This is a fact: if organizations fail to appeal to younger people, they will not survive. There is no growth potential in appealing ONLY to older populations. They are not the future.  And yet, how many organizations are doing nothing--communications or programming-wise--to appeal to a younger audience?

Last week, I attended an event where I was the youngest person. And I am not considered young (demographically speaking, of course).  It got me thinking about what organizations will have to do to appeal to younger people. Will it suffice to change and expand their communications efforts, or will they have to revamp their program offerings? Or both?

Not appealing to younger people is a mistake of epic proportions. Witness the Republican Party's handwringing in light of their presidential loss to the Democrats. Even Mitt Romney seems to acknowledge his party was not offering much to young people (although his assertion that Obama was offering young people "gifts" was misguided at best).  The GOP is now dealing with the fact that their primary target of older, white male voters is a shrinking demographic.