Monday, September 1, 2008

Association Exec: An "Encore Career"?

Philanthropy News Digest reports a study that 75% of boomers are likely to work well beyond what was once considered a traditional retirement age, with many trading in their corporate jobs for nonprofit work. Is senior level association management an "encore career" for the corporate executive who wants a meaningful next step? (I'd guess yes.)

A notable quote: "But making the move to the nonprofit world isn't always easy; the pay can be less and the hours longer than what many were used to in the corporate world. According to Center for Nonprofit Management president Cynthia Nunn, nonprofits need to step up their recruitment efforts and offer perks, such as four-day workweeks and telecommuting, for workers who want second careers that give them the flexibility to pursue other interests."

To me the obvious question is how did we manage to have lower pay AND longer hours than the corporate world? And could a greater influx from the corporate boomers into senior association positions change that?

What do association execs do for an encore?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Encore for association execs? That's a good question--especially in the real estate community. You could try to be a consultant, but you find that it's hard to keep up: you can't go to NAR meetings and participate (you aren't a member), you can't be a consultant and access the AE password protected pages in the data base (you aren't an AE), you can't go to the AE Seminar and update yourself (you are persona non grata). Someone once observed that there sure were a lot of ex-AEs hanging around the Starbucks at the Washington meetings. I'm guessing there's a reason for that.

Anonymous said...

How about offering "perks" to association execs who want to continue doing what they're doing?
(Most can't retire, so it isn't an "encore.")

Associations should hire association execs, not corporate people looking for an "encore."