Why Don’t More Members of Gens X and Y Join Boards?

Part of the mission of this blog, with good reason, is to inspire and engage the next generation in nonprofit board service. The BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2007 found that 2 percent of board members were under 30 years old, 36 percent were 30-49, 49 percent were 50-64, and 13 percent were over 65. These statistics suggest a lack of Generation X (generally defined as those born between 1963 and 1980) and Generation Y (generally defined as those born between 1981 and 2002) serving on nonprofit boards. Why?

 There are a few sides to the story. Research presented in BoardSource’s Next Generation and Governance Report on Findings found some boards are hesitant to recruit members of Generations X and Y because there is a: 

• Tendency to recruit others like themselves – and some boards are uncertain of where to find “younger” board members
• Skepticism about the need to have various generations on boards
• Preference for a “C-Suite” or corporate officer type profile on the board
• Concern of isolation (that the individual would be an “only” on the board – i.e., the only person from their generation)
• Misperception about their commitment.

In turn, work we’ve done with organizations promoting board service to Generations X and Y, as well as some informal polling and focus groups, has revealed that some in these demographics are hesitant to pursue board opportunities for the following reasons: 

• They hold the perception that board service is not accessible
• They think they’re not qualified
• They don’t know what is involved in joining a board
• They’re unaware of the impact of board service on an organization’s mission or what board service can do to help a cause. 

Stay tuned for BoardSource’s Nonprofit Governance Index 2010 to see whether the demographic composition of boards is changing – and for my next entry, which will address the benefits of generational diversity for boards.