The Need For Multigenerational Partnerships

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-11-17 12:52:00 UTC
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Regular readers know that I'm pretty big on the potential for the Millennial generation to make a serious difference. For those interested, two conversations in the blogosphere provide a great place for people to share whether they agree, disagree (and why) about Gen-Y's capacity to change the world.

Kari Dunn Saratovsky, who works with the Case Foundation as well as blogging at Social Citizen, writes a post reflecting on a recent study that suggests a number of trends that will reshape the nonprofit world, including demographic shifts, use of technology and more. More important than the trends the report identifies (which are pretty self-evident to those of us living it) is Kari's concluding question of whether there is space for better intergenerational partnerships?

Over on Social Edge, the founder of ThinkImpact, Saul Garlick, is hosting a conversation called "Gen-Y: The Social Innovation Generation." His basic thesis is that we want to do - and we want to do now - and we want to do real - things. We're actors who want to get our hands dirty solving problems.

One of the most important questions he asks at the end is about career development. How do we as a society help people who want to have lives in which their careers integrate their values find the right type of companies? How do we help companies be more responsive to those desires?

Spending three years building programs for world changers at Northwestern, I saw just how pressing this need is. Every year, there were students who had committed passionately to their causes for all four years of school who couldn't find a nonprofit job that didn't put them through unbearable sacrifice or alternately, a company that would give them at least some chance to experience their passion for justice.

Part of the answer has to be multigenerational partnerships. People in positions of leadership at firms or nonprofits have the ability to lead change in ways that better helps harness millennial talent. Similarly, Millennials can help their companies make better use of the passion of their peers (and the tools they use to share that passion).

Where are good examples of these sorts of mult-generational partnerships?

(Photo: Andy Mihail)

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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