Looking for a mentor? A mentee? How about both?

What started as organizational challenge became an international opportunity.

University of Delaware entrepreneurship undergrad and Up Cycle cofounder Sierra RyanWallick first connected with Spur Impact last year, when she did a SWOT analysis of the organization as part of a project for the Blue Hen Leadership Program.

What they found was that the organization, best known for the Millennial Summit and DoMore24 Delaware, has a bit of a weakness.

“We found that a threat cutting in on their sustainability was engaging the Generation Z population,” she told Technical.ly. “They’re so focused on millennials with the MillSummit.”

So, in the spring, they implemented a pilot mentoring program pairing millennials and Gen Zers.

The pilot went so well that RyanWallick wanted to keep it going. She joined Spur Impact as an intern, and after a summer of working primarily on the Millsummit, she’s entering fall with her own big project: Impact Mentoring.

“It will be slightly different,” she said. “With our mentor pairs, there’s no mentee or mentor, it will be a mentoring partnership for people to come together. They’re thought partners and they’re mentoring each other, which I’m really excited about.”

The program is for adults over the age of 18. The pairing process is no longer focused on matching millennials and Gen Zers.

“Pairs are based on interest and passion,” RyanWallick said. “People told us their industry as well, but I prefer passion and interests so they’re really diverse perspectives possibly from different industries.”

Other than the age requirement, all that is required is that pair meet (virtually, in person or by phone) once a month or more, and submit a survey each month. Most participants are local or regional, but, with Zoom an option, there is no geographic requirement: “We had interest from someone in the UK and I was like, why not?” she said.

The upcoming cohort will launch in early October with a virtual networking events where participants will officially meet their mentoring partners. The cohort will continue through the MillSummit in August 2022.

There’s still time to sign up if you’re interested. The deadline to fill out the application form is Sunday, Sept. 26, at midnight.

Apply for Impact Mentoring