Yesterday, Jennifer Renner posted this candid message on behalf of the executive committee for NeXtGen Digest, a networking group for young nonprofit professionals in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Apparently, NeXtGen Digest has decided to opt out of the national structure of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN), and for good reason it seems. Jennifer states:
After careful consideration, the Fort Wayne chapter has decided to exit our YNPN association. When we joined YNPN, our intent was to strengthen our existing group, add value for group members via a national network, and gain access to useful communication tools and resources. Instead, we spent the last 6 months trying to fit the YNPN structure to the detriment of our group members. After tracking our progress since joining in May, we found a sharp decline in our attendance and interactions as a direct result of our shifting focus to YNPN requirements instead of focusing on our relationships with local young nonprofit professionals, or more directly – you.
Bummer. As you may or may not know, each YNPN chapter is completely staffed by volunteers, so I can only imagine how hard it is to be a novice chapter trying to meet the YNPN requirements AND still continue to provide valuable programming for members at the same time. My local chapter here in DC is quite strong and it’s been around a while, so again, I can only imagine. It sounds like NeXtGen Digest stuck it out for a while, and then came to decision point after weighing the pros and cons for their members. Jennifer goes on to explain:
We fully support the YNPN mission and organization, but our local young nonprofit group is better served by the Executive Committee focusing on building on our previous successes rather than starting down a different path. Had we known the details of what it would take to become a YNPN chapter, we would have had made different decisions and perhaps avoided a rocky six months for our group.
I must say that I have never heard this sentiment before. The Fort Wayne group’s experience makes me wonder if other groups have also left the YNPN National movement or are planning to go the same way because of all the alleged hoops they have to jump through. One curious dynamic that I have noticed though is with Philadelphia’s Young Nonprofit Leaders. There is no link or mention of the Philadelphia group anywhere on YNPN’s website, presumably because they are not an “official” YNPN chapter. Which is too bad because I think that’s a huge information gap for young nonprofit leaders in Philadelphia who are searching for a way to plug in by going to the YNPN site and not finding anything, even though there is, in fact, support available to them in their city.
Now as you all know, I think YNPN is an amazing organization that is absolutely essential right now for young nonprofit leaders. We need peer support now more than ever in doing the ever difficult work of social change. But what the NeXtGen Digest story shows is that you don’t necessarily need to start an “official” YNPN chapter in your community to support your peers. Indeed, the happy ending for young nonprofit professionals in Fort Wayne was this affirmation:
We are recommitting to you and our local community and carrying on in our original capacity.
And that’s what really matters. I’m still curious though. Has the YNPN movement stalled? If so, what needs to change to keep the momentum going? I personally would like to see a chapter in every city so that every young nonprofit leader could easily plug in and get the support they need. But that’s just me. What do you think?
UPDATE: I’m told that Nashville’s Young Nonprofit Professionals also decided not to join YNPN National “because it was more work than return.” Instead, they formed their group through the Center for Nonprofit Management. Alas, the Nashville group is also not listed on the main YNPN page, making it all the more difficult for young nonprofit leaders in Nashville to find out about the support that is already available to them in their city.
UPDATE: YNPN Board Chair Josh Solomon stresses that new chapters are not required to opt into the website platform, stating: “the website system is purely voluntary and opt-in for chapters. A number of chapters have their own solutions in place already and are not using iModules. The platform has been delivering strong results for a lot of chapters and its also presented a substantial learning curve. We’ve retained two part-time consultants, Caroline Bolas and Aaron House, to work with chapters to support their use of iModules and make the website platform easier for them to use.”
Rosetta:
As someone who is helping get the Nashville group off the ground, I echo the sentiments made to you in your update. However, I would offer a different opinion than your conclusion.
Because of Nashville’s nonprofit landscape, it would be very easy to find our group outside of the YNPN site. Anyone relocating to Nashville in the NP sector would hear about CNM instantly, and then find our group. It’s the way Nashville works.
This, of course, has larger implications for YNPN nationally. By requiring so much, they may not allow for local groups to best navigate local social structures and networks. I feel that Net Impact faces the same challenges.
Local is the new national. Maybe.
