Most millennials reached adulthood around the year 2000. Despite their reputation, this demographic group aged around 18 to 35 years old is driven by compassion and is incredibly active when it comes to supporting charities. This is why, as a part of a nonprofit organization or a community looking to raise money through charity fundraisers, targeting this generation for your fundraising activities could significantly advance your cause.
Also referred to as “Generation Y,” millennials are expected to make up one-third of the world’s total workforce by 2025. While they may be earning less than what members of Gen X have at the same age, they comprise nearly 20 percent of the global population, which means there are enough of them to contribute significantly to various causes.
This generation also has so much potential in charity giving because they are motivated by their goal of making the world a better place.
But how can you engage this group of people effectively? We, at Go Charity, have compiled a list of things you can do to effectively raise funds from a millennial audience.
Learn More About Millennials
“Knowledge is power” – this age-old adage applies to many things, fundraising activities included.
Having enough knowledge about your target audience can help you understand what makes them tick and how you can convince them to support your cause.
For millennials, you need to understand what makes them an excellent target audience for your fundraising event in the first place. In 2014, the Millennial Impact Report revealed that 84 percent of the 2,500 millennial workers and managers they surveyed made a contribution to charity.
Millennials also celebrate humanity through philanthropy and understand that it benefits both the giver and the receiver. This explains why they don’t just contribute through a one-off donation – they also participate in volunteer events and experience-based fundraisers like running, walking, or cycling for a cause.
On top of their motivation to donate, you also need to know the trends that millennials value most when it comes to charitable activities. You see, most members of the Gen Y prefer:
- Digital, mobile, and high-tech activities
- Quick, efficient, and straightforward transactions
- Activities that are crowdsourced or good reviews about from people they trust (i.e., friends and influencers)
- Online and offline social interaction
- Programs that make the world a better place
Know Why Millennials Give
Another thing you must do to engage millennials effectively is to know the reason why they are motivated to give. Sure, they may believe in the cause or are participating because their friends are also doing it. However, there is one more reason – a more compelling one – behind their charitable acts: they want to create a memory.
This explains why millennials are invested more in experiences rather than products. They share their time more freely than their money, which means volunteer-based and nonprofit groups are more likely to engage with them better.
When combined with peer affirmation and delivered through high-touch and high-tech means, fundraising and other events that serve as opportunities to do good have become a social activity.
Of course, you should offer more than just the chance to volunteer. You have to make sure that it also engages their peers, so they can make memories with their friends.
Determine Where to Engage Millennials
As mentioned earlier, members of Gen Y tend to donate their time more than their money. This is why most of them prefer to engage in fundraisers involving volunteerism and doing things that help raise funds that they can’t give by themselves.
Aside from this, you can also leverage the fact that millennials wish to make a memory out of how they are able to give back. This is why you must engage them via channels that can keep those memories alive, like online platforms.
Social Media
Statistics show that 90 percent of millennials aged 18 to 29 years spend their time in social media. In fact, many of them discover plenty of worthy causes via social networking platforms and mobile apps.
Of course, copying and pasting pieces from your newsletter when promoting your fundraiser won’t cut it. You have to create content that has concise information about the cause and that people would want to share with their friends on social media.
Online Auctions
Because of their engagement level in programs that use technology, it isn’t surprising that the most effective fundraising efforts that engage millennials are posted online. After all, this generation is the very first to grow up reliant on the Internet.
Of course, choosing the right medium is only part of the deal – you also need to offer them items that can help them enrich their lives. The key is to seek auction items that are popular among the younger crowd. For memory-making, experience-focused millennials, you should consider travel and adventure packages and unique vacation experiences.
Other viable auction items you can include are:
- Tickets to concerts and sporting events
- Fashion items
- Music and sports memorabilia
Final Thoughts
Currently, millennials comprise a big chunk of the earning labor force; not to mention they have more time to offer than money. Whatever cause you’re trying to raise funds for, you can count on engaging millennials if you use this article as a guide.
If you intend to create an online auction for fundraising purposes, our experts at Go Charity can help you ensure optimum results.
Please contact us, and let’s talk about your next fundraising event.
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