Millennial Engagement With Human Rights & Services Nonprofits What These Nonprofits Can Do to Connect With This Pivotal Population into the Future By: Arthur Rothenberg

 

       

April 23, 2014

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Issue Definition

American Millennials are the largest generation in United States history consisting of over 85 million people born between 1981 and 2000.1 Similar to previous generations, Millennials advocate and give back to the causes and nonprofits that they hold close to their hearts, but sometimes utilize different avenues for philanthropy and need to be attracted utilizing somewhat different tactics from their parents and grandparents. While Millennial donor and volunteer engagement is well researched today on a general level including all types of nonprofits, it is largely unknown if Millennials prefer to be engaged similarly with human rights and human services nonprofits in comparison to all nonprofits in general.

The purpose of this white paper is to explore specifically how human rights and human services nonprofits in the state of Ohio, and nationally, can effectively engage current and potential Millennial donors and volunteers. This paper analyzes survey data of Millennial donor and volunteer behavior with AIDS Resource Center Ohio (from the 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey) and interview data from three fundraising expert interviews. The fundraising experts currently work at the human rights and services organizations: AIDS Resource Center Ohio (ARC Ohio), Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and Human Rights First (HRF). Overall, this white paper strives to exhibit what motivates Millennials to volunteer and donate for human rights and services causes.

According to the 2013 Millennial Impact Report, over 82% of Millennials made a financial gift to a nonprofit in 2012 and stated that passion and inspiration about the cause was the most important reason for nonprofit participation.2 This data signifies that Millennials are valuable to the current and future success of nonprofits. This white paper will aid human rights and services nonprofits to be able to analyze their current and future success– learning more about Millennial donors and volunteers and how to keep them for the long haul as they increasingly gain money, power, and influence in the future. However, the target population for this paper is not just for people associated with human rights and services nonprofits. This paper also targets Millennials themselves. These target populations are the focus of this paper because Millennials will be increasing their impact on nonprofits and many of them deeply care about progressing human rights according to the Pew Research Center.3

Ultimately, after assessing the data, it is recommended that human rights and services nonprofits engage Millennials by utilizing both social and traditional media effectively, using many options for charitable giving, providing for special events catering to Millennial interests, and by gathering data on Millennial behavior and interests.

Issue Context How human rights and human services nonprofits in the state of Ohio and nationally can effectively engage current and potential Millennial donors and volunteers is an issue that has previously not been explored. However, by breaking down this issue into four related topics, it becomes clear that there is plenty of helpful research on this issue. The four areas of this issue to be reviewed include defining human rights and human services nonprofits (and defining Millennials themselves), exploring nonprofit donor and volunteer engagement with technology (and showing the controversies and disagreements with current trends), discussing how nonprofits can best engage Millennials according to up to date research, and reviewing a relevant

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nonprofit social media engagement example. DEFINING HUMAN RIGHTS AND SERVICES NONPROFITS AND DEFINING MILLENNIALS Human rights and human services nonprofits are defined throughout this paper as 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 nongovernmental organizations striving to protect human rights, expand civil liberties, end human rights abuses, improve human mental and physical well-being, and provide essential individual, group, and community human services.4 These nonprofits generally follow bottom-up (grassroots) or top-down approach to progressing human rights and services. Examples of organizations that use a bottom-up approach include Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, The Daughter Project, and Freedom to Marry Ohio. Organizations that take a top-down approach include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigration Project, and Naral Pro-Choice Ohio. The Millennial generation is now the largest generation in the United States currently consisting of over 85 million Americans. Currently, there is significant public debate on the start and end birth dates of this generation’s age range. Some claim that the first Millennials were born as early as 1977, while others claim that the youngest Millennials were born as late as 2004. However, that age range is too large for this white paper. Most generations tend to be about 15-20 years each according to Catalyst. Therefore for the purposes of this white paper, Millennials are defined as people who were born between 1981 and 2000 (roughly between the ages of 14 and 33 today). Additionally, it is important to describe some defining characteristics of Millennials to provide for a more complete perspective to understanding how human rights and services nonprofits can and do engage Millennials. Older Millennials are in their earlier years working in the labor force, while younger Millennials are still completing their formal education in high school. Collectively, Millennials are less wealthy currently in comparison to older generations such as Generation X and Baby Boomers. According to previous research, Millennials are known for being optimistic and goal oriented, enjoying collaboration and multitasking in and out of the workplace, embracing current and new technology, and highly valuing meaningful work.5 Because Millennials strongly appreciate valuable work, they readily seek to participate with nonprofits that align with their values.6 EXPLORING NONPROFIT DONOR AND VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT WITH TECHNOLOGY Existing studies show that there are many ways for nonprofits to retain current donors and volunteers and to recruit new donors and volunteers. However, much of this is not without controversy and disagreement from marketing and fundraising experts. Alex Semien, a fundraising and volunteer outreach expert from The Nonprofit Fundraising Journal, provided expert opinion by highlighting three different strategies that all nonprofits should utilize when trying to engage new donors and volunteers. First, marketing experts have stated that “word of mouth” is the most cited answer when people were quizzed (from focus groups) when they hear about a new product, service, special event, website, or organization. Essentially, gaining followers for your organization can come from the friends, family, coworkers, and other ties of those new followers. The second strategy is to create an engaging website highlighting the primary importance of promoting public engagement and soliciting donors and volunteers. This is done by properly showing the character and personality

