Featured idea: Empower the Next Generation of Skilled Social Sector Leaders

by Nathaniel Whittemore

Published December 03, 2008 @ 06:52AM PT

Molly Day and campusCatalyst want to ensure that today's young people have the skills they need to succeed leading nonprofits in a variety of areas. The campusCatalyst model helps student teams learn about nonprofit work by placing them in a consulting role with Chicago-area nonprofits to pursue some specific collaborative project. Read about her Idea for Change in America here and check out the interview below.

What's the idea?

To educate and empower the Millennial Generation to enter into careers in the social sector as Baby Boomers retire and the number of nonprofit organizations continue to grow. As these young people take over leadership in the sector, they will need both passion and business-savvy, so this proposal seeks to introduce them to this point of convergence while they are still figuring out what they want to do with their lives, and how they will go about doing that.

Where does the idea come from?

One of the greatest challenges facing the social sector is the impending leadership deficit - by 2016, 80,000 new leaders will be needed each year to guide the 1.5 million nonprofits across the country. The convergence of three trends - the growth of the social sector, the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation, and the exit of younger nonprofit employees prematurely leaving the sector for more lucrative, lifestyle-friendly careers - is creating an increasingly hard-to-ignore challenge that has significant ramifications for the provision of social services across the country. These trends, combined with growing pressure for nonprofits to be accountable, efficient and high-impact requires a fleet of highly skilled individuals who are both business-savvy and committed to the advancement of the social good.

What role could the Obama admin have in the project?

The most powerful forum through which this initiative can spread is through universities, yet to develop a coherent, unified approach, this proposal must be backed by the government and supported through a collaboration between the Corporation for National and Community Service that encourages universities to uniformly adopt experiential learning programs that educate about business and nonprofit management while providing students the opportunity to consult for local nonprofit organizations. As part of the Obama administration's initiative to strengthen communities from the inside out, this initiative not only provides local nonprofits with pro-bono support in the short term, but cultivates a sustainable stream of leadership for future generations.

Why should this be a priority?

The fabric of our country has long depended upon the robustness of America's social sector and our unique commitment to community. Today, over 1.5 million nonprofits provided myriad services to millions of everyday Americans, and without strong leadership at the helm of these organizations, communities will begin to deteriorate. Young people need to understand both their responsibility to community as well as their capacity to effect change - and that these combined offer a challenging and meaningful career that is critical to our country's survival.

Learn more about campusCatalyst on their website.