Case Study: Teach For America

Teach for America, a nonprofit started in 1989 with the mission of resolving the achievement gap between rich and poor students, is no stranger to the importance of internal and external support. Teach for America is an organization that became overwhelmed with debt due to a lack of organizational capacity and too little donors. Now, the organization has fixed this debt through efforts to stabilize finances, refocusing on its mission, and strengthening the organizational structure and culture. Teach for America has been revitalized; however, this does not dispel the need for future changes and support. In order to build their internal capacity and sustain the organization and its mission so that it does not fall back into debt, Teach for America

The first way that Teach for America can attract millennials is having a well-defined mission statement with programming that facilitates the achievement of this mission. Millennials are drawn to causes that they believe in, not the institutions behind them (Pynes, 2014). If an organization does not have a high social standing, but has a cause that a millennial is passionate about, the millennial is likely to support that organization anyway, because the cause is what is important to them. Teach for America should focus less on branding themselves and more on ensuring that their cause, or mission, is appealing to the emotions of millennials. These causes should promote social welfare and tolerance, as these are essential to the core values of millennials. Millennials are also influenced to get involved with organizations if their friends are also involved in the organization. This is in relation to the team-oriented mindset of millennials; they want to work in a group setting to achieve the goals rather than working alone. Teach for America could encourage donations and volunteerism by focusing on providing group opportunities. For example, Teach for America could hold a contest in which groups compete to obtain the highest amount of donations. This would allow the millennials to partner with their friends, while also encouraging involvement in the organization. Additionally, sociability is a necessity for millennials. Millennials want to be able to post about their endeavors for their friends to see. Teach for America should work to have a high presence on social media websites; they should provide links that millennials can share on their personal social media platforms so that they can show their support for the organization. For example, Facebook now offers individuals the ability to link a