YNPN 2009: Can I get an ‘amen?’

Flickr: Naveen Roy

The YNPN 2009 DC Day is a revival experience. In every session, as people talk, others nod their heads so vigorously I keep thinking they’re having seizures. We clap and cheer and laugh, and I expect us to break into song whenever the energy peaks. But like a revival, are we just preaching to the converted?

Those of us at the conference are all young nonprofit professionals. Obviously. And we’re all very enthusiastic about the idea that we are the future (and, some point out, the present) leaders of the nonprofit sector. A couple of panelists do suggest that in addition to generational differences, we should look at differences of race, gender, and other factors. But in this  congregation, the loudest hymn is that of youth.

Now if we’re trying to understand and overcome the “generation gap”…what about the people on the other side of it?

Some of the panelists are baby boomers. They are open about it. They joke about not understanding Twitter—everyone slips in a mention of Twitter somewhere, which especially tickles those of us tweeting the conference—and avow the value of new media. They exhort us to stand up for ourselves and lead the sector.

In short, they’re as converted as we are.

There’s a reason so many religions have missionaries. Missionaries believe they are saving souls. That’s why they knock on your door and ask if you’re acquainted with Jesus. And if you’re like my dad, you invite them it and confound them with Buddhist theology, but they keep coming back anyway. They want to save your soul. They have to save your soul.

And just as missionaries are trying to save souls, young nonprofit leaders are trying to save the sector. 

We know that with the economy in shambles, and the threat looming of the giant sucking sound that will be made when our baby boomer bosses retire, the nonprofit sector is at a dangerous tipping point. We know that if the nonprofit sector tips the wrong way, things will change. With no food banks, homeless shelters, animal shelters, environmental protection, free clinics, after-school childcare, and human rights protection, there will be suffering. With no art, music, and culture, humanity will come to a standstill. If it’s not the same thing as hell, it’s close. And it’s already very real for many people.

And we know that the groove the sector has settled into leads to a brick wall against which we will crash. We’re preaching a sermon of change: no more sacrificing sanity and family for work; no more outdated, inflexible ideals; no more slow, one-way communication; no more self-defeating label for the sector (nonprofit? Really?).

But unlike religious missionaries, we’re preaching mostly to ourselves. It’s an uncomfortable thing to proselytize, I know. There’s so much rejection. Last week, I was walking home from the gym and a girl no older than 18, outfitted with a name tag, sidled up to me and timidly asked if I wanted more peace and joy in my life. I said no thanks and kept walking. (At least I didn’t say “I’d have more peace and joy in my life if you left me alone.”) But she had the right idea. If you want to save souls, you seek the souls that need saving.

If you want to save the sector, you seek the leaders that know it best and can help keep it from tipping the wrong way.

Let me be clear: our baby boomer colleagues do not need to be saved. The missionary metaphor is cute, but it’s flawed if that’s what it suggests. Baby boomers are our greatest allies in the crusade to save the sector. And if we keep our revival-tent experiences like the YNPN conference to ourselves, we’re putting the salvation of the sector in jeopardy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if baby boomers were partly deterred by the “young” moniker for the group and the conference. After all, it seems to exclude anyone older than 30-something from the discussion. But as I learned at happy hour after the final session, it shouldn’t. A YNPN board member explained to me that the “young” in Young Nonprofit Professionals Network refers to being young in spirit, not in chronological age. And that’s fitting. Our sermon isn’t age specific; it’s change-specific. If you know the sector needs to change or it will tip the wrong way, you’re already converted.

The people we should be proselytizing to are not these converted. They’re the ones who think that the nonprofit sector is just fine. They think we can keep papering our supporters’ gerbil cages with our direct mail instead of trying e-newsletters. They think new media is a fad. They think leadership ability is chronological. They think self-sacrifice is its own reward for a 60-hour week.

We know who they are. So why aren’t we talking to them?

Visit Rosetta Thurman’s blog for a roundup of all YNPN 2009 DC Day blog posts.