Connecting with millennials

Millennials - those born between 1979 and 1994 - prefer to support a specific cause rather than organisations according to a new US report.

The report – 2013 Millennial Impact Report (file size: 6.3MB) – was compiled by consultants Achieve, with support from the Case Foundation. It gathered more than 2500 survey responses from millennials.

The report’s top “takeaway” was for organisations to inspire millennials to give to their cause, and to show that their donations make a tangible difference.

And the three key ways for this to happen were to “Connect! Involve! Give!”

Connect!

• Millennials prefer to support specific causes, meaning organisations must try to become experts in their respective areas and successfully demonstrate that knowledge.
• Organisations should make good use of smartphones to attract millennials’ support. Some methods include:
• Creating smartphone-friendly emails calling readers to action.
• Posting regularly on Facebook and other social media.
• Ensuring their websites are designed so they can be easily viewed and navigated on a smartphone.
• Millennials no longer revisit an organisation’s website to stay up-to-date; they now rely on social media. Groups must be careful to engage their audience through social media channels.
• Organisations can gauge the effectiveness of their messages through shares and retweets on social media.

Involve!

• Millennials enjoy the social aspect of volunteering, and enjoy connecting with like-minded peers. Organisations should look to direct marketing messages to highlight peer involvement, for example: “Join 30 other people like you this Saturday to…”
• Developing volunteer programs which facilitate networking will enhance the connectedness of supporters, which will help groups to retain volunteers and support.
• The report also found that online training was attractive to millennials, who valued the ability to train anywhere.

Give!

• Donation requests which focus on how the gift will benefit the recipient garner higher response rates.
• Fundraising through websites, social media and email is far more effective than telemarketing.
• Millennials don’t give a lot, but they want to give when they can. More than half said they would be interested in monthly giving – something which gives organisations the chance to gain smaller, more regular donations.
• Some millennials are starting to ask for donations in lieu of gifts for birthdays and other events. Social network websites help to enable and co-ordinate this type of giving.

Visit the Millennial Impact Report website for a collection of videos showing millennials navigating not-for-profit websites, social media pages, mobile sites, and donation pages to discover what they want out of their online experience.