Hey Sam! Thanks so much for your insight. Glad to hear about the strength of the Nashville nonprofit community. Your comment “local is the new national” makes me think of some of the ideas in Clay Shirky’s eye-opening book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. In it, he talks about the possibility that strong networks can and will flourish outside of any umbrella or national structure. The opportunity that lies within that idea for YNPN, Net Impact and other similar groups is to figure out how to support strong local efforts even if they don’t choose to conform to their requirements or standards.
This actually makes sense to me. After 10+ years there are still a lot of things that the national group needs to organize to effectively serve the local chapters. One of the biggest helps that the national group could offer would be fiscal sponsorship; I know that they don’t have the capacity being primarily volunteer (they do have a contract employee), but this is a big issue for emerging chapters. Recently they did have a call on becoming an independent nonprofit/fiscal sponsorship and this was one of the biggest take-aways for me as a local chapter co-founder.
I actually think while it is lovely to have volunteer-run chapters that we would all be a lot more effective if we had structure for staff. It’s something we struggle with at the San Diego chapter, but I do think it is important for the credibility and professionalism of our issue. It’s also a natural part of the nonprofit life cycle.
There are pros and cons to becoming an officially affiliated chapter with YNPN national. When I was starting the San Diego chapter I moved much faster than national, but it all worked out in the end. Using the best practices I knew from running a nonprofit really helped.
Being the YNPN national board is a tough gig! Several chapters (like DC, NYC, SF, Denver, Chicago) are large and well-established. But many chapters are emerging and looking for support and resource sharing. Striking the right balance to meet the needs of both those groups is very difficult.
I’ve been pleased to see more and more chapter leaders making their way onto the national YNPN board. I think the experience of being part of an existing chapter’s leadership team will serve the national YNPN board well.
Yep, Philadelphia’s Young Nonprofit Leaders isn’t an official YNPN chapter. This hasn’t necessarily been to our total detriment — we’ve been going fairly strong since 2001.
Interestingly enough, though, I’m on a (maybe one-woman?) crusade to re-connect us to YNPN National, even as we’re sticking to our decision to stay independent and local. Here’s why:
PYNL’s board had a conversation, say, 3 or 4 years ago, about whether to become a YNPN chapter after a couple of our board members went to the YNPN chapter leaders conference. We decided that to say no to that option because:
1. We already had enough capacity locally to continue our work without National
2. We had local name recognition and brand development and didn’t want to confuse people
3. It wasn’t entirely clear to us what the benefit to chapter-hood was
After becoming more intimately engaged with PYNL as its current board president, I now think that being completely disconnected from YNPN National is ill-advised. There IS a national movement afoot, and we gotta be plugged in. National has relationships that PYNL doesn’t have. National has a platform that PYNL doesn’t yet have. National has access to resources that can benefit PYNL. So I’ve been hard-core liaising with YNPN for several months.
That said, I still think National has a little ways to go in terms of articulating and then actually providing chapter support. I actually think having non-chapter “affiliates” helps YNPN do this though. For example, I was on that same fiscal sponsorship call that Emily referenced, and I was sorta surprised to realize how much PYNL could be a resource to YNPN chapters — on many levels, as a volunteer organization, we’ve been there, done that, and can help chapters anticipate challenges.
I also agree that YNPN National and chapters have to figure out how best to leverage chapters’ ability to get local buy-in while helping chapters do the work of the overall movement. Nashville sounds just like Philly — is pro-local and snubby to outsiders. Rosetta, I think you’re right on — YNPN needs another level of “membership” that allows for independent affiliation. Fortunately for PYNL, YNPN has allowed us to straddle that space. I’m on the YNPN conference planning committee and am taking advantage of the YNPN chapter leader listserv. Maybe others can adopt that model until something official is worked out?
Exactly, Emily! Fort Wayne benefited by staff support when our chapter launched in May 2008 as a program of our local Foundation Center’s Cooperating Collection. And just as Sam reports, our community already has established nonprofit networks that we tapped right into.
As the librarian at the Paul Clarke Nonprofit Resource Center in Fort Wayne, it made perfect sense to administer this group as a part of my job. Once it became clear that we needed legs outside the library – as an independent group, rather than a library program, we built our team of volunteers.