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of the nonprofit, highlighting specific results of the nonprofit, and promoting accomplishments of the nonprofit using plenty of photos. The third strategy is that nonprofits should hold a joint event with another organization comparable their own organization. This allows for new donors and volunteers to enter the fold because there will be people at the event who like the values of your nonprofit but might not have been exposed to your nonprofit before the event occurs.7 In addition, there was an academic article written by David Suarez, an associate professor from the University of Washington and prominent nonprofit researcher, that focused on civic engagement on the internet, which expanded upon the technology information previously discussed from the Nonprofit Fundraising Journal. It had two notable findings. The first was that human rights groups, environmental organizations, and policy entrepreneurs all consistently mentioned advocacy and promote civic engagement on their websites. However, the second finding of this study was that organization funding structures and resource dependence differences had no visible effects on the nonprofits use of their own websites for engagement. Nevertheless, this study is important because it showed that it does not matter how much funding an organization has in order for their website and social media to engage donors and volunteers effectively.8 HOW NONPROFITS CAN ENGAGE MILLENNIALS

It is important to remember that while Millennials currently do not have strong spending power, nonprofits cannot financially afford to ignore them. Although Millennials have less spending power because they are new arrivals to the workforce, they will obtain more money as they advance their careers and obtain their inheritances. More specifically, Millennials currently boast $62 million in discretionary spending power and are expected to inherit $42 trillion in wealth from their parents and grandparents.9

The book on nonprofit Millennial engagement, Cause for Change, highlights not only why engaging Millennials must be a priority for nonprofits but also how they can engage Millennials effectively. The nonprofit strategists who have ample experience studying Millennial engagement, Kari Saratovsky, Derrick Feldmann, and Jean Case propose a "Millennial Engagement Platform" that consists of four "operational and cultural components." Those four components include leadership inviting (for example: engaging and empowering Millennials to connect with the nonprofit's decision makers), transparency, social connectivity, and a solution-inspired environment. Overall, the authors found that these components were the most effective ways to engage Millennials over the long term after years of researching and consulting with many types nonprofits of various sizes.10 Case has ample experience working on other nonprofit studies as well. She worked on The 2013 Millennial Impact Report, which was taken from survey responses from 2,665 Millennials throughout the United States. The report emphasizes how nonprofits can best engage Millennial donors and volunteers. The report discussed five important trends stemming directly from the survey responses that nonprofits must facilitate to effectively create optimal Millennial engagement: Millennials prefer to connect via technology (donating online and using email and social media to communicate), Millennials share in micro ways (they like nonprofits that allow them to make immediate and impulsive decisions such as a small donation to run a 5K benefit race), Millennials facilitate and rely on peer influence, Millennials volunteer along a continuum of support, Millennials give in order to have an impact.11

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After examining the comprehensive data from both the 2013 Millennial Impact Report and Cause for Change, it becomes clear that nonprofits should focus on a handful different aspects to engage Millennials. Nonprofits should spend time and resources maximizing effective Millennial engagement by focusing on improving technological communications, allowing for open interactions with the public, and permitting convenient charitable giving.

In addition, nonprofits must focus on long-term volunteer support: having supportive activism, establishing and supporting a young nonprofit professional group, and prioritizing ongoing leadership. Ultimately, Millennials gravitate towards organized, successful leaders that allow them to develop strong professional and personal relationships. Also, the comprehensive data indicates that Millennials greatly prefer nonprofit transparency and when nonprofits foster significant peer-to-peer engagement. Millennials like to have someone that they can relate to who is associated to the nonprofit. In particular, they prefer to have the ability to interact with someone who is around their age.

