I believe that we have only started seeing the potential of these digital natives and their ability to change and influence the world.

I believe that we have only started seeing the potential of these digital natives and their ability to change and influence the world.

Your posts are now on my “must read” list. I offer these thoughts…

First of all, remember that Millennials are the children of the Baby Boomer Generation that was called – among other things – the Peace Corps Generation. So Gen Y picked up that altruistic streak from their parents.

Second, I agree with Kari that while the average contribution of Millennials is $25, $25 multiplied by a big number of Millennials is a big dollar number. In the post 2008 presidential election analysis, most agree that the use of social media marketing enabled President Obama to raise huge dollars from small per donor contributