| by Jason Paez, Founder and CEO, Party4APurpose
Okay, So I Have a Happy Hour.Now What?
Part Two
In last week's article, we discussed the opportunity that
exists for nonprofits to increase engagement and donors through
Generation Y (the Millennials), one of the largest and most
cause-conscious generations in history. We briefly discussed
digital identity, and noted Millennial enthusiasm for making
the world better. We also discussed some of their skepticism
about how money is spent by organizations and how busy their
lives are.
We ended with the comment that to truly engage young people,
your organization needs to become part of the younger donors'
lifestyle itself - you need to become part of their friend
and social networks; you need to be fun! So, we challenged
you to organize a happy hour for those interested in your
cause. Now that you've gathered a bunch of 20-somethings,
you may be wondering, what do we do? The answer may surprise
you.
You see, now that you've organized a small group that cares
about your issue, you don't do much! After you've made a
general introduction to your guests thanking them for attending,
the happy hour is a free-form gathering. Encourage your guests
to mingle. Ask questions of the attendees on a one-to-one
basis, seeking feedback on a variety of issues, including:
- What do you think a good nonprofit should do to engage
community support for its cause?
- Why do you care about our cause, and what brought you
here?
- What would you like to see us do in the future that would
get you excited?
These questions may seem oversimplified, but that's part
of the point. You see, this initial gathering is meant to
get the conversation started. Just as Millennials like
control over their digital content (so-called "user-generated" content),
they desire to support their causes in the same fashion.
Put another way, you need to remind yourselves that this
isn't an event for your organization, by your organization,
but rather it's an event for your cause, by the people. The
happy hour itself should become user-generated, with the
goal of soliciting feedback, identifying social-thought leaders,
and encouraging/empowering those social-thought leaders to
take the initiative.
Ultimately, it is your young leaders who should organize
your next happy-hour (or poker game, or barbeque, or bowling
night, etc.) exactly as they see fit, at any price, in any
way that they want. As a nonprofit manager, this may at first
seem difficult, because your organization will not "control" this
group. Rather, your organization will be a component
of a Millennial user-generated movement, providing support
as needed. Your organization's cause will serve as the inspirational,
social glue that holds people together and your focus can
shift to the bigger picture-creating increasingly larger
opportunities to educate and engage young people, thereby
providing a platform for their voices to be heard and opening
a new stream of fundraising and engagement resources for
the future. |
