Young Donors Want Community: Here's How to Give it to Them
We sat down with Anne Kane, VP of Marketing with the Association of Fundraising Professionals Dayton Chapter (AFP Dayton) and Marketing Manager at the Entrepreneur's Center in Dayton, Ohio, to look at trends among young donors and how they want to interact with nonprofits.
For many people in the Gen-Z cohort, donating is no longer an annual event or something to do occasionally. Young people want to feel like they are a part of the mission, a part of something bigger than just themselves. Nonprofits have the power to provide this sense of community and a mission to drive young people who want to enact positive change in the world. And there is a useful model to do it.
The “Netflix Effect”
The “Netflix Effect” as dubbed by Anne among many other nonprofit marketing professionals, is the idea of a recurring base of donors who give small amounts of money every month, similar to a subscription service for Netflix. In return, members who are giving become a part of a community, a group, or a cohort. They are part of the “in group” now at the nonprofit. Just like how with buying a monthly subscription to Netflix, people are part of the “in-group” that accesses the shows streamed on there, this model aims to get continual buy-in from people without asking for a very significant monthly amount.
Anne put it best: “The concept of monthly giving isn’t just something that should be done once a month. The places I’ve seen best utilize the ‘Netflix Effect’ are organizations that make you feel a part of a group after you give.”
When people are a part of something bigger than themselves, they find meaning in it. In a world more disconnected than ever, being in the know and finding common ground with people who you would not meet otherwise is a powerful fundraising tool that nonprofits could leverage effectively, even on small budgets.
“An example of using this effect well is Charity Water, a nonprofit for whom I am a monthly donor.,” Anne remarked. “They call their monthly donors group ‘The Spring,’ and donors get to see their impact through the programs they help support as well as a visual representation of the dollars they’ve given. It creates a sense of belonging and community for those of us who choose to give monthly. Like we’re making an impact.”
There are also statistical reasons to use this model based on how younger donors are preferring to give, such as these great reasons from 360MatchPro:
Young people are more likely to give to a mission or cause, rather than one specific organization. Monthly models help give people buy-in to the mission and cause through community
55% of donors preferred to be thanked for donations in some way, preferably by email
The average monthly gift has gone up from 2022 to 2024 by a dollar, and is expected to continue to rise
Younger donors are more likely to give to a cause if peers already do so.
So, there’s some meat to the bones of the “Netflix Effect.” Let’s talk about how we’re going to do it.
Creating the Community
This is one of the most challenging parts of creating a model for recurring monthly donations. Figuring out how to label it and create a community that binds the donors together without it feeling forced on the donors.
Our advice? Use your mission and brand to create the feel. Anne has noticed this being effective amongst different nonprofits.
“One of the nonprofits I know calls their monthly donor group ‘The Shield.’ The organization was founded by police officers and so the monthly donor group is considered the ‘protection’ of the nonprofit because these people are supporting the organization,” she remarked. “This creates a great sense of community and belonging because all of the donors feel united by the mission they’re a part of and, in this case, literally protecting.”
After deciding on the label and community, the community structure comes next.
How to Structure
For Anne, organizing the community is crucial. Not organizing it like in the activist sense, but more figuring out how people get into the program and stay in with it. There’s typically two ways of doing this.
First is providing some form of a tiered list that donors can join by donating a certain monthly amount. These tiers might look like this:
Donating $10 a month or less is tier one, with access to a special newsletter about the impact of the program
Donating above $25 a month is tier two, where members can attend socializing events hosted by the nonprofit plus the previous benefits
Donating above $50 a month is tier three, and members in this tier get videos sent to them thanking them for donations, plus previous benefits
And so on and so forth.
For larger organizations, tiers like this can produce a lot of value, it adds a slight competitive edge to the donations and provides a way for anyone of any financial status to be a part of it. However, Anne also noted the struggles of implementing a program like this.
“The struggle with a tiered system is that it’s incredibly challenging to keep it running. It takes a ton of legwork to do it, and for small nonprofits, this may not be worth it,” she said.
However, another option is a flat buy-in. Whether you donate $2 a month, or $50 a month, you become a part of the monthly donor community and receive access to perks, gifts, privileges, or anything a nonprofit can give to the donors as a thank-you. This option requires much less legwork, and it still provides members with the sense of community that they’re looking for.
So, how do nonprofits make this program worth it to donors?
Making it Worthwhile
For younger donors wanting community, one of the best ways to make it worthwhile is what always works. Old reliable…
Stories!
Stories are human. They connect us to each other, build camaraderie and community, and so much more. More than that, stories create emotion. Finding these stories can be challenging.
“A lot of nonprofits have added marketing as a fully separate function from development and administration in maybe the last five years or so, especially for smaller ones,” said Anne. “As organizations grow, functions and duties grow too, so it can be challenging to find the stories needed to connect with donors, because we see a lot of change in who talks to the people served and how they relay the information.”
The solution Anne thought of for this problem is simple, and it makes it ingenious.
“Get everyone together, whether it’s over Zoom or in-person. Talk to the staff, find out the wins, the new things happening, and how people benefit from the services. And take notes. Right there is a wealth of stories to share with donors.”
With that information, nonprofits can share stories with monthly recurring donors. Maybe it can be a newsletter, or a recurring email sent out to monthly donors. To make it even more personalized, it can be mailed out to donor’s homes. These stories will engage people with the mission, people served, and more.
Another way to give value are physical benefits. Donors receiving physical benefits, say a VIP space at a 5k to fund cancer research, are more visibly part of a community, appealing and attracting new donors and building community for those in the monthly donor group.
Anne thinks there’s many ways to go about this, such as “providing personalized videos, tangible experiences, or events.” With these experiences, nonprofits give donors an opportunity to connect to the mission, the staff and more.
Finding Out What Works
Although the model can do wonders for nonprofits seeking recurring small gifts, it may not work for everyone. Some nonprofits may work with other models and do well. They may not see this as the right move for them, and that is okay.
However, the shift in wealth down to Gen-Z donors in the next few years will require new ideas for retaining and acquiring donors. Hopefully, this model can be valuable to nonprofits looking to build community for younger donors.
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About Anne Kane:
Anne Kane is the Marketing Manager at the Entrepreneurs’ Center and she currently serves as the VP of Marketing on the board of AFP Dayton. Before this, she worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami Valley, coordinating events, fundraising campaigns, and their digital marketing strategy across social media, Google Ads, and email. View her LinkedIn here.
About the Entrepreneur's Center:
The Entrepreneurs' Center is a modern economic development organization that fosters and empowers the development and growth of entrepreneurial businesses right here in the Dayton Region. Local by design, national in impact! Learn more here.