Environmental, Social & Governance Briefs

Q&A with Rhoden Monrose: Engaging Young Professionals on Associate Boards of Nonprofit Organizations

October 30, 2018

Established in 2015 by Rhoden Monrose, CariClub works with companies to connect talented young professionals with nonprofit associate boards. The goal is to develop leaders and philanthropists to help address challenges facing communities, while fostering their personal and professional development. In this Q&A, Rhoden Monrose describes the impetus for creating CariClub and the value of associate board service to young professionals, their companies, nonprofits, and communities.

Q: What challenges did you seek to address when you established CariClub in 2015?

A: Despite the rewards of challenging work and a good income, so many young people feel there’s something missing in their careers. CariClub was created because we recognized that millennial-aged employees want a level of social-impact engagement that they find meaningful and accessible in the workplace. The CariClub experience was designed to work around the schedule of busy, young professionals to ensure that highly talented and successful people in their 20s and 30s can get involved, make a difference, and realize a great sense of meaning through their work. On the corporate side, CariClub was created to solve one of the biggest challenges facing companies today: attracting and retaining the workforce of the future.

Q: What’s the solution that you recommend to address these challenges?

A: CariClub helps firms align with their millennial workforce and subsequently help them attract, retain and develop their next generation of leaders. CariClub provides employers with a platform that gives young professionals access to philanthropic leadership opportunities, specifically associate board positions with well-known nonprofits and foundations. While there’s no shortage of platforms to connect young people with volunteer opportunities, the lasting impact that is made through being on an associate board is incomparable to one-off experiences. Users of CariClub can apply to associate board positions at non-profits that they are matched with based on interest and location. Associate board positions are less formal than a full-time board membership, but still require participants to coordinate fundraisers and attend quarterly nonprofit meetings. Our key differentiation is that we use a well-designed technology platform and artificial intelligence (AI) to create better matching at scale. CariClub’s proprietary AI matching algorithm helps our client’s employees quickly find the opportunities that align with their interests.

Q: What values/benefits does associate board experience provide?

A: The experience benefits millennial employees, companies, and nonprofits:

• Millennial employees For the young professional looking to make strides in their career and life, nonprofit board service provides a proven training ground for the next generation of leaders. Not to mention, becoming an associate board member is a personally rewarding experience. You join a group of like-minded peers to use your skills and experiences to have an impact on a cause you care about. Through this opportunity, you will network with industry leaders, acquire new skills and gain a wider perspective of the world.
• Companies Associate board experience helps with talent development, promoting leadership skills and creating employee loyalty for early to mid-career employees. Most talent development efforts help employees develop skills connected to their current roles, rather than preparing them to be future leaders. Our corporate partners say that the employees we’ve placed on associate boards develop real-world experience, which helps cultivate their leadership skills and allows them to network with future clients, generate additional revenue and produce more engaged future executives. As I think about my millennial peers, I know this is one of the most effective ways for companies to drive authentic employee engagement and loyalty.
• Nonprofits An associate board is a leadership group made up of young professionals who donate their own time, talent and resources to help expand the reach, as well as advance, the mission of a nonprofit. The organizations receive a steady stream of interest from high-achieving professionals who might have otherwise never heard of their work. From a nonprofit perspective, associate boards are a strategic and incredible way to build a foundation for the future—this is your pipeline of leaders and donors—your next generation of philanthropists. In the immediate future, these young professionals are your arsenal of highly motivated volunteer talent, resource development and penetration into the millennial market.