By Reynolds Hutchins
reynolds.hutchins@insidebiz.com
It's the season of giving. But, for those who make charity their way of life in Hampton Roads, giving is as much seasonal, as it is generational.
"This younger generation, it's so much more focused on giving back than previous generations," said Meg Leahey, communications and development coordinator at Volunteer Hampton Roads.
Leahey is talking about the millennial generation, that cross-section of the population born between 1981 and 1996.
"Millennials" has become a buzzword of sorts this year. A single Google search for the term in recent news stories produces more than 85,000 results.
With good reason, Leahey said. "They're so different - from their parents, from their grandparents."
Over the past 57 years, Volunteer Hampton Roads has evolved from a traditional volunteer clearinghouse into a full-service management support organization for the nonprofit sector in southeastern Virginia. It's part of Leahey's job to know who's giving, why they're giving and how that's changing.
When it comes to millennials, she said, "it's just a completely different mindset."
According to the national 2014 Millennial Impact Report, the generation that has garnered a reputation for selfies is also capable of selflessness.
The report found that 87 percent of millennials had donated money to a nonprofit in the last year. Of the 1,514 millennials polled who have jobs, 47 percent said they had volunteered for a cause or nonprofit in the past month and 57 percent said they wanted to see more company-wide volunteer opportunities at their place of work.
All of this flies in the face of general statistics that show volunteer rates hitting all-time lows nationwide. A report this year from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that only 25.4 percent of the total population volunteered at least once between September 2012 and September 2013 - the lowest percentage since the group started tracking those figures in 2002.
The numbers are powerful, especially for people like Gabriel Cohen, who makes a living harnessing the buying - and in this case, giving - power of America's up-and-coming generation.
Cohen is director of integrated media at Seventh Point, a Virginia Beach marketing, advertising and public relations firm. He is also a millennial.
Since this past spring, Seventh Point has been working with the United Way of South Hampton Roads to help expand the nonprofit's footprint via the millennial generation.
"The conversation that really brought us to the table was how are they going to reach a changing donor?" Cohen said.
Both the agency and the nonprofit knew up front, millennials lack a key resource for giving. That is, money.
According to recent reports, two-thirds of today's college graduates leave school with an average student loan debt in excess of $26,000.
That college experience also instills in many millennials a passion for planned volunteer activities and community involvement.
And volunteerism can be worth its weight in gold, Leahey pointed out.
"In the state of Virginia, the cost of volunteer time is estimated at roughly $20 per hour," she said.
If a college graduate happens to be volunteering time in an area that matches their particular skill set - like a CPA doing volunteer bookkeeping or an attorney doing pro bono litigation - then that time is worth hundreds of dollars more to the nonprofit.
When it comes to major nonprofit organizations like the United Way, though, Cohen said there's a persistent - and sometimes detrimental - sense that contributors aren't really volunteering their time freely.
"You kind of have that 'voluntold' atmosphere with the United Way," Cohen said, where donors and volunteers contribute time or money because they feel obligated or compelled.
It might have worked for generations in years past, Cohen said, but not millennials.
The new generation can be pickier when it comes to choosing where and when to give their time, Cohen said.
"As a millennial looking to give back, it means I don't just give because I'm told. I do my research. I want to get to the heart of it."
Nonprofits should take note, Cohen said, that much of that research is being done online and via social media.
So, when it came to attracting the masses of 20- and 30-somethings to the United Way of South Hampton Roads' 23rd Annual Day of Caring this September, Seventh Point laid out an entire social media tool kit.
"We took an offline event online," Cohen said.
Seventh Point worked with the United Way to draft authentic stories that would grab a new generation's attention and be distributed across multiple social media platforms and devices.
The agency used YouTube videos in a media campaign that ranged from vignettes featuring a cartoony Capt. United character to videos introducing the United Way, its mission and the way it vets its causes. Seventh Point then plastered that campaign across key millennial strongholds: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
More than 1,600 volunteers from across Hampton Roads came out to participate in the regional United Way's event this year, the first organized with the help of social media. There were 130 projects at 66 different locations.
Cohen said that Seventh Point's marketing strategy worked because it encouraged everyone - even those unable to attend, volunteer or donate money - to spread the word.
"They may not have been able to be there building a wall, but they may have 1,000 friends that can," Cohen said.
Again, the numbers are powerful. But not just for nonprofits, said Volunteer Hampton Roads' Leahey.
Private businesses, too, can learn to harness the millennial generation's penchant for charity.
A lifetime of volunteering in high school and college, means young graduates looking for employment often want to continue that involvement in the next chapter of life.
"Years ago, recruiters would go to college campuses to look for young CPA graduates," Leahey said. "The question graduates asked them used to be, 'What are the benefits?'"
Today, she said, one of the No. 1 questions for employers is, "What does your company offer to the community?"
Claire McCleery, director of learning and development at construction firm W.M. Jordan, can attest to that.
The Newport News-based business has made a name for itself in more than just construction. The firm has been honored on multiple occasions for its commitment to service and community involvement.
Its "fund committee," which oversees volunteer time, charities and drives at a corporate level, has been a cornerstone of the company for more than 13 years.
In a matter of days, employees will start gearing up for W.M. Jordan's annual Salvation Army campaigns.
Offering opportunities to give back through the company isn't just about attracting young workers with a good work ethic, McCleery said.
It can also help build a company's image and identity in a community.
"And people enjoy it," she said. "It's a little more convenient to be able to do it through the workplace. And I think we get more out of it. It brings more fun and community to the workplace.
"It also just breaks up the monotony," she said, "not that we have monotony here."
Millennials aren't just a buzzword or an interesting statistic for W.M. Jordan. They're the future of the country and, therefore, the company. It's about more than recognizing the millennial culture of volunteerism, McCleery said.
"It's really the culture of our company," she said. "A lot of our new folks, they buy into it easily. They get involved. So we do too."