I saw a very interesting article on board composition in Arts Presenter’s online version of Inside Arts Magazine. (Have to provide email address to read.)
The piece essentially tackled the idealism vs. practicality issue in relation to age of board members. While everyone strives to have younger people on their board, the reality is that the young folks often aren’t far enough along in their lives to offer a non-profit board the time and money (or social contacts with money) that more..seasoned..members of the community can.
Despite some ancedotes which support the idea that older people more easily meet the board requirements of many non-profits the article stresses the importance of making the effort to attract younger members. Their involvement in the board would have to recognize that they need time to raise families and aren’t able to meet the Give, Get or Get Off criteria at this stage in their lives.
Certainly it is just as important to recruit the right young members as it is older members and not just bring them on board because of their age. The article mentions quite a few benefits younger members can bring as well as pointing out some erroneous assumptions.
Give it a read.