Furthermore, Millennials express defined charitable giving behaviors. They have been shown to give more money (and donate more often) when they feel inspired by the organization and when they have an easily accessible monthly charitable giving option. 52% of Millennial respondents from the 2013 Millennial Impact Report stated they would be interested in a monthly giving option even if they cannot currently do it within their current budget level or with their favorite nonprofit.

Finally, as emphasized multiple times throughout the 2013 Millennial Impact Report and Cause for Change, Millennials support causes that they are passionate about over institutions or organizations themselves. The research shows that while Millennials do care about the nonprofits themselves, they care even more about the work they do and the causes that they stand for.12 NONPROFIT SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT EXAMPLE

One particular campaign that inspired Millennials across the United States was the Human Rights Campaign’s social media viral blitz in support of LGBT marriage equality in the United States. On March 25, 2013 to mark the beginning of the Supreme Court oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, in which both laws barred gay marriage, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) launched a campaign through social media that ignited a grassroots movement through Facebook for weeks. HRC encouraged all same-sex marriage supporters to change their profile picture to a modified version of their logo, which was a pink equal sign with a red background. This logo especially took off with the Millennial generation, with Facebook confirming that the majority of users who changed their profile pictures were between the ages of 20 and 40. Overall, HRC inspired a 120% increase in Facebook profile

2013 Millennial Impact Report Highlights: Social Media & Charitable Giving

• 60% of Millennials like when nonprofits

shared personal stories about their projects

• 75% of Millennials “like,” “retweet,” or share nonprofit content on social media.

• 51% of Millennials connect with a nonprofit using social media

• 46% of Millennials donated online •

2013 Millennial Impact Report Highlights: Why Get Involved With a Nonprofit?

• 79% of Millennials view their passion for

the nonprofit, its mission, and its work as a motivator for involvement

• 56% of Millennials like meeting people with similar interests fostered by nonprofit involvement

• 46% of Millennials like acquiring expertise from being involved with the nonprofit

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changes to the red equal sign logo in March and April. Additionally, the HRC social media campaign also was a part of the most “retweeted” tweet on Twitter as of March 2013.13 Experts declared that the social media campaign was very successful because it was unbranded. Essentially because the movement (or passion for the cause) and the people affected by it came before the organization, it led to individuals strongly identifying with the cause.14

While HRC did greatly increase its visibility during this social media campaign (and had a 600% increase of web traffic overnight the first day) it was not without controversy. Some critics of the viral social media campaign viewed this campaign as “slacktivism” because the campaign was online and not an event, rally, or fundraiser. It simply raised awareness rather than being rooted in a fundraising campaign. Additionally, it is impossible to determine exactly how the 2.7 million people changing their profile picture to support marriage equality made a tangible difference. Regardless, these countless profile pictures will remain with the public forever as the core of a campaign that reached the hearts and minds of millions across the United States.15

SOURCE: Madison Andrews, aNewDomain16 DEFICIENCIES IN EXISTING LITERATURE AND GAPS IN UNDERSTANDING

One deficiency of existing literature is that it is largely unknown why people care about human rights and services in particular. For example, it is not known why people will donate for a human rights nonprofit but not for an environmental advocacy nonprofit even if they are very passionate about both causes. The remainder of this white paper will address this gap, providing more information about why people (and Millennials specifically) engage with human rights organizations and their causes. Specifically, this white paper will explore how Millennials express their passion for human rights through volunteering and donating to human rights nonprofits. Analysis of survey data and interviews will be used to inform the source of Millennial motivation to contribute to

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human rights nonprofits and how human rights nonprofits can effectively harness this motivation.

Data Analysis ANALYSIS APPROACH

This white paper uses an analysis approach that has roots in both survey and interview data that will inform the reader of how human rights and services nonprofit organizations engage Millennial volunteers and donors. The analysis will show why Millennials give to human rights and services nonprofits, how the attention of Millennials is captured, how human rights and services nonprofits communicate with Millennials, how Millennials are engaged with special events, and how Millennials prefer to donate.

Three different human rights and services organizations were utilized for both the survey and interview data: AIDS Resource Center Ohio (ARC Ohio), Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and Human Rights First (HRF). ARC Ohio was used as the sole survey data source. The survey data consists of the results from ARC Ohio’s 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey. This post-event survey was completed online using SurveyMonkey by donors and participants in ARC Ohio’s largest annual fundraiser, AIDS Walk Central Ohio. AIDS Walk Central Ohio has over 1,000 participants each year and had over 1,500 participants in the 2013 AIDS Walk. The 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, completed in April 2013, consisted of a total sample size of 52 total survey respondents, but only 49 of the respondents answered every survey question. The results of those 49 respondents are synthesized into the survey data analysis.

