Nonprofit Congress: College students advance nonprofit sector priorities

From the National Council of Nonprofit Associations

If 2006 was the year of coming together, then 2007 is the year of acting together. Last year, over 10,000 nonprofit staffers, stakeholders and advocates helped to establish our common values and top priorities through town hall meetings, including 11 in Hawai‘i, and the Nonprofit Congress in October. This year, we are already delivering on our commitment to each other to realize potential of the nonprofit sector.

Students and emerging leaders play a critical role in this effort. Through volunteer work and entry-level positions, they do much of the sector’s heavy lifting while helping to shape the future they will inherit. We cannot overstate their talent or their importance. Here are a few snapshots of the many examples of student engagement in the Nonprofit Congress movement.

What better way to start the New Year than hearing from tomorrow’s leaders? A group of college students recently came together at the American Humanics Management Institute in Washington, D.C., to brainstorm how to strengthen their own leadership skills while promoting the top priorities of the Nonprofit Congress. Their top 5 ideas:

1. Introduce nonprofit columns in campus papers written by students
2. Host a nonprofit speaker series coordinated and moderated by students
3. Ensure all campuses have nonprofit career days to showcase job, internship and volunteer opportunities
4. Create a grants program to fund students’ implementing their own ideas to strengthen the nonprofit sector, campus-community connections and the leadership skills of fellow students
5. Create an awards program to recognize student leadership

For example, Cole Bockenfeld, a junior at the University of Arkansas, coordinated the first-ever Nonprofit Career Fair on his campus – click this link to read his story. Bockenfeld partnered with the Arkansas Coalition for Excellence to create a win-win event for nonprofits and students.

The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star recently featured the youngest Nonprofit Congress delegate in a story about the role and future of the nonprofit sector. High school senior Meg Blue, who lists a host of volunteer activities on her resume, including participation in the Nonprofit Congress, is considering a career in the nonprofit sector.

After the Nonprofit Congress, one delegate wrote: “I can't emphasize too much how impressed I was with the students. If they are representative of the future of nonprofits, we are in good hands.”