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Nonprofit Resource WHY MILLENNIALS MATTER Authored by Francesca DeAnda (/about/staff/francesca-deanda) - Last Updated: Dec 16th, 2014 Since 2009, the annual Millennial Impact Report (http://www.themillennialimpact.com/2014-research) has consistently conveyed that the millennial generation (born after 1980) is “eager to connect, get involved, and give to causes they’re passionate about.” But sometimes they seem so young and hip and tech savvy that we are flummoxed by how to connect. Those floral prints, those thick-rimmed glasses, those nimbly moving fingers! How might we approach them?

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Page 1: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

Nonprofit Resource

WHY MILLENNIALS MATTER

Authored by Francesca DeAnda (/about/staff/francesca-deanda) - Last Updated: Dec

16th, 2014

Since 2009, the annual Millennial Impact Report

(http://www.themillennialimpact.com/2014-research) has consistently conveyed

that the millennial generation (born after 1980) is “eager to connect, get involved,

and give to causes they’re passionate about.”

But sometimes they seem so young and hip and tech savvy that we are

flummoxed by how to connect. Those floral prints, those thick-rimmed glasses,

those nimbly moving fingers! How might we approach them?

Page 2: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

Start by reading the latest 2014 Millennial Impact Report

(http://www.themillennialimpact.com/2014-research), one of the most insightful

documents to come along for nonprofits in many moons. It’s chock full of specific

tips and keen recommendations, and sets clear guideposts for where nonprofits

should be heading if they hope to engage the younger generations.

Why?

It's important to start engaging millennials. Your older loyal donors won’t be

around forever. Millennials will be around for quite awhile and they can help spread

the word, generate enthusiasm for your cause, volunteer their time, and support

you through monthly giving.

And they genuinely want to get involved in the causes they care about.

Millennial Report Findings

We encourage every organization to read the full 2013 Millennial Impact Report

(http://www.themillennialimpact.com/2013RESEARCH) to understand why young

people might ‘like’ your organization, donate, or sign up for your email list. Read

the 2014 Millennial Impact Report (http://www.themillennialimpact.com/2014-

research) to gain insight into what inspires millennials in the workplace (perhaps

your nonprofit).

Report Highlights

Page 3: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

1. Millennials prefer to connect through technology – social media and email are

key. 83% of millennials have smartphones.

2. They facilitate and rely on peer influence – peer involvement is a motivator to

attend events, volunteer, take advocacy action, and give.

3. Millennials volunteer along a continuum and need a variety of opportunities to

get more and more involved and build loyalty

4. Millennials give to charities. And they give to have an impact – they really wantto see tangible results of their giving.

87% of millennial survey respondents donated to an organization in thelast yearonly 18% gave less than $50

28% gave between $100 and $500

Top Takeaways

Millennials first support causes they’re passionate about, rather than ponying up

to institutions. This means it’s up to you to inspire them, vivify your work, and

show them that their support can make a concrete impact.

A few more tips based on the 2013 report findings:

1. Inspire your millennial followers based on their top motivators for getting

involved: Passion (79%); meeting people (56%); gaining expertise (46%)

2. Be completely transparent – it inspires trust

3. Get them involved through activism, professional groups, and leadership

opportunities

4. Build a strong and engaging social media presence

5. Inspire millennials to give by using photos, testimonies, video, and impact

reports

6. Encourage peer-to-peer engagement and fundraising

7. Make monthly giving easy

8. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

Page 4: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

More Great Tidbits

2013's Millennial Conference, MCon13

(http://www.themillennialimpact.com/mcon13), hosted a panel of social media

experts and offered some great tips on how to engage millennials through the

most popular social platforms.

In a nutshell? It all comes down to building relationships.

Twitter

Page 5: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

According to Twitter’s Jenna Golden (https://twitter.com/jigolden), 1 billion tweets

are shared every 2.5 days. And 42% of Twitter’s US online users are between the

ages of 18-34 years (i.e. millennials).

"Very Important Tweeters"—people with massive networks—are excellent for

getting millennials to become engaged in nonprofit causes. For example, actress

Jessica Biel tweeted #WorldWaterDay on her birthday and succeeded in getting

thousands of millennials to join her cause.

YouTube

YouTube attracts 1 billion unique users every month. More 18-34 year olds are on

YouTube than any other cable network. And YouTube’s millennials watch 6 billion

hours of video each month!

So get creative, and get your videos up on YouTube. Here are a few great examples

of how cause-related videos can get powerful results:

In her “Don’t Cover It Up” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-

XHPHRlWZk) campaign, actress Lauren Luke highlighted the seriousness of

domestic violence through a tutorial on how to cover up facial bruising with

makeup. It raised awareness (especially for millennial women) on the pervasiveness

of intimate partner violence in our country and highlighted society's tendency to

cover-up this devastating problem through its ironic casual/normalizing tone.

Page 6: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf

In Australia, Melbourne’s Metro Company created a train safety video with a dark

humored-edge called “Dumb Ways to Die.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=v4A_18kf4PY) The video captured 5 million views within the first few days of its

posting, and $50 million in advertisement-value within the first few months of its

posting.

So that is the quick and dirty of millennial engagement. All these tips will not only

help sharpen appeal to millennials, it will make your organization more attractive

to every age group.

There’s no need to be intimidated. Meet millennials where they’re at and launch

right in. The future of your organization may depend on it.

Gail Guengerich also contributed to this article.

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Millennial 2020 (http://www.millennial2020.com)

Page 7: Why Millennials Matter | upleaf