So how do you speak to this group and learn to engage them in ways that speak directly to their passion for change.

Firstly, it is vital that you make your marketing personal. Having grown up in a technological age, Gen Z will know inauthentic marketing when they see it. They are technologically savvy soknow youhave access to crucial data about them as individuals and, as such, expect your appeals to cater to their unique lifestyles and interests. It is not enough to meet Gen Z on their turf, you need to be ready with hyper-targeted content that you can deliver directly to them.

For example, could you ensure that you are collaborating with corporate partners that are popular with younger demographics, often meaning the company already is interested in your cause. This way you make your charity’s brand synonymous with this company’s desire to do good.

Secondly, be aware of how you are using social media. Gen Z is heavily active on social media, but you have got to be smart about when, where, and how you leverage your social media channels.

For example, you know that you have to hyper target to effectively engage with Gen Z, so you may choose to increase your paid advertising spend across specific social media platforms. However, that may not take it far enough, Gen Z tend to be technologically savvy as noted above, so as well as understanding how data is used to target audiences, they have developed a ‘high tolerance’ for digital ads. This means that you must ensure your ad breaks through the “white noise”, even after you have reached your target group.

Another way is to contact Gen Z is by utilising people they trust, such as social media influencers. Influencers are able to leverage reaching their huge audiences with your messaging.

Millennials (born 1981-1995)

Organisations of all sizes and missions need a strategy to engage Millennials. According to the Pew Research Centre (a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends www.pewresearch.org). The Millennial generation is now the largest living generation, overtaking the entire Baby Boomer population.

While these young supporters may not have as large of a giving capacity as older generations, in the last 10 years, they have been the most active demographic donating to charity:

The Classy.org generational giving study concluded that:

84% of Millennials give to charity  

46% donate via crowdfunding campaign

So, what are the best ways to reach this audience.

Firstly, make sure that your communications are mobile-optimised. It is probably no surprise that Millennials want to engage with charities online. When looking at online giving via your website, you need to make sure your pages are mobile-friendly to draw in Millennial’s. A survey by mobile payment app Pingit published by Charity Digital (www.charitydigital.org.uk ) found that 28% prefer to give to good causes via their mobile devices. A similar proportion (27%) said they would donate more if they could do so via their mobile device or payment card.

Whether you are communication via email, website or donation pages try and make your design as responsive as possible so that anything you publish formats properly across all mobile’s devices. For example, that fantastic image from your recent event that you were sent looks great on the website but was taken by a professional photographer and is 25mb so loads slowly. If they can provide you with a lower res image (usually under 1mb) it will load more quickly and will provide a smoother customer experience.

Secondly harness the power of Peer-to-Peer fundraising. Millennials stay ultra-connected to their peers, which is why peer-to-peer fundraising is highly popular with this generation of donors. Your peer-to-peer campaign has the potential to activate a vast majority of young fundraisers, who can then tap their own networks for support. Essentially it is the traditional snowball effect. Ask each person to in turn ask ten of their friends…and thus your fundraising potential “snowballs”.

Finally, Millennials (like Gen Z) want a personal experience from their fundraising and giving experience. They care about your cause and if you in return show that you ‘care’ for them they remain warm to your cause. For example, can you contact them on their birthday asking them to set up a social media fundraiser asking friends to donate instead of gifts.

As you can see from above, while each generation is different in how they like to be engaged, they are all united by the fact that they support charities, so your job is to choose the right channel and right message to encourage each particular generation to engage.