 hours looking for funding to keep the organization afloat? Who will step up to be the Chief Operating Officer that lays off half of the staff when the government grant dries up? Who will be the next Development Director to send the annual appeal letter to 1,000 people who might be interested in supporting your organization because they once supported the World Wildlife Fund? Anyone? Anyone?

I don’t think the issue is “are there enough young people to take over the reins at nonprofits?” There are enough young people that care about the problems and great opportunities in our communities but they are off starting organizations like Kiva, First Step Initiative, and Donors Choose, instead of paying their dues at the Anytown Community Development Center or the National Association for People that Care about the Environment.

The new question is “what are established nonprofits going to do to make themselves more attractive to this demographic?” Remember when Silicon Valley start-ups were tripping over themselves to have the most relaxed and fun office environment so that they could recruit scarce talent? “We have a foosball table in our conference room! Well we let all of our employees bring their dog to work and we will bring in a specially trained dog masseuse in every Friday to keep our staff happy.” I’m not suggesting the nonprofit sector go that far (massages for staff isn’t such a bad idea though), but it is time for the nonprofit sector to start thinking about what it will take to recruit and retain Gen X and Y. Title and salary are not enough to motivate these generations. It is more about how flexible the office environment is, what new skills sets can someone learn in your organization, and what is the impact on the community. Once the nonprofit sector figures that out, maybe we’ll all have to limit how much an individual can donate to us.

Ready to Lead

There is a great new study from the Myers Foundation about the next generation of leadership for nonprofit organizations. From the report:

A skilled, committed, and diverse pool of next generation leaders would like to be nonprofit executive directors in the future, according to a new national survey of nearly 6,000 next generation leaders. However, the survey also finds that there are significant barriers: work-life balance, insufficient life-long earning potential, lack of mentorship and overwhelming fundraising responsibilities which may prevent many younger nonprofit staff from becoming executives. The survey, Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out, is the largest national survey to date of emerging nonprofit leaders and was produced by the Meyer Foundation in partnership with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Idealist.org.

An interesting fact from the report is that less that one-third of nonprofit executive director hires happen from within an organization, compared to 65% in the for-profit sector. Without a clear path to move up in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, will the sector lose its most promising new talent?

How to know when you have overlinked on LinkedIn

I consider myself a good networker. I get cards at conferences, forward my contacts relevant job opportunities, and try to find opportunities to bring people from various facets of my life together (my new favorite way to do that is couple date nights). I don't spam my contacts and I try to make myself available when people in my network need me (my blog readers are at the top of that list).

So why am I having a crisis of confidence of my networking skills? The answer is the beast that is LinkedIn. You link with other people in the network to create an online professional network. At first it seemed to be endless friend collecting for no real purpose but I have started seeing people like Lucy Bernholz use the Q and A feature in really creative ways. I started getting all giddy with excitement thinking about all of the ways I could harness the wisdom of crowds for social good. Maybe my network has the answers on how to solve poverty, maybe they know about a great up and coming prison re-entry program that foundations could bring to scale, and maybe they know when Bill Strickland will be in Minneapolis so I can pick his brain about new solutions to old social problems. The options were endless, so I decided to be more proactive about who I added to my network. I looked for fellow PPIA alums because they are spread out through a variety of sectors but have a common committment to using policy for social good, ABFE members because they may have ideas of how to uplift black communities through philanthropy that I can apply in Minnesota, and EPIP members because fresh perspectives are always useful and then I will always have someone fun to have dinner with when I am in a new town for a business trip.

My network grew and grew with people who want to make the world a better place until I had 113 connections and a network of 467,000 professionals.

Then there was Bill Gates. I saw that Bill posted a Q & A on LinkedIn, which means he's a member. I decided to add him to my network, not so I could say "by the way, Bill Gates is in my network". No, I had much more altruistic reasons. If Bill Gates was in my network, he would know what fabulous ideas I have for improving society and would give me half of his foundations assets (even in my wildest fantasies, I don't even ask for all of the assets) to make the world a better place. So I wasn't asking Bill Gates to join my LinkedIn Network to help myself, I was asking him to join my network so I could be a conduit for him to make the change that he wants to see in the world. So here's how our little exchange went:

Hi Bill,
I want you to join my network on LinkedIn.
-Trista

and here is the response that I got from Bill Gates senior (who must manage his son's LinkedIn account) a few minutes later:

Please don't.
-Bill

Here is what I have gotten from this experience.

1. I was one degree away from Bill Gates, which means that his spam filter is way off.
2. I feel a little terrible taking time away from Bill Gates Sr.'s day, when he could have been curing malaria and fixing our ailing education system. He had to spend that time telling me to buzz off.
3. I may have overreached but you never know until you try. I'll take a few buzz off and "nice try, small fry" to get to my ultimate goal, which is to build a strong network of people who will make positive change in this world.

So if you are interested in joining my Bill Gates-free LinkedIn network (maybe it's better that he isn't there, he might just spam us with ads for Vista) then click here.