Study looks at cause engagement, millennials

• Date: 01 May 2018
• Published date: 01 May 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30445

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Vol. 344 May 2018

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Study looks at cause

engagement, millennials

A new report from Achieve, in partnership with

the Case Foundation, nds that millennials are

interested in improving their world but tend to

focus their social change advocacy on issues that

directly impact them�

The report—The 2016 Millennial Impact Report:

Cause Engagement During a U.S. Presidential Elec-

tion Year—shows that millennials also no longer

primarily look to traditional institutions to effect

societal change, but take that responsibility on

themselves�

A summary of key ndings from the report

include:

• Activism. Millennials see “making a differ-

ence” as personally gratifying, yet they are engag-

ing with causes in ways that redene traditional

labels, the report said, including reshaping what

it means to be an activist� Even though many are

actively involved in social causes, just 52�5 percent

identied themselves as activists� They instead

equate “activist” with someone who participates

in protests or some similar form of publicly notice-

able action—and the research shows they largely

want to avoid conict�

• Issues. Millennials are interested in social is-

sues at the macro level, such as education, wages,

health care, employment and the economy, which

are all cited as the areas of most concern to them�

However, their engagement is on the micro level,

primarily with issues that are or have been close to

their personal lives, such as crime/criminal justice,

arts and culture, and employment and wages�

• Trust in government. Millennials do not trust

in government to right the wrongs in the country,

but instead put more faith in themselves to create

Donors not as concerned about nonprot

overhead ratios as believed, study shows

While it may seem like established fact that donors

judge charities based on their overhead ratios and

direct their contributions accordingly, new research

shows that’s not necessarily the case—potentially free-

ing up nonprots from the burdensome “race to the

bottom” that can ensue when comparing themselves

to other organizations with better metrics�

That’s according to consumer insights company

Grey Matter Research and research panel Opinion-

s4Good, which partnered on The Donor Mindset

Study, a series of research reports about American

charitable donors� The latest study in the series explores

how donors see charitable overhead ratios, and what

they actually know about their favorite organization’s

spending—which, as it turns out, is less than believed�

According to the study:

• Most donors feel the typical nonprot organiza-

tion spends too much on overhead, administration

and fundraising—i�e�, the overhead ratio� The average

donor considers 19 percent spent on overhead to be

(See RATIOS on page 2)

(See MILLENNIALS on on page 3)