Ready or Not, Here it Comes: How Will The Generation Shift Affect Your NFP?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 3:33PM 
We’ve all heard the warning bells: The baby boomers are creeping toward retirement leaving larger and larger gaps behind them in organizations of all shapes and sizes. Even more alarming is the shortfall that is already starting to occur in the number of working-age adults available to fill their substantial shoes.
This is an issue affecting countries across the globe. For our U.S readers, here are some interesting statistics and projections compiled by the U.S. Census (2006).
Because this is such a top-of-mind issue for NFP’s, and because it has just been selected as the topic for the next edition of the Not-for-Profit Pulse, I thought I would share with you some interesting information I came across last week from Statistics Canada (Highlights from Statistic’s Canada’s Population Projections for Canada, Provinces and Territories 2005-2031).
- The median age of Canada’s population is expected to rise from 39 years in 2005 to between 43 and 46 years in 2031 and between 45 and 50 years in 2056.
- By 2056, approximately one out of ten Canadians will be 80 years and over, compared with about one in 30 in 2005.
- The proportion of the working-age population will decline steadily in the 2010s and 2020s, reaching about 62% of the total population at the beginning of the 2030s
The generation shift is fast becoming a huge issue for NFP’s across North America – not only are associations and charities struggling to find qualified people to work, volunteer and to lead their organizations into the future, but the makeup of their member and donor bases are also evolving, putting into question everything from programs and services to membership categories.
What do you think? Are you alarmed? Surprised? Overwhelmed? Underwhelmed?
If this issue is of interest to your not-for-profit, I urge you to take five minutes to participate in this months’ NFP Pulse survey on the Generation Shift taking place across this country. Not only will you receive a free copy of the participant report, but by sharing your own organization’s experience with this issue, you will be helping yourself and others to start thinking about some of the ways NFP’s can start preparing for the shift that is already starting to occur.
There are only a few days left to participate! Click here now to complete the survey.
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Reader Comments (2)
Your readers may be interested in our blog devoted to this very subject. The Hourglass Blog at http://www.thehourglassblog.blogspot.com/ explores issues associated with generations and leadership in associations and in society. Its very name denotes the impending "leadership gap" when Boomers retire and Millennials are not yet ready to fill their shoes, leaving the "hourglass generation" of Generation X with both incredible leadership opportunities and incredible leadership challenges. We've discussed such phenomena as "Encore Careers" (for-profit Boomer execs switching to the non-profit sector in surprising numbers) and, most recently, the natural leadership traits of Generation X that may be exactly what we need at this time of economic uncertainty. Please come join our dialogue!
Thanks for the reference. I will check it out! If you think any of your readers would be interested in participating, I would appreciate your passing along the survey link. Best, Carol-Anne