I have to offer a BIG thank you to Caroline Bolas, YNPN national, who sat through a lengthy call with me recently on her personal time. She listened to our issues and offered plenty of kindness. The conversation also confirmed that our group -c’mon, we’re not San Diego – was unique. In different communities, different professionals will have different needs.
We love serving our community. And that’s where this decision was difficult, but clear. How hard was it to publicly break up with such a groovy network? What would our community think about our decision making skills or ability to get things done? When we put our people’s needs first, it was obvious what we needed to do – what we did all along. The post Rosetta cites was copied directly from the email I crafted to YNPN and I have to publicly apologize to the network for this surprise limelight. I’m sorry YNPNers and don’t question your dedication or hard work for one minute. I do think good things come from light, though and am ever so relieved (so far –gah!) to see that the message was well received and understood.
As a nonprofit resource librarian, I am all over Rosetta’s hinting that YNPN could consider pointing to established community resources for young folk. It only helps to offer helpful information and resources.
And btw, YNPN is following up with us, as they wish to make improvements for the future. I think this may just be a bump in all of our journeys – one that helps other communities along.
Great discussion! Thanks for bringing it up Rosetta. It was very tough for the Fort Wayne NextGen group to decide not to continue with our YNPN affiliation. But in the end it made sense for us right now.
However, I like the ideas here about affiliate groups. Also, I echo what Sam Davidson said about people having other ways of finding us.
For example: we started out through the Paul Clarke Nonprofit Resource Center (PCNRC)(http://pcnrc.wordpress.com/), which is located at our local library (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/). The PCNRC has been a great way for us to reach young nonprofit people. We are also pursuing further engagement with other existing leadership groups in our community that are already well established.
When we switched our goal to becoming a YNPN Chapter, we became less effective as a young nonprofit professionals support group. The purpose of NextGen is to grow strong relationships for young professionals in the nonprofit sector. We meet at each others’ organizations and tackle timely topics of interest in an informal, conversational way. By doing this we support each other not only in our careers, but more importantly in our lives.
Quite simply, by getting back to the mission of our group, we are more effective. Aha! Not any different than the nonprofits where we work. Being mission-driven is the key.
Thank you all for the thoughtful discussion!
Jennifer
Hi all,
Thanks for such a provocative discussion! Wanted to throw out a few thoughts from the YNPN National perspective. At the national level, our board has been working to create resources that make it easier for new YNPN chapters to get up and running. These resources include a content management system for creating websites, managing membership, and advertising events, as well as forums for sharing best practices and ideas between chapters. In the last few years, a number of chapters had been asking for further clarity over the past few years on the typical development stages of YNPN chapters, as well as stronger communication with National and additional resources and templates.
In response we created the list of voluntary benchmarks for chapters at different stages which were linked to above, as well as a chapter liaison system and a new best practices resource center on our website. These benchmarks are strictly for chapters’ reference – YNPN National currently has no requirements of chapters that join the network except that they work within the broader YNPN mission of helping develop the leaders and current talent in the sector.
We freely admit that we might have been overzealous in putting these resources out there and are very sorry if they were misinterpreted by Fort Wayne or any other prospective chapters. Our goal is to make the work easier for the dedicated volunteer who are the power and strength behind the YNPN movement. We have been in touch with Fort Wayne to learn more about their experience and how we can better serve new chapters starting up in the future. As a group of volunteers ourselves, we are constantly trying to learn and improve so that we can best serve the diversity of chapters that make up the network, with their various needs and stages of development.
As Naomi points out, we’re also working hard to connect more fully with affiliated peer organizations that are fulfilling similar missions outside of the YNPN framework. Certainly we have a lot to learn here too and welcome feedback from any of you on how we can better partner with all the groups doing this important work.
The YNPN movement is about achieving things for the young nonprofit professional movement that none of us could accomplish on our own. If there’s anything we’ve done to make it difficult for folks to come together, we’re sorry. We promise to do our best to bring young nonprofit professionals together so that we can solve these problems and work together, and we will work hard to make sure there’s a seat at the table for everyone – whether YNPN affiliates, other local groups, or individuals who are members of any association. If you have ideas for how we can best do this, please continue posting them. We want to keep this conversation going. Feel free to reach out to us directly at chair@ynpn.org, or check out the YNPN website for more information at http://www.ynpn.org.