The post-event survey asked feedback questions about the 2013 AIDS Walk Central Ohio. Five of those feedback questions pertained to engaging donors and volunteers. Those five questions ask why participants partook in the event, how participants heard about the event, how much the participants personally fundraised, what fundraising methods were most effective, and how to recruit event participants most effectively.

The interview data consists of the results from three interviews from fundraising experts from ARC Ohio, HRC, and HRF. One interviewee currently works at ARC Ohio, one currently works at HRC, and one currently works at HRF. All three interviewees all have at least one year of experience doing development, fundraising, and volunteer engagement with their current organizations on a full-time basis. This expertise allowed them to make informed answers about key constructs.

A convenience sample was used to target ARC Ohio, HRC, and HRF. Those three nonprofits were chosen not only because they operate on the state and/or national level but also because all they focus on different aspects of human rights and services.

The interview data is presented by highlighting common themes, similarities and differences in expert opinion, and other notable findings. Ultimately, after the interview data is fully analyzed, it will be determined if the survey and interview data from human rights and services nonprofits exhibits similar results to the issue context research. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SERVICES NONPROFITS ANALYZED

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Figure 1

SOURCE: AIDS Resource Center Ohio, Human Rights Campaign, and Human Rights First

SURVEY DATA AIDS WALK SURVEY DATA: Age Range of Participants

In order to analyze the survey data from the AIDS Walk, it is important to examine the age range of participants. In Figure 1, the age range is exhibited in order to demonstrate the characteristics of the population. Since a convenience sample of participants was used, each age group has an uneven number of respondents. The survey was optional for 2013 AIDS Walk participants, and was taken from the results of the 49 survey respondents who completed the survey (out the roughly 1,500 emailed potential survey respondents) For the purposes of this white paper, the survey data was used to compare the results of the Millennial respondents with all other respondents (which were labeled as “Non-Millennials”). 20 out of 49 survey respondents labeled themselves as between the ages of 14 and 30 (in April 2013), which would make those 20 respondents Millennials.

AIDS Resource Center Ohio

•  Mission: ARC Ohio is a community-based organization that leads the fight against HIV/AIDS through awareness, advocacy, and care

•  Person Interviewed: Emily Toney, Central Ohio Special Events Manager •  2013 Revenue: $9.84 million •  2013 Expenditures: $9.77 million

Human Rights Campaign

•  Mission: HRC is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discriminiation against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

•  Person Interviewed: Matt Aycock, Development Operations Assistant •  2013 Revenue: $53.78 million •  2013 Expenditures: $53.96 million

Human Rights First

•  Mission: HRF is an independent advocacy and action organization that challenges America to live up to its ideals. We believe American leadership is essential in the struggle for human rights so we press the US government and private companies to respect human rights and the rule of law. Around the world, we work where we can best harness American influence to secure core freedoms.

•  Person Interviewed: Molly Galvin, Director of Individual Giving •  2012 Revenue: $44.84 million •  2012 Expenditures: $39.65 million

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Figure 2

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49 AIDS WALK SURVEY DATA: Capturing the Attention of Millennials

Figure 3 shows that both Millennials and Non-Millennials participated in the AIDS Walk due to personal connections to HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, over 60% of respondents participated in the AIDS Walk because a friend or family member currently is living with HIV/AIDS. However, while the graph indicates that Millennials are much less likely than Non-Millennials to participate in the AIDS Walk because they currently are living with HIV/AIDS or in remembrance of a loved one killed by AIDS, this does not mean that their personal connections to HIV/AIDS are inconsequential. In fact, the opposite is true.

In addition, 50% of Millennials participated in the AIDS Walk to combat stigma and for social justice and 85% of Millennials participated in the AIDS Walk in order to raise awareness. This indicates that a sizable portion of Millennials are eager activist volunteers, which was supported by the interview data as well. Figure 3

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49

0  5  10  15  20  

14-­‐18   19-­‐20   21-­‐25   26-­‐30   31-­‐40   41-­‐50   51-­‐60   61+  

Amount  of  

Participants  

Age  (In  Years)  

Age  of  AIDS  Walk  Survey  Participants  

0%   10%   20%   30%   40%   50%   60%   70%   80%   90%  

Corporate  Work  Team  Combat  Stigma  &  For  Social  Justice  

For  the  Exercise  To  Raise  Awareness  

Remembrance  of  Loved  One  Killed  by  AIDS    I'm  Living  With  HIV/AIDS  

Friend(s)  or  Family  Member(s)  Living  With  HIV/AIDS  I  Was  Asked  by  Someone  I  Know  

Why  Participate  in  the  2013  AIDS  Walk?    

