4 Insights From The 2015 Millennial Impact Report

Ready for some meaningful data on millennials?

The newest Millennial Impact Report from Achieve delves into the relationships and experiences between millennial employees (those born between 1980 and 2000, roughly) and their managers, with the goal of answering this question:

How can employers strengthen their cause programs, cultivate an ideal company culture and leverage their millennial employees’ passions to build a strong and loyal workforce?

You can download the 2015 Millennial Impact Report here >>

The study contains data from 2,588 total responses to 1,584 completed millennial employee surveys and 1,004 surveys completed by managers, encompassing a whopping 55,727,000 managers over the age of 20 and 30,230,000 millennial employees in the U.S. This is no small sample set.

Here are four important takeaways for nonprofits to consider from the report:

1) Millennials respond to the philanthropy of their company, managers and co-workers

Peer pressure for good? The millennial workforce responds positively from those who lead by example, but it’s not a panacea.

27% of millennial employees were more likely to donate if their supervisor donates, and 46% were more likely to if a co-worker asks them.

When it comes to company-solicited giving, managers are solicited more often (48% vs 22%), and managers tend to be more motivated by employee matching (74% vs 69%).

2) Volunteering trumps giving

44% of millennial employees were more likely to volunteer if their supervisor participated, and 65% were more likely to if their co-workers participated.

77% of millennial employees said they would be more likely to volunteer if they could use their specific skill-set or expertise to benefit the cause.

3) Incentives and competition motivate millennials to donate more

Gamification once again proves to be quite powerful. According to the report, name recognition, prizes, days off, etc. in exchange for a donation would motivate 52% of employees and 48% of managers, compared to 32% of non-millennial.

43% of millennial employees and 51% of millennial managers said they would be more likely to donate through a company-sponsored campaign if competition was involved, compared to 32% of non-millennial managers.

4) Millennial managers tend to be slightly more generous than non-millennial managers

Millennials in leadership positions donate more than their older counterparts, especially at the high-end of the dollar amount spectrum.

Interestingly, the opposite is true for volunteering, except in the case of those who volunteer more than 40 hours.

Perhaps the millennial managers simply have more financial means?

Watch Derrick Feldmann of Achieve preview some of the highlights of the report:

These highlights barely scratch the surface of all the report entails. If you’re at all interested in engaging millennials, I urge you to download the report.

Does this data surprise you, or is it consistent with what your organization has experienced? Let me know in the comments below!