By CJ Orr, associate director, Orr Associates |

Six years ago, the phrase “junior board” was understood by only a few. Now, I hear it all the time. I work at a nonprofit consulting firm, Orr Associates, Inc (OAI). OAI works exclusively with nonprofits to help them with their fundraising and development needs. Our nonprofit partners consistently tell us they struggle to engage with millennials. Many of them have been building junior boards to serve as a solution.

Over the past year, I took the time to study the complexities and fundraising interests of the millennial generation. In my research, I identified over 400 nonprofits that have a junior board and spoke with over 70 of them about their junior board. I also serve as a board member on four different junior boards.