Millennials   Non-­‐Millennials  

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AIDS WALK SURVEY DATA: Communicating With Millennials Communicating with Millennials effectively is a goal for ARC Ohio. By examining

Figure 4 below, it can be determined how certain types of communication were more effective than others for reaching out to potential AIDS Walk participants. Millennials were significantly less likely to hear about the AIDS Walk through email correspondence or postcards in comparison to Non-Millennials. Nonetheless, Millennials were much more likely to hear about the AIDS Walk from a participating AIDS organization, coworkers, or at a bar event. While the sample size of this survey is small, it can be determined that those avenues of connecting with Millennials need to be prioritized into the future for ARC Ohio and for other similar organizations. Additionally, over 35% of both Millennials and Non-Millennials heard about the event from a friend or ARC Ohio staff. This means that ARC Ohio (and similar human rights and services organizations) would be best served to discover and enable easier ways for friends to share information with each other and for nonprofit staff to be able to directly communicate with individual participants more frequently. Figure 4

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49 AIDS WALK SURVEY DATA: Special Events Engagement It is important to examine how Millennials are recruited for special events with ARC Ohio. By examining how they were recruited for the 2013 AIDS Walk in Figure 5, it becomes clear that some tactics were more effective than others. For both Millennials and Non-Millennials, emails and social media had almost universal support for effectiveness among the survey participants. Posters, brochures, magazine ads, bar outreach signups, and pre-walk parties were also believed to be effective for both Millennials and Non-Millennials. However, the most notable (and telling) result that is largely exclusive for Millennials is that they believe that bar

0%   5%   10%   15%   20%   25%   30%   35%   40%   45%   50%  

AIDS  Walk  Postcard  Received  at  Home  

Email  From  AIDS  Resource  Center  Ohio  

Email  From  Friend/Family/Colleague  

At  a  Bar  Event  

AIDS  Resource  Center  Ohio  Staff  

Coworkers/Employment  

Facebook  (Or  Similar  Site)  

Friend  

Participating  AIDS  Service  Organization  

How  Did  You  Hear  About  the  AIDS  Walk?  

Millennials   Non-­‐Millennials  

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events are much more effective for recruiting AIDS Walk participants in comparison with Non-Millennials. Figure 5

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49 AIDS WALK SURVEY DATA: Charitable Giving of Millennials Millennials tend to donate less than non-Millennials because they are currently less wealthy. The results from Figure 6 from the AIDS Walk survey reflect that information. The majority of Millennials (53%) only fundraised between $1 and $100 for the AIDS Walk. However, there was a sizable Millennial minority (16%) that fundraised between $751-$1000. While this is only an educated guess, it is likely that those Millennials were well connected and able to recruit a lot of friends, family, and coworkers to donate to their team. Also, those Millennials were probably passionate about mission of ARC Ohio. Human rights and services nonprofits would be in optimal shape if they are able to go out of their way to directly communicate with, thank, and reward those fundraisers. By taking extra efforts to open communication, nonprofits could learn more about how Millennials fundraise.

0%   10%   20%   30%   40%   50%   60%   70%   80%   90%   100%  

TV  Advertising  

Radio  Advertising  

Magazine  Ads  

Posters  and  Brochures  

Social  Media  

Billboards  

Emails  

Pre-­‐Walk  Parties  

Bar  Outreach  Signups  

Bar  Events  

What  Are  Effective  Ways  for  ARC  Ohio  to  Recruit  Participants  for  the  AIDS  Walk?  

Millennials   Non-­‐Millennials  

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Figure 6

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49

Unlike the varying answers exhibited in many of the previous figures, Figure 7 helps to

confirm that multiple methods are effective for producing donations for the AIDS Walk. In this question, survey responders were limited to picking only one answer choice, keeping answers more streamlined. While it certainly was expected that social media and email would be highly effective for producing donations for both Millennials and Non-Millennials, there were two findings that were somewhat unexpected. Non-Millennials were more dependent on social media than Millennials for producing donations, and a sizable amount of Millennials and Non-Millennials found in-person conversations to be the most effective way of producing donations. This signifies that while social media is important for fundraising, it cannot be the be-all end-all tactic. Traditional fundraising and relationship development in person are still extremely important for fundraising effectively! Figure 7

SOURCE: 2013 Dr. Robert J. Fass Memorial AIDS Walk Central Ohio Event Survey, N= 49

2%  

12%  18%  

53%  

30%  

17%  22%  

1%  

11%  

1%  2%  

16%  15%  

0%  0%  

10%  

20%  

30%  

40%  

50%  

60%  

Non-­‐Millennials   Millennials  

Percentage  of  AIDS  Walk  

Participants  

How  Much  Did  You  Personally    Fundraise  for  AIDS  Walk  2013?  