Thanks for all of the ideas and suggestions!
Josh Solomon
Chair
YNPN National
chair@ynpn.org
@Josh – Thanks for responding here. I can’t believe how much amazing work the YNPN National board does on a volunteer basis. It’s quite a feat. I think the sentiments echoed here reflect the complexities of the national-local chapter model that seem to boil down to two opportunities for moving forward if you guys so choose. 1) Communications – the requirement (suggestion?) to adhere to the shared web platform seems to be a huge burden for some chapters. Could it be that new chapter leaders just need to know that they have a choice to create their own website platform if they want to? 2) Creation of “affiliate” chapters that do not bear the YNPN namesake, yet have the same mission. At the very least, it seems like a win/win and a strong gesture of support to link to the PYNL, Nashville, and Fort Wayne groups on the main YNPN website to give them visibility. I’m glad the board is listening and learning – means YNPN will only get better and better with time!
Thank you for this lively discussion! I am a member of NextGen Digest Fort Wayne, and I was originally charged with the task of setting up the Fort Wayne page when we were trying to become YNPN members. Echoing Lettie and Jennifer’s sentiments, I want to reiterate that we are not bashing YNPN or their amazing mission — I know some YNPN’ers in bigger cities, and they love it.
@Josh: If you don’t mind a little constructive criticism, I think that iModules (YNPN.org’s CMS) may be one of YNPN’s biggest liabilities. One of our (well, my) earliest frustrations and stumbling blocks with trying to form a chapter was attempting to understand the website, directory structures, and navigation. And the fact that one wrong move from an inexperienced newbie like me could screw up everyone else’s page. I consider myself a pretty web-savvy guy, and I’ve set up and administered a lot of content management systems, but iModules made me feel like I was back in 1996 trying to set up my first HTML web page.
Thanks again for this forum, Rosetta!
-Andy
Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions, Rosetta and Andy. We’re always looking for ways that we can better serve chapters and really appreciate this forum.
@Rosetta – as stated above, we’ve been working to build stronger partnerships with groups like PYNL and expand our website resources and links in general. We’ll definitely look into how we can link to partners and peer organizations more fully from our website. As for the iModules Contact Management System, it is an opt-in resource currently provided free of charge to chapters. Many chapters have their own systems in place and have not needed to use the technology.
@Andy – we hear you. A number of chapters have had frustrations with setting up iModules. The platform has been delivering strong results for a lot of chapters and its also presented a substantial learning curve. It’s a powerful system with a lot features and has enabled us to provide websites, event, and member management to dozens of chapters. It offers an affordable, scalable system for a national organization, and the Chicago chapter has had great success in using it the last several years, which was definitely a factor in choosing it. This was a critical ask to National from chapters a few years back, and the project has been bigger and more complex than we realized at the time we undertook it, certainly.
We’ve retained two part-time consultants, Caroline Bolas and Aaron House, to work with chapters to support their use of iModules and make the platform easier to use, as well as addressing some of the challenges such as the overwriting of others’ contents that you mention.
Definitely a work in progress – lots of potential, and we’re fully aware, lots of room for improvement. Rolling out a website platform with dozens of volunteer administrators around the country with different needs and comfort with the technology is an exciting and very challenging endeavor. Thanks for getting the conversation rolling – this kind of feedback really helps us see where we’re having impact and where we’re creating unintentional barriers to chapter energy.
Wow, this has been a very interesting discussion. I’m the Technology Committee Chair for YNPN Boston, and after some evaluation, we also decided that the YNPN National-provided content management system was not going to work for us, and we decided to go in a different directioN also. We ended up getting a pro-bono Drupal-based site from a local web firm.
However, National has provided other resources designed to help emerging chapters grow their membership, and provide quality content to their members. Also, we do use the listserv platform that they provide to all chapters, and that works well for us.
Bith the National and local YNPN chapters are all-volunteer driven, and I’m thankful there are such smart, motivated nonprofit folks having these conversations about how to do what we do better!
