The First 5 Things to Do to Launch a Young Professionals Group

One of the best things I’ve ever done was launch a Council of Young Professionals.  It was also one of the most challenging things I have ever done.  So I wanted to share my lessons learned to help you get off to a smooth start, if you are thinking about starting one of your own.  Here’s the must-do things that I recommend that you start with, before you do anything else.

Ultimately, you should have goals that feed a business purpose and “everyone else is doing it” isn’t a real business purpose (although I’ve heard it a lot!). The main reason I began my first group was to engage younger donors and prospects.  In my community outside D.C., there are tons of up and coming, young professionals and our organization wanted to tap into that source of donations and service.  We also had an organization that was very social media savvy and a board that was not, so we saw this as an opportunity to have more strategic engagement online by enlisting young professionals who are digital natives!  Other organizations I know of have been looking for monthly donors, pro bono assistance, or other specific volunteer services.  Take a look at the needs in your organization and the young professionals in your community and see where there could be a symbiotic relationship.  The most important thing is just to HAVE A GOAL (or two) in mind for the group to help guide you in your planning.

In order to be successful in launching your group, you are going to need buy-in from the stakeholders in your organization, including staff, board, and volunteers. At the same time, you need to be flexible so that you can incorporate feedback from others into the plan and evolve as you develop the group. So, at this point, I would recommend a simple project plan that includes:

• The goals you just figured out
• Value proposition -why will this group be attractive for your professionals to join? Anything special or distinctive about your group?
• Structure: will this be an advisory board, a social group, or some other model? Will they have regular meetings, term limits, or any leadership structure? Will they have committees focused on specific projects or areas of work?
• Areas of potential engagement: how do you plan to engage this group? Will they be social media ambassadors? Recruit volunteers or serve?  Will they help raise money or in-kind gifts?
• Recruitment: How will you recruit members?  Do you have any ideas for a seed group (see #4 for more about seed groups) from your current network or will you need to recruit them?
• Create a timeline. Give yourself some deadlines for project milestones so you can keep things moving along in a timely fashion.

Share your ideas and your project plan to get them excited about the new initiative. They will probably have ideas about potential members, at the least.  Depending on your board, I would be prepared to be very clear about the relationship if this group to your board.  For example, one of the requests of my board members was to refer to it as a Council and not a Board to avoid confusion.  This was a very easy fix, but it’s much easier to get everyone on the same page before you go out recruiting!

Anyone who has ever stood around a buffet waiting for someone else to go first will understand why a seed group can be vital to your success. Getting the first new members will be the hardest, so you should recruit them from your existing networks.  For me, this seed group served as the initial leadership of the council, which was important because we wanted the group to manage itself with staff guidance on where they could be helpful. In other words, we wanted to work with them on deciding what to do, but not how to do it.  We thought the members had great energy and ideas and we didn’t want to stifle those.  This group can help refine the ideas you outlined in the project plan and finalize the details about structure, roles, and responsibilities. When recruiting members, it is important to be clear about the expectations of membership in the group.  People want to know what they are getting into, before they commit and you’ll be less frustrated if you have well-qualified and committed members.

Together with the seed group, you can create a recruitment plan and decide how to roll out this new group.   Will you have an informational session or a recruitment happy hour?  How will you let people know -social media, direct email or personal outreach?  Do you have information to give to people who are considering joining or a webpage they can visit?  Do you need to create an application? Will the group have it’s own logo? When you are recruiting members, you want to look professional and capable. The first impression matters and will often influence the caliber and fit of the members you recruit.

That’s it – my best advice on getting a young professionals group up and running.  If you want to take a peek at the Council of Young Professionals that I reference here, check out their webpage.  Everyone’s situation is so different – I’d love to hear about yours in the comments or via social media.  You can connect with me via the links below!