Please stop referring to Millennials as kids

Like it or not, many Millennials have teenage children, are almost in their 40s, and have been in the workforce for two decades. I have seen a slew of articles recently that still refer to them as kids. I get that it's cute and makes for a catchy title, but it's also indicative of, and feeds, the mindset that they are immature, inexperienced, and not to be taken seriously. The follow-on generation, Gen Z, is already starting to graduate college and even graduate school! When it comes to embracing age diversity in the workforce and in the boardroom, consider how the use of a pejorative term, like kids, would play out if the equivalent was used to describe other diverse groups.

Our words matter, and our photos do too. I often use in my posts pictures of my daughter, who was born at the tail end of Gen Z, not because I mean to equate young professionals with children, but because she is exactly the kind of future donor that museums need to start preparing for now. I am also passionate about making the concepts of philanthropy and board service accessible to children.

Beyond trying to be inclusive with terminology, it is important to see the value that younger people can bring to an institution. Overcoming the bias that young people can't be major donors or don't have the leadership skills to govern has to happen before museums can make any progress in reaching the next generation, and the ones after that.