When was the last time you mentored someone?

My undergraduate degree was in aerospace engineering and I began my career in the communications technology industry. I didn’t last long because I craved something more purposeful. As an engineer, re-starting my career in the social impact world was tough — I was new to this world; I didn’t have the knowledge and didn’t understand how it worked.

When I started my career in social impact, getting a more experienced professional to spare 15 minutes for advice was one of the hardest things I’ve had to ask. 

Turns out, it wasn’t just me. My colleagues in the sector say this struggle isn’t new — they experienced the same thing when starting out in the field. They mentioned a number of reasons why mentorship isn’t widespread, which, frankly, aren’t convincing: there’s no time, it’s not a regular practice, people are focused on their survival, it’s hierarchical and competitive.

Now’s the time to change the culture of mentorship. 

The coronavirus pandemic has come at a time of massive growth in the social impact world. In the last two years, there have been more impact ventures, more social finance professionals, people wanting purposeful careers, and college and university courses than there has ever been. There are approximately two million professionals in the nonprofit sector alone. How can we take advantage of all this energy? While the pandemic is slowing down the world, we now have an opportunity to support rising talent. 

And this opportunity comes at a crucial time. COVID-19 means new and rising talent in our field are facing an unprecedented moment in their careers. Virtual mentorship can be a source of optimism for many when our instinct may be to spend our downtime refreshing Twitter or reading COVID-19 updates. At a time when many new social impact professionals and entrepreneurs may be feeling extra isolated and with anxiety, advice and mentorship are much needed. 

In the field of engineering and technology, mentorship is part of the culture. I’ve heard that it might be because of apprenticeship practices that professionalized the field some time ago. Possibly. But it’s bigger than that. An experienced technology professional explained to me the mindset of the field when it comes to mentorship: “Breakthroughs rarely come from the people who’ve been in the industry for 30 years. They come from emerging talent and those new to the field. Supporting them is a surefire way to generate more breakthroughs for the world.” This is why mentorship is pervasive in tech. A quick Google search of ‘mentorship in tech’ yields over 20 million results whereas a Google search of ‘mentorship in nonprofit’ yields about 3 million results, and the top result is from 2013 — the same year that Zoom launched its videoconferencing service.

So, can you spare 15 minutes?

The social impact world needs breakthroughs. We needed breakthroughs before the pandemic — in poverty, human rights, hunger, climate action, and more to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In a post-pandemic world, we will need breakthroughs to revitalize local economies, tackle racism and xenophobia, strengthen mental health, address digital rights and privacy, and reimagine family supports. The social impact world will be needed more than ever post-pandemic.

There are pockets of notable mentorship practice that I’ve observed, for instance, in women’s rights work and Indigenous programming and services work that we can learn from. Mentorship can strengthen the field coming out of this pandemic by each of us spending 15 minutes with new and rising talent a couple of times a week. At Future of Good, we have an entire community you can connect with. (In fact, we’re currently working on celebrating founders of new social impact organizations — non-profits, social enterprises, co-ops, etc. Click here to learn more and nominate a new founder.) 

It’s time for breakthroughs. Let’s make mentorship part of our culture. 

Vinod Rajasekaran 

Publisher & CEO

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