1.) Expand Your Network
YNPN Greater Bflo Directors, Ambassadors, and Members represent organizations throughout Western New York, including nonprofits, government, and for-profit agencies. You’ll have the opportunity to expand your existing community of friends and colleagues to include new connections with different backgrounds and insights. Not only can this enhance your current professional career, but you can also leverage this network for new job opportunities, additional community involvement opportunities, or simply to connect with people who have different outlooks and experiences than you do!
2. Grow Your Personal Brand
Is your LinkedIn looking a little sparse? Want to show your executive leadership team or potential employers that you’re engaged with the community? Add some gravitas to your resume by adding Board Member to your experience! A board role shows that you are committed to your community, engaged in forward thinking strategic initiatives, and are well-equipped to help shape the future of an organization.
3. Further A Cause
If the YNPN Greater Bflo mission, vision, and commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion resonate with you, you can be part of helping us to grow and reach even more young professionals in the Greater Buffalo region! YNPN Greater Bflo just celebrated our 5th Birthday in 2018, so the organization is still young, scrappy, and hungry to make an impact in our region—but we can’t do it without committed volunteers!
4. Challenge Yourself
Whether you apply for a Board role that closely aligns with what you do in your everyday job or choose a new role that you’re less familiar with, joining the YNPN Greater Bflo Board of Directors offers new opportunities for growth. You’ll be involved in making strategic decisions as well as being part of a hands-on working Board. Your co-director will support your growth and you’re sure to walk away with new competencies and skills.
5. Bloom Where You’re Planted
Joining the YNPN Greater Bflo Board will give you greater insight into how nonprofits in general operate. Your fellow Board members are from different backgrounds and industries and roles than you are, and may be people you would otherwise not have had the opportunity to work with. Breaking out of your typical circle and routine will expose you to different ways of thinking and approaching situations. Sometimes simply listening to different perspectives offered during Board meetings will help you become a more strategic thinker!
6. Be a Team Player
Being on a Board of Directors is a whole different dynamic. You’ll be in leadership roles, making decisions, and serving with a group of individuals who are just as passionate and dedicated as you are. You’ll learn patience when listening to others express viewpoints you disagree with. You’ll learn diplomacy in phrasing dissenting opinions while still maintaining camaraderie. Working with an all-volunteer organization can be challenging, but it makes all of us better.
7. We Have Fun
Whether it’s using colorful markers for a SWOT analysis, attending YNPN National Conference, setting up for Summit, or informal networking, being on the YNPN Greater Bflo Board is as fun as it is challenging. We share homemade macarons and industrial-sized bags of Sour Patch Kids while completing strategic planning, While working hard, we also share jokes and camaraderie. You have the opportunity to work alongside like-minded individuals who share similar struggles and are willing to be vulnerable who just seem to get it. You’ll form lasting friendships that will continue beyond your Board service.
8. Work Work Work (Work Work)
At its best, serving on any Board of Directors allows you to bring your whole self to the table—your emotional connection to the mission, your commitment to the overall nonprofit sector, your experiences, your skills, and your brain power. We need all your best ideas and your talents to continue to grow YNPN Greater Bflo.
If you found this convincing, we’d love to have you!
ynpngreaterbflo.org 