Should your club focus on the young adult market?

Service organizations are looking to younger generations to help them grow. The attempt to corner the volunteer service market by starting youth clubs that loosely resemble their adult counterparts is not exclusive to Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions or Optimist Clubs. That is why all can be found in our schools mentoring students for leadership skills and providing a community service ethic.

We sometimes marvel at the generosity, ingenuity and servant leadership that our youth provide. I wonder why because most students, especially in the US and Canada, live sheltered lives. They are provided for and the desire to provide for others is a natural extension borne of their safety and security.

However, when our students graduate from high school and embark on their college education or chosen vocation, their goals begin to change. I think this is because they have their first taste of freedom away from their parents. It's not that their desire to serve has changed, it has been interrupted by so many other pursuits from schoolwork and finances to fraternities, sororities and dating. And these are pursuits that are happening in the real world.

Did you realize that the students who will enter college in 2011 have always had a virtual world to retreat to when the real world was too harsh or uninteresting? For them, music has always been unplugged, MTV has never featured music videos, Jerry Springer has always been known for lowering the level of discourse on public TV and Rush Limbaugh has always been criticizing liberals along with his Dittohead followers.

One might speculate that the networked world leaves today's young adults overstimulated. In order to speak on their students' level, Beloit College produces a college mindset list for their faculty each year. This Mindset List might be a good tool for you if your club or organization is targeting a youthful market under 25-years of age.

See the Beloit College Mindset List here.