I  Didn't  Raise  Money  

$1-­‐$100  

$101-­‐$250  

$251-­‐$500  

$501-­‐$750  

$751-­‐$1000  

More  Than  $1000  

0%   5%   10%  15%  20%  25%  30%  35%  40%  45%  

Emails  

Phone  Calls  

In-­‐Person  Conversations  

Social  Media  

I  Did  Not  Raise  Money  

Which  Method  Produced  the  Most  Donations  for  Your  AIDS  Walk  Team?  

Millennials  

Non-­‐Millennials  

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INTERVIEW DATA FROM FUNDRAISING EXPERTS INTERVIEW DATA: Why Do Millennials Choose to Give and Participate with Human Rights and Services Nonprofits Instead of Other Types of Nonprofits? Millennials care about many different types of nonprofits (such as health, science, poverty, religion, and education), but will choose to give and volunteer with human rights and services nonprofits for a handful of particular reasons. The human rights and services fundraising experts all agreed that people are personally invested in human rights and services in part because they generally can connect their own experiences (or those of friends or family) with the mission of most human rights and services organizations. Human rights and services affect all of us since we are all human. That personal investment goes a long way with long-term engagement and fosters passion and inspiration with the nonprofit. However, the value of personal connections to human rights causes and organizations is not exclusive to the Millennial population. Older generations are affected by it as well. Nevertheless, all of the fundraising experts believe that Millennials have a stronger need to give back and volunteer than previous generations, because giving back to those in need has been ingrained into Millennials from a young age. The experts stressed that the need to give back for human rights is especially valued by Millennials because multiple contentious human rights issues (such as immigrant rights, LGBT rights, and reproductive rights) are at the forefront of the minds of Americans today. These issues are plainly visible to Millennials thanks to increased media exposure from the internet and social media, two ways of receiving information that Millennials heavily utilize. All in all, Millennials use online mobilization and strong virtual communities of like-minded people to move human rights policy forward. INTERVIEW DATA: Capturing the Attention of Millennials

The fundraising experts all agreed that utilizing social media and online communication effectively was vital with catching and maintaining the attention of Millennials. In addition, they agreed that their own volunteers and interns are an excellent source of Millennials actively engaged with their organization. They stated that those volunteers and interns not only were astutely capable of being good volunteers, but also were capable of being dependable ambassadors of the organization.

Matt Aycock, the fundraising expert interviewed from HRC, discussed the importance of using social media to engage Millennials. He stressed that social media (particularly Facebook and Twitter) is the main source of the news for many Millennials and successful nonprofits generally capitalize on social media outreach well. He said that HRC is particularly proficient with using social media because they use targeted messages and advertisements to Millennials based on their online behaviors with HRC.

Similar to the 2013 Millennial Impact Report’s results, the fundraising experts believed that “peer-to-peer involvement” is particularly effective in engaging Millennials. Emily Toney, from ARC Ohio, stated that it is most effective to reach out to Millennials during events by having a Millennial representing ARC Ohio in some capacity. This allows for Millennials who might be interested in ARC Ohio to better relate to an ARC Ohio representative because they are both from the same generation. 17

All of the experts concurred that human rights and services nonprofits must harness Millennials’ passion for human rights and services by fostering their introspective thinking about who they are and how they relate with the nonprofit. Also, many Millennials are targeted by

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human rights and services nonprofits because their generation is most highly affected by the work of the particular human rights organization. For example, ARC Ohio captures the attention of Millennials because Millennials have the highest number of new HIV infections annually and are at the highest risk for being infected with HIV.

Additionally, all of the fundraising experts agreed that Millennials like to feel appreciated and connect personally with human rights and services nonprofits. The experts asserted that Millennials highly value their passion and inspiration for the mission to be more visibly recognized by nonprofits in comparison to previous generations. For example one of the AIDS Walk survey participants enthusiastically exhibited exactly how important passion for the cause can be. He exclaimed, “I participate in the AIDS Walk because the mission of ARC Ohio is so damn real and vital to life for everyone!” INTERVIEW DATA: Communicating with Millennials

According to the fundraising experts, Millennials largely become connected with particular human rights and services organizations because those organizations communicate with them effectively. The experts agreed that utilizing social media efficiently, marketing appropriately, and providing for engaging activities and special events are important. Nonetheless, they disagreed with the value of traditional media to connect with Millennials.