Hello,
As board vice president of YNPN Phoenix, I can say our chapter is an enthusiastic supporter of YNPN National. Throughout our two years of existence, they have provided extensive advice, support and best practices to our chapter. Based on the resources provided by YNPN National, I would highly recommend organizations interested in serving young nonprofit professionals strongly consider participating as YNPN chapters.
A great example of this support is the YNPN National Leaders Conference. Last year, our board Secretary/Treasurer attended the conference – partially paid for through scholarships secured by YNPN National. She found the experience to be of tremendous value for both the resources and best practices she received, along with the connections she forged with other YNPN Chapters. This year, I am pleased to be serving on the planning committee for the National Leaders Conference, which will be hosted in nearby Denver, CO. The entire planning committee is committed to delivering a high-quality conference which will focus on building local chapter leadership and capacity.
I have also been impressed by the National organization’s efforts to include chapters in its decision making processes. Over the past year I have participated in several conference calls to discuss a variety of issues affecting both YNPN National and the local chapters. The National representatives have always been receptive to feedback and outstanding in their professionalism and organization. Each chapter is represented on the calls by a Chapter Liaison, a system implemented by YNPN National. The Chapter Liaison structure has been very helpful in a number of ways, including serving as a source for best practices.
In conjunction with the Chapter Liaison system, YNPN National is developing a corresponding Chapter Mentor program, where representatives of newer chapters will be linked up with representatives of more experienced chapters. I think this idea has the potential to be of great service to new and emerging chapters and is definitely a benefit of being part of the YNPN Network.
Andy, to your point about Imodules…on one hand, I agree, the software is cumbersome at times. However, we have been able to use Imodules to build out a very nice website presence (www.ynpnphoenix.org) and use the system to share news and track event RSVPs, among other things (and at some point soon we will use it to manage all our member dues and renewals), all for free. Has it been frustrating at times to manage? Yes. But what YNPN National managed to do was to secure, for any interested chapters, a free platform chapters can use to create a web presence. Additionally, YNPN National has maintained technology consultants and ongoing webinars for chapters to help them learn and manage the Imodules system. Most recently, they have implemented open coaching sessions where chapter representatives can come with any questions and receive help with their websites.
My point is not to say that individual young nonprofit professional organizations absolutely have to be part of the YNPN network, but rather to highlight the advantages of being part of the network. The beauty of the nonprofit sector lies in its value of plurality – that each person or group of people can incorporate an organization in the way they see fit, to do the best public good as they and their constituents see it. So, more power to the organizations that don’t join the network but are delivering quality services to emerging nonprofit leaders. I wish you the best of luck and am happy to consider you all my brothers and sisters in the cause! All that said, based on the quality of service and commitment to local chapters we have observed, YNPN Phoenix is happy to be part of YNPN’s National Network!
Thanks!
Aaron Stiner, Board VP, YNPN Phoenix
Program Manager, Advancing Philanthropy, ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation
Hi everyone. Thanks for all of the interesting discussion.
As one of the two people who originally contacted YNPN National to start the Detroit chapter, I have to say that I have not yet experienced the difficulties of YNPN National’s structure. On the contrary, I have heard my partner voice on more than one occasion that she wished we had more direction and more structure. In fact, I have often thought that YNPN National required extremely little of its chapters. I wonder if, perhaps, some of the difficulty comes from being a somewhat established group that needs to change into something else. As our group is totally new, we have not had issues. Granted, we were told that we were too new to get started on the website (which sounds like some of you are saying this is where a lot of the trouble lies) and I have to admit that my YNPN National experience is still somewhat limited. I hope that this would be an encouragement to YNPN National folks without trying to negate the experiences of others. I have felt that we have the freedom to let our chapter mold into what our own community needs most, while using National, as well as all of our fellow chapters, as resources.
Nonetheless, I agree with everyone who has said that regardless of whether or not a group is an official affiliate YNPN chapter or not, there is such a strong benefit in being connected to a bigger network outside of our own immediate communities. In fact, I firmly believe that these connections between smaller and larger communities is not only benefit for each chapter and/or group itself, but also to every group that it is connected with.
As always, thanks for the informative and thought provoking post Rosetta. Good luck to all YNPN chapters and other young nonprofit groups.
