RIF aids nonprofits in recruiting next generation

Two years ago, Kevin Gallagher volunteered to become a board member for the Center for Mediation and Collaboration Rhode Island, a nonprofit that had previously not been on the Providence attorney’s radar.
The reason he became involved was because he was recommended by a mutual acquaintance to the nonprofit’s board president, Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg, at an event for networking hosted by the Rhode Island Foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence.
Rosenberg says the match made with Gallagher, 31, of Johnston, has proven invaluable.
“We met and it has been a great fit!” Rosenberg said via email. “We’re looking for idealistic, creative people with lots of energy, and with some connection to conflict resolution or potential collaborators. At the time, we were also looking to make our board more diverse in terms of age – more young people. So, we hit the jackpot.”
Members of Rosenberg’s board this month will again be attending that event for networking, she said.
On Oct. 23, for the seventh time, the meeting, dubbed “Energizing the sector: connecting young leaders looking to serve with nonprofits in need,” will be held at the Rhode Island Foundation offices at One Union Station in Providence. The free event, which has varied in size and scope over the years, requires registration by nonprofits and individuals seeking to potentially collaborate with them.
“We bring people together who are looking to plug in their passion and organizations who are looking to deepen their bench,” said Jill Pfitzenmayer, vice president for the foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence. “This is not a speed-dating meeting; boards should be selective and thoughtful about who they ask to join their board.”
Board members for nonprofits help guide the work that fulfills an organization’s mission. The roles can be especially influential when nonprofits are smaller and have to rely largely on volunteers, she said. The event, which has brought together dozens of board members and young and older people looking to work for a worthy cause over the past several years, is intended as an introduction, though connections can be solidified quickly, she added.
Organizers haven’t effectively tracked how many “matches” have been made since the programming began, but Pfitzenmayer estimated a dozen so far.
“Past participants, both nonprofits and young professionals, really found the event a comfortable setting,” Pfizenmayer said. “There has to be a little bit of chemistry that works, so it’s usually the start of several conversations before actually joining.”
Gallagher joined Rosenberg’s board within a couple of months of meeting, he said.
Some of the basic responsibilities board members assume include adhering to a nonprofit’s mission, fund development, ethics and transparency, hiring and supervising paid staff and directing volunteer activities, Pfitzenmayer said.
Unmet demand is considerable, since there are between 8,000 and 9,000 nonprofits of all sizes in Rhode Island, with those that are public charities numbering between 3,500 and 3,800, she said.
“As the number of nonprofits in the state has proliferated, there’s always a need for board members because best practice is for board members to have term limits and a flow of board members who can step up,” Pfitzenmayer said.
In some cases, a nonprofit may not make connections that lead directly to added board members, but do meet people who end up joining as volunteers or committee members.
That was the case for Girls on the Run, a nonprofit that provides youth-development programming to enhance the social, emotional and physical health of girls ages 8-13. The organization has managed to connect with three or four such people so far, and plans to try recruiting again at the event, said Executive Director Michelle Duso. The nonprofit, an independent Rhode Island affiliate of the national organization, formed at the end of 2011, Duso said. One or more of those new committee members could become board members. They tend to be younger and have contacts in networks beyond what founding board members have, she said.
“We’re going back because we know it’s important to do year-round board recruitment,” Duso said. “There’s no way individual organizations like ours – small ones – can gather this group that they bring together with the caliber of experience and interest.”
Not all of the connections nonprofits make are with younger people, though.
Last year, the Rhode Island Urban Debate League connected with Chuck Denno, 64, of East Providence, the chief finance officer for the Providence Plan, who now has a board position with the league and helps out with administrative matters.
“Their story was: They’re focusing in on young, disadvantaged people trying to provide educational experiences that would help young people avoid the problems we see every day in the newspaper,” said Denno. “I was interested in helping, and I’m glad to help and hoping it will continue.”
Ashley Belanger, the league’s executive director, said the nonprofit serves the urban cities of Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Central Falls.
“We came up with a specific skill set: financial-management experience and oversight,” said Belanger. “Chuck was there on behalf of another board seeking candidates. [We decided to] recruit the recruiter. He’s done tremendous work helping me think through some of our budgeting and planning processing, and training our board members to be critical when looking at financial reports.”

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