All of the fundraising experts agreed that using social media suitably is essential in order to connect with current and potential Millennial volunteers. They stated that social media must be integrated effectively to reflect the work of the nonprofit and grab the attention of Millennials, especially since they use social media more than previous generations. Also, they asserted that human rights and services nonprofits must utilize social media data to better understand the preferences of Millennials.

Traditional media usage to communicate with Millennials was debated among the fundraising experts. Emily Toney of ARC Ohio believes that traditional media is not an effective way to reach Millennials and claimed that it was not cost effective, but Molly Galvin from HRF disagrees. Galvin stressed that traditional media greatly helps Millennials search through the “ocean of information,” essentially working to simplify an overload of news and data. However, all of the fundraising experts believe that it is harder to target traditional media specifically to Millennials because it tends to be much more costly than social media.

The fundraising experts also discussed the importance of marketing and special events as a way to communicate more effectively with Millennials. With regards to marketing, Galvin said that a human rights and services nonprofit needs to “tell more stories on what the work really does for individual people and groups. For example, videos can help to bring your work to life.” She also said that marketing can be a critical tool used to figure out what Millennials are looking for, allowing their voices to be properly heard. Utilizing a similar, mission focused approach, Toney highlighted how special events and activities can be a way of communicating with Millennials. She said that events are a terrific way for an organization to personally communicate with Millennials and personal communications allow for effective longer-term feedback as well. For example, staff from ARC Ohio was able to talk with Millennials during the AIDS Walk and obtain survey results afterwards. INTERVIEW DATA: Special Events Engagement

As previously discussed, special events are a vital way of communicating and engaging with Millennials. Overall, the nonprofit fundraising experts highlighted that special events are

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more successful with increased Millennial engagement and participation when their needs and wants are adequately addressed. Through the experts’ previous experiences working with special events, they found that Millennials tend to prefer participating with events in which they are clear of the purpose of the special event. Also, Millennials prefer special events in which they can have engaging peer-to-peer social opportunities. This is extremely similar to what clarified in the 2013 Millennial Impact Report, signifying that Millennials highly value social opportunities for causes that they believe in.18

In addition, Aycock highlighted a specific tactic that is particularly pertinent for human rights and services to use in order to retain Millennials after special events occur. He found that Millennial retention and long term engagement is strongest when personalized thank you emails and letters are sent after the event happens so Millennials are thanked for their participation and are properly informed of the nonprofit’s current work and future events.

Finally, Emily Toney stated that the bar crawl pre-AIDS Walk event has been particularly effective in recruiting Millennials for the AIDS Walk. Coming full circle, these results highlight once again how Millennials prefer engaging with human rights and services nonprofits in which there is peer-to-peer engagement and where passion for the cause is clearly visible. Toney also noted that Millennials tend to prefer more casual social events in contrast with formal galas. Therefore, the fact that bar events are casual social events is simply icing on the cake catering to the preferences of most Millennials. INTERVIEW DATA: Charitable Giving of Millennials

Surprisingly, a bar crawl can be a great way to get Millennials to not only be volunteers but also donors for human rights and services nonprofits. However, besides special events, it is worthwhile to examine the giving preferences and characteristics of Millennials. First, all of the fundraising experts concurred that Millennials prefer to donate in an easy, streamlined fashion. Millennials prefer when human rights and services nonprofits allow for more opportunities to give, allow for direct donations during events, provide for a monthly giving option to be more budget friendly, and provide for direct giving through social media and email capital campaigns. In addition, just like with volunteer engagement, Millennials respond much more strongly when engaged on their level with a personalized pitch. Also, according to the nonprofit experts, Millennials (and Non-Millennials) respond well to urgent and competitive giving that encourages “down to the wire” fundraising in which people compete with friends, coworkers, family, and strangers in a fixed amount of time for a cause they deeply care about. Furthermore, while Millennials do give monetary donations to human rights and services nonprofits, Toney was insistent that Millennials prefer to donate their time before donating their money. This is because they are in a life stage generally fostering more free time, but less spending money. Aycock provided some other helpful insight on Millennial charitable giving preferences. He discussed that while many Millennials are part of the “trophy generation” in which they oftentimes expect a reward for effort and participation, he stressed that it is not a negative stereotype that nonprofits should ignore. He insisted that all it means is that Millennials prefer to have something tangible to take home (such as a T-shirt or water bottle) that connects them directly with the organization. If the physical product relates directly to the mission, then it benefits the Millennial relationship with the human rights and services nonprofit even more. To provide a contrast perspective, the nonprofit experts agreed that older generations donate to human rights and services nonprofits primarily because it empowers them to feel like they are

