Attract millennials on Giving Tuesday through online and offline engagement

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30155
• Published date: 01 February 2016
• Date: 01 February 2016

FEBRUARY 2016

5

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Donor Engagement

Attract millennials on Giving Tuesday through

online and ofine engagement

With its hashtag appeal and social media focus,

Giving Tuesday seems like a perfect t for inspiring

tech-savvy millennial donors to give to a worthy

cause. However, research shows that this group is

more likely to donate when engaged both online and

ofine than if nonprots rely on digital channels

alone to attract them.

According to research from Achieve, which tracked

the campaign planning, implementation and end re-

sults for nine nonprot partners on Giving Tuesday

2015, the annual event has grown such that many chari-

ties consider it the unofcial kickoff to the end-of-year

giving season. And attracting millennial donors has

become increasingly important as the cohort grows

into its own, so to speak, with higher-paying jobs and

more disposable income. But contrary to what some

might think about this group—namely, that they are

only reachable via digital means—millennials respond

well to more traditional, grassroots engagement, such

as through peer-to-peer or personal challenges, attend-

ing/hosting fundraising events and becoming cause

ambassadors, among others.

All of the organizations tracked by Achieve for

Giving Tuesday 2015—the Wyoming Community

Foundation, Otterbein University, College Mentors

for Kids, Camp Kesem, Forefront (previously known

as Donors Forum), WBEZ, Community Health

Charities, the Rutgers University Foundation and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—utilized

their websites, email and social media accounts to

promote their participation in Giving Tuesday.

Some organizations supplemented their digital and

social efforts with printed materials such as annual

letters, postcards and iers, and a few called potential

donors on the phone as well.

And organizations whose main audience is made

up of millennials also engaged in other activities

(peer-to-peer efforts, on-campus ambassadors, etc.) to

promote Giving Tuesday through grassroots methods.

Nearly all of them met or exceeded their goals (one

organization, Forefront, didn’t have nal tallies as of

press time), but one stood out as a best performer by

far: Camp Kesem, which raised more than four times

its initial goal of $100,000.

According to Achieve, Camp Kesem’s campaign

included three core elements:

• Chapter-level fundraising: Each chapter had a

goal of either raising a minimum of $1,000 or get-

ting 100 donors.

• Networkwide sharing: Camp Kesem sent out

a general mailer to all members of their database

with a focus on sharing and not necessarily asking

for money.

• An alumni “#GivingTuesday Army”: In the spirit

of competition, Camp Kesem wanted to engage their

alumni in levels. “Generals” were tasked with nd-

ing 30 people to donate $30, “Fundraisers” raised a

minimum of $100 and others committed to sharing

on social media.

Looking at the results of Camp Kesem and the other

organizations tracked for its research, Achieve singled

out three key factors in attracting millennial donors:

• Plan early and strategically. Nearly all of the

organizations started planning and strategizing for

their Giving Tuesday 2015 efforts earlier than in

previous years, and some still found the need to start

even earlier in 2016. And several of them said that

creating a structure and preparing resources prior to

Giving Tuesday played a vital role in the success of

2015 campaigns.

“The earlier your organization can determine your

strategy, timeline, tactics and mediums, the more

time you’ll have to engage your audience in your

cause—with the ultimate goal of turning interested

constituents into active and involved donors,” the

groups said in the report.

However, nonprots should go beyond the typical

methods of communication, such as direct mail, so-

cial media or email, to attract millennials, the group

said. They should get creative with events, incentives

and networking prior to Giving Tuesday to build

up the excitement and levels of participation and

engagement.

(See MILLENIALS on page 8)