1 Surefire Way To Attract More Young People To Your Organization and Why Most Won't Do It

Regardless if it's a business, non-profit, or church; most everybody wants more young people and talent included in what they are doing. If anything, because at some point you will have to close down if new people aren't buying, selling, working for, and/or contributing to your organization.But many organizations have a problem; young people aren't coming to work for, or getting involved with, or buying from them. This may not be a problem for many start-ups, but for those that have been around for a while, this could potentially be a big issue.What if I told you there is one thing you can do that will guarantee, regardless of the type of organization, more young people will join in on what you are doing. Whether that is buying your product, getting involved in your church, donating to your cause, working for your business?Good news: there is. Bad news: most organizations that have this problem won't do it. First, here is what you should do.

If you want to reach/attract young people, put them in positions of leadership

I was reminded of that a few weeks ago when I saw a tweet that said. “I’m amazed at the amount of churches that say “we want to reach young people”, yet the age of their staff tells a different story. If you want to reach young people, put them in positions of leadership!”This. Is. So. True.There is a reason that the twenty-something age demographic is New City Church’s largest (the church I lead). Ideally, you have a good range of ages, but most churches problem (and any organization that is dying) is not too many young leaders, but not enough (if any at all). If you want to reach young people, give them a seat at the table. We have young people and even college students in significant leadership and serving positions, so it's not surprising we have a lot of young people at our church.How does this bring more young people to your organization? A few reasons:

• It shows you value their opinions
• It shows that they can play a part in what you are doing
• It gives them opportunities for learning and growth
• You are more likely to be doing things that young people want/ speak to them because you have young people helping make the decisions and they actually know what they like

If this is so simple, why aren't more organizations doing it? Here's why:

Most organizations don't actually want to reach more young people

How can I say that? Because our actions reveal what we truly care about and prioritize. If we really care about this, we will do something about it. If we aren't willing to give young people a seat at the table, where they could potentially mess up and make a bad decision, then we really don't care to attract them.My experience is the church world, but I'm sure this applies across any organization. But many churches are dying. They aren't reaching new people, and they certainly aren't reaching young people. Why? Because they don't truly realize why what they are doing isn't working. And why don't they realize it? They have no young people who have a seat at the table and can speak into why their approach isn't working and what needs to change.That being said, if your goal isn't to reach the Millennial (and younger) age demographic, that is ok. If you live in an older community for example, then it may not be. But if that is the case, just don't pretend or get frustrated when young people don't show up.As the saying goes, if you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always gotten. If you want to reach more young people, make this switch and you'll see different results.