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“doing their part” to progress human rights. Millennials highly value “doing their part” as well, but they prefer volunteering and participating on an even more personal level that emphasizes personal relationship building. Conclusion: Should Human Rights and Services Nonprofits Engage Millennials Differently in Comparison to Older Generations?

The answer to the question above is both “yes” and “no” for a multitude of reasons. People from all generations care about the mission of progressing human rights and improving human services, but Millennials are more comfortable with utilizing technology and social media to be engaged. Also, Millennials value when human rights and services nonprofits provide for peer-to-peer engagement with activities and special events. Furthermore, Millennials and older generations differ on special events preferences. Millennials like more informal and social events in comparison with older generations. While Millennials do not have much to donate now, it is important that human rights and services nonprofits keep them engaged with volunteering and fostering their activist enthusiasm for the mission. This will lead to increased donations from them in the future. Millennials also love to be able to give quickly and easily, favoring donating online and through social media. Finally, while the Millennials have unfairly suffered from the “trophy generation” label, that exaggerated stereotype is something that can be harnessed effectively by human rights and services nonprofits. Millennials can be given something tangible in reward for their charitable gifts to effectively connect them directly with the human rights organization for years to come. Recommendations: How Can Human Rights and Services Nonprofits Reach Out Effectively to Millennials?  

   

1) Utilize both traditional and social media. Share inspired personal stories showing how your

nonprofit helps the people it serves.

2) Give Millennials as many options to give as possible. They like affordable monthly charitable

giving!

3) Spend time cultivating relationships with Millennials by providing social events for them. Millennials like a strong community of people

coming together for a cause they value.

4) Pay close attention to the wants, needs, and priorities of Millennials. Gather data on their behavior and communicate directy with them!

Recommendations

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                                                                                                               References 1 "Generations in the Workplace in the United States and Canada." Catalyst, May 01, 2012. http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/generations-workplace-united-states-canada. 2 "The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research, July 2013. http://cdn.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/AchieveMCON2013/Research Report/Millennial Impact Research.pdf.  3  Hais, Mike. "Millennials Have Already Won on Gay Rights, Abortion, and Immigration– What's Next?."PolicyMic, sec. Identities, May 14, 2013. http://www.policymic.com/articles/41427/millennials-have-already-won-on-gay-rights-abortion-and-immigration-what-s-next. 4  United for Human Rights: Making Human Rights a Fact, "Human Rights Organizations." Last modified 2014.  5  "Generations in the Workplace in the United States and Canada." Catalyst.  6  “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research.  7  Semien, Alex. "3 Proven Strategies to Get New Donors and Volunteers for Your Nonprofit." Nonprofit Fundraising Journal, Fundraising Tips and Volunteer Engagement, February 02, 2014. http://causera.org/nonprofit-journal/3-proven-strategies-to-get-new-donors-and-volunteers-for-your-nonprofit/.  8  Suarez, David. "Nonprofit Advocacy and Civic Engagement on the Internet." Administration & Society. no. 3 (2009): 267-289. http://aas.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/content/41/3/267.full.pdf html.  9  Saratovsky, Kari D., Derrick Feldmann, and Jean Case. Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2013.  10  Saratovsky, Kari D., Derrick Feldmann, and Jean Case. Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement.  11  “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research.  12  “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research.  13  Thomas, Jon. Social Media Today, "Breaking Down the Viral HRC Marriage Equality Campaign." Last modified April 26, 2013. http://socialmediatoday.com/jonthomas/1350096/breaking-down-viral-hrc-marriage-equality-campaign.  

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     14  Wagner, Meg. Mashable, "How HRC's Marriage Equality Campaign Put People First." Last modified September 24, 2013. http://mashable.com/2013/09/24/hrc-marriage-equality/.  15  Thomas, Jon. Social Media Today. 16  Andrews, Madison. "Social Media Goes Red in Support of Marriage Equality." aNewDomain. http://anewdomain.net/2013/03/27/social-media-goes-red-in-support-of-marriage-equality/  17  “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research.  18  “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report." Achieve: The Millennial Impact Research.