How to Attract Millennial & Gen Z Donors to Your Nonprofit

Traditional thinking may have you convinced “big donors” only come from older generations. But those deep in the nonprofit space know that the younger generations are just as important. Your nonprofit needs to invest in the future: young people – those who will hear your message, spread your cause, and champion your mission for many years ahead. Building relationships with young people now will allow your organization to increase its network and gain future support.

Why attract young adults?

Let’s face it – the older generation is shrinking, meaning your donor list is slowly decreasing. Investing in young adults is investing in the future: building relationships with young adults now could result in them becoming big donors in the future. Young adults have greater financial value to an organization over their lifetime because there are more years they can support you.

Because young adults use social media to promote causes they care about at a higher rate than older generations, building relationships with them could increase your organization’s “brand awareness” and cause you to be seen by multiple new networks. Your organization needs a diverse donor base to carry its message to a broader audience, and connecting with young adults will do just that.

4 Keys to attracting young people to your nonprofit

1. Leverage the right social media platforms

Whether we like it or not, it’s everywhere. Social media is a major part of our lives for many of us. Long gone are the days of general social media use being a guaranteed way to reach young adults, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. You just have to know how to deliver your message. 

According to the Pew Research Center, while the reach of selected social media networks is often a greater percentage for younger adults aged 18 – 29 across each network, they don’t dominate all platforms. For instance, while 68% of young adults aged 18-29 used Facebook, 74% of 30-74 year olds also use Facebook, meaning more users on Facebook are probably NOT young adults. The age old adage is still true: you must go to where they are. By focusing efforts on the right social media platforms, your organization will reach younger generations more effectively.

In the table, you’ll notice that platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok have greater percentages of young adults 18-29, compared to older demographics. What do they have in common?

They are all video forward, visual focused platforms. Video content and attractive visuals is important in capturing the attention of young adults and can’t be ignored if they are your target audience.

Okay, so now you know that you need video content. But making the video content is easier said than done.

Here are a few tips to produce more social media content that will be attractive to young adults, without adding too much more to your plate:

• Thinking about writing a strong message about your cause to post on your social feeds? Take 5 minutes to record yourself saying it too!

  • Before you hit post, doing something as simple as recording an impromptu video reading the thoughts you’ve written down opens up options to use the content you’ve written and share it in a simple video format.

• Authenticity over production (to a point).

  • In social media, authenticity is key, and movie-like productions are unnecessary.

  • Don’t let those details keep you from starting to create content. In the office, outdoors, in your backyard, even in your car - if the message is strong, the setting is less important as long as it’s not too distracting.

• Use multiple channels to communicate, but multiple does not equal ALL.

  • If you have multiple target audiences (such as older, and younger adults) you’ll want to make sure you’re active on platforms that will reach them.

  • But that doesn’t mean you need to be on every single platform, don’t waste your energy sharing content to a platform that isn’t going to reach who you’re trying to talk to.

• Maintain best practices and consistent posting.

  • Posting consistent content shows that you are enthusiastic and committed to your organization’s cause. You want to share information that is relevant to your organization and maintain your relationships with your online supporters.

2. Include young adults in the conversation

Young adults want to be involved, and not just by donating money or “sharing” posts on social media. Leaving room at the table for young adults to contribute and be a part of the conversation is a way to create major appeal to those young adults who want to get involved. With enough interest, establishing a junior board of directors can be incredibly impactful in creating excitement about your cause from the younger generation.

Even without a junior board of directors, letting the younger generations have responsibility and take ownership in how they support the cause helps to create a connection that they are looking for in their philanthropy.

3. Be transparent as possible

Transparency is one of the most important tenets for the younger generation when it comes to philanthropy. As a generation, they have grown up hearing about misused funds from mega-nonprofits, Go-Fund-Me scams, and plenty of other examples where people’s generosity was being taken advantage of.

Because of that, nonprofits that can be transparent with their use of donor funds, or going a step further and tell donors how their specific donation is being put to use, are majorly appealing to Gen Z and Millennials.

4. Offer diverse engagement opportunities

Many young adults might not be able to contribute financially but are still eager to be involved in other ways. Offering diverse opportunities to engage them is an important strategy to harness that power. Especially today, the younger generation actively seek out and want to be involved in causes that they care about.

Hosting free events, providing advocacy opportunities, and coordinating exciting volunteer roles are some examples of what you might consider to attract more young adults. Having diverse options to get involved encourages a diverse group of supporters.

Making the connection between community and philanthropy helps to make giving more approachable and engaging for those who might not be ready to be financial supporters yet.

Young adults engaged now make for more donors later

Establishing and maintaining relationships with young supporters now will advance your mission-driven organization through increased diversity of supporters and benefit your organization for years to come. Developing relationships with younger people will induce feelings of nostalgia and familiarity years later, which could bring you their generous support later on in their lives. Go out, meet the young people who want to support your cause, and build those relationships with them now to meet your goals and spread your cause for tomorrow!

Resources

How to Engage Young Donors in Your Nonprofit’s Mission (Forbes) 

The Ultimate Guide to Engaging the Younger Generations as a Nonprofit (Causability.org) 

How to Engage Millennials and Gen Z in Nonprofit Fundraising Efforts (FundsforNGOs.org) 

How to Improve Nonprofit Transparency: A Complete Guide (Donorbox.org) 

Social Media Fact Sheet (Pew Research Center)

Editor’s Note: This post was originally written in April 2018 by Alexandra Touloukian, who was a senior at the University of Vermont studying Marketing and Business Analytics.

It has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.