Clairity Click-it: The Millenial Issue – to Ignore at Your Nonprofit’s Peril

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The 2015 Millennial Impact Report was released last week, and lots of folks are weighing in on what this means for nonprofits. Why is everyone all agog? These folks, born between 1980 and 2000, represent huge buying (aka donating) power and influence. As the lead researcher and president of Achieve, a lead researcher in the study, notes:

“The Millennial generation is influential. From their buying power to their handle on the limitless potential of social media, Millennials can address issues and be a voice for a cause like no other generation before them.”

I was particularly interested in how they gave:

• 30% online
• 28% check or cash
• 22% solicited through their company
• 11% payroll deduction

In other words, they’re just as multi-channel as the Boomers and Gen X, with a skewing toward more online activity. There’s plenty of food for thought in the articles that follow, with some great suggestions for how you might consider reworking your fundraising and marketing strategies to engage greater numbers of this emerging generation.

BTW: I’ve thrown in a couple of articles that apply to all generations. The plain and simple fact is that marketing is changing for everyone.

Millenials & Philanthropy

Click-It: 14 Fascinating Findings for Nonprofits on Millennial Giving and Volunteering. This post from the Eleventy Group offers up a veritable smorgasbord of data from The Millennial Impact Project and about those who are “next in line” to become your leadership volunteers and donors. Plus this article includes links to a host of other articles to help you connect with this emerging generation. Want to know more about what makes them tick? You should! 84% of Millennial employees made a charitable donation in 2014. And one big take-away from this article is that connections between nonprofits and Millenials often begin through their place of employment. Are you cultivating business partnerships? Don’t bury your head in the sand on this one. It’s time to start preparing for your today and tomorrow. Here are some stats that caught my attention:

• 43% say they would be more likely to give to a nonprofit if competition was involved
• 69% would be more likely to give if their company offered to match part of their donation
• 56% said they are more likely to volunteer if they receive some kind of incentive
• 46% are more likely to make a donation if a co-worker asks them

Click-it: 7 Stats You Should Know About Millennial Employees (And 3 Ways You Can Engage Them…). Of particular note here are the 3 ideas about how to engage millennials discussed in this post from Brady Josephson at Re: Charity. Here’s one tip: Optimize your online giving page to key into the motivations that trigger Millenials to give. Is there a place for them to tie their donation to their company or leave a comment? What about getting an instant tax receipt they can then take to their employer to get their gift matched? Do you talk at all about matching donations?

Millenial Giving Psychology

Click-It: Millennial Giving & Volunteering Influenced By Peers. This comes from The Nonprofit Times and is their analysis of the Impact Report. More interesting take-aways – and ‘to-do’s’ for your nonprofit:

• Offer episodic, short-term volunteer opportunities.
• Show how participation makes a difference.
• Encourage unsanctioned giving. More than half of Millennials made a donation to a cause their company was not associated with in response to a co-workers personal solicitation.

Millenials & Virality

Click-It: Will There be Another Ice Bucket Challenge? Six Things to Watch For. I picked this Hubspot post for this issue because it makes the point that the Ice Bucket challenge was started by a single individual, and it caught fire because of Millennials and their love for causes, mobile, video and social networks. While more people of all ages are participating in crowdfunding campaigns, the key audience to activate is still Millennials. It’s a super interesting article.

Changing Face of Marketing

Click-It: Do Traditional Marketing Strategies Still Work for Non-Profits? I thought this piece from Guido Pedrelli at Socializa offers a nice companion to the emerging information about Millenials. Because, yes, you’ve got to change the way you do marketing and fundraising. But you’ve had to do this for some time (whether you’ve believed it or not) due to the revolution caused by digital media. This article explains what’s no longer working, what’s still working and what’s emerging as best, most effective, practices.

Customer Expectations

Click-it: How Social Sales Meets Evolving Customer Expectations. This post applies not only to Millenials, but to every one of your constituents who communicates via social channels. And then some. Craig Jamieson explains on the Maximize Social Business blog how much buyer behaviors are changing. Folks frequently educate themselves about you and will ask their peers for referrals prior to ever calling you. They’re also busier than ever and are being inundated by our messaging so, if your message does not stand out, it will languish and die in their in-boxes. This article discusses how to meet the expectations of both kinds of your customers: all people, since time began, and tech-savvy/social-savvy customers.

A few simple tweaks to how you’re doing things can make a huge difference in your results.

The Clairity Click-it is a weekly publication linking to insights inspired by the 7 Clairification Principles that help you “clairify” your values, stories, branding opportunities, social marketing channels, support constituencies, engagement objectives and resources. Check out my newly expanded 7 Clairification Keys to Unlock Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Potential which builds on these principles. If it doesn’t reinvigorate the way you approach your work, I offer a full 30-day money- back guarantee — no questions asked. To your success!

 Photo: Flickr, Isaac Torronterra