-Kelly Cleaver
Wow, this is a very interesting topic. In my humble opinion, simplicity is best!
With all due respect to YNPN, the nonprofit world has some backward views of how things work. Having worked with National affiliated chapters for several nonprofits and large “independent” nonprofits, it just seems the nonprofit world is backwards where everything moves “up” and not much rolls back “down”. Local chapters pay “dues” or pay up to national, and are forced to follow intense guidelines set nationally that may not work locally.
It has always seemed to me that the ROI of paying dues is not proportionately worth it.
There is a correlation, but you have to want to see it. ABC, ESPN, DISNEY. Originally all independent, now all working together, cross promoting, using the benefits and resources of the umbrella organization to all ends benefits all the components together as well as independently.
The structure from the “national” umbrella program should be developed with the sole purpose of providing very simple plug and play type of programs and services for the local affiliates. Especially on a volunteer basis, the effort to meet deadlines, quotas, etc, especially for a start up seems a bit backwards to me. I read the page on the national YNPN website on what it takes to be a novice chapter, and I was floored at the requirements and the wording of that entire page made me a bit ill. I was overwhelmed just reading it.
It seems to me as I write this and think about it more, simplicity is truly best. What is the mission or goal of YNPN. To provide support to nonprofit professionals right? What better way to support than to provide a way for NPO pros to get together and discuss, in a relaxed and informative way the challenges and benefits of their industry on a local level? National should provide local with possible speakers, funds to secure speakers and other resources like technology to that end. Job Board and other job related services are also good. I wouild say trainings too, but that would be redundant as they would also be “speakers” as I mentioned above.
I was on a call today, with a potential Board member and she stated to me that she was a social worker and the hardest thing she has come across since moving here was finding an adequate list of resources to help her clients. We, as a provider of services for small nonprofits are working to develop resource lists here as well for our charity partners. Simple things, that i took for granted in FL, GA, OH, and NC, a frickin list of resources, don’t even exist here. Now, as a national organization, I can’t imagine that anyone would expect them to provide a list of bars, restaurants, and other venues to hold meetings, etc,, the local volunteers would be best to do that, but something needs to be provided by national. And I have no idea what they do provide, but based on this article, it does not seem as though national provides funds or national contacts that can help with advertising. marketing, and recruitment plans?
Wow… so many thoughts on this. I’m sorry for rambling, but its a challenge that doesnt just face YNPN.
And the reason this article peaked my interest, is that we are a small nonprofit, young professionals membership organization that wanted to partner and work with our local YNPN chapter, and after 6 emails over a 3 month period of time, we received no response. Finally, we did receive a response after our last email told them of their failings quite strongly in not responding sooner, and of course then we received a “I’m sorry, I’m just a volunteer” email.
I have nothing against the volunteers for the local chapter, but obviously if there is so much “crap” associated with becoming a national organization to the point that it interferes with responding to an email regarding something that could potentially be a good thing, then there might be a problem no?
Ok… so there is a technology benefit that does work, at least in part, so that is good, but again, what is the mission and goal of the organization?
Sorry, I’m being a bit outspoken about this, but the goal is membership and resources for those members correct?
What services does YNPN offer to those ends? Just curious, since I’m not a member nor have had a very good esperience with our local chapter.
First, maybe late ngiht when I’m tired is not the best time to write something that I’m passionalte about. I think maybe somethings were taken the wrong way.
Second, my comments were not to make light of the shortcomings of YNPN Denver. Much to the opposite, I was attempting, perhaps poorly, to bring to light the possible shortcomings of YNPN National. In my personal and professional experience, I have seen how national organizations have hindered their local chapters and not provided the resources that you would assume would be provided by a national organization. Again, just my personal and professional experience.
Third, we at Denver Givves would love to be a part of any organization that assists anyone, or any organization in the nonprofit sector.
And last, we believe that the time for action is now, especially in Denver and Colorado in general, and the niceties (Spelling?) and political correctness are not going to address the challenges we have here in Colorado. Its time for a radical change and we will work with any organization that is willing to address these challenges head on, hand in hand, doing our best to help the nonprofit community here in Colorado and eventually across the nation!
Collaboration is not just a Buzz word to us. At Denver Gives we believe that it is truly the only way to meet the challenges we face here in Colorado!
Sincerely,
Kevin White
@Kevin
I’m sorry to hear about your frustrations with your local chapter but glad to hear that your organization is still excited to keep doing the important work to strengthen the nonprofit sector and our communities. I certainly don’t know the situation directly but am keenly aware of how much local YNPN chapters take on in terms of providing services and events for their members. Sometimes that means the ball gets dropped in communication and we’re certainly guilty of that at the National level too.
Just to reiterate points above – YNPN National actually has no current requirements or obligations for chapters except for them to pursue the broad YNPN mission of developing young leaders and talent in the sector. We don’t charge dues to chapters or members at the moment and reporting consists of one to two short voluntary surveys per year.
The requirements that you mentioned were a voluntary roadmap created in response to questions from chapters about what typical organizational development stages looked like based on our experience. We freely admit the wording around that webpage might be over prescriptive, and we’ll look at language there.
The national organization provides an optional content management system platform and support in implementing it, an annual conference for chapter leaders to share best practices, quarterly calls for additional sharing of programs and ideas, and additional resources and templates online. We also provide additional one-on-one support and coaching to start-up chapters as able.
YNPN’s growth and success over the past decade has been driven by local volunteer energy and initiative, and we’re in full agreement of your point about how national organizations should focus all of their energy on making local work easier rather than constraining or controlling it. We’re an open source, grassroots network and that has always been key to our model. That being said, we’re constantly looking for feedback on how we can serve chapters better. We’re also a volunteer driven organization and are keenly aware of how much more we can, and hope to do on behalf of the network and the local chapters.
Best of luck with your organization’s work and we do hope that YNPN can be a stronger partner in the future.
@Kevin- please contact me about your concerns with getting a response from YNPN Denver. As immediate past President, I’d like to buy you a cup of coffee and hear about your experience. It’s our goal to respond to member inquiries within a couple of weeks- we have a paid contractor who responds to our general email inbox. I’m sorry to hear about your frustrations and would value your input: mccoy.lydia@tchden.org or (720) 777-5339.
On that note- I agree with some of the other comments, including Emily’s, that many YNPN chapters are outgrowing the all-volunteer model. Both locally and nationally, the expections of members and elevated goals of boards make the balance of governance and operations very tricky. At YNPN Denver, we have hired two contractors to help with some administration and programming, and that’s helped, but we are in the process of implementing a vision which includes staff that will hopefully allow us to successfully enbrace the growth stage of the organization.
I think National has a very difficult task of trying to meet the wide array of needs of very different communities and stages of organizational growth. Over the years, local chapters have asked them for resources and support, including a shared content management platform, but then they get complaints about it once accomplished as they encourage people to use those tools and resources. I fully support local chapters chosing to pull away from National YNPN when their Boards feel its not in their best interest. But I’d also encourage individuals with frustrations with National to understand that this organization has evolved and grown very quickly, and the demands of local members have grown even more quickly.
I am a full time ED and being Board President of YNPN is what keeps me up at night. We are at a very precarious time for YNPN, when our accomplishments and expectations seemingly exceed our capacity. But every organization, national or otherwise, goes through these growing pains. We’re going to have to muscle through, and as cheesy as this sounds, we can only do it if we stick together.
YNPN, locally or Nationally, is the voice of a changing sector. We are here to remind people it’s not about replacement, it’s about renewal. If our collective voice is not represented in discussions about the funding structure, social justice, program impact, and policy changes, it’s to the detriment of the sector at large. In Denver, people who hold and wield power know and respect YNPN, and our connection to a National movement strengthens our position.
I want to pass along MANY MANY THANKS: to YNPN National for working tirelessly to meet the needs of quickly multiplying network, to everyone sitting on local chapter Boards who get involved because they want to be a part of something bigger than their paid job (which is challenging enough), and to everyone that submitted comments to this post. I mean, clearly, we have a motivated constituency that is engaged and inspired to create the kind of sector we all want to keep working in. Love it!
Kevin- don’t forget to call me.
Lydia McCoy
YNPN Denver
I recently came accross your site and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice site. I will keep visiting this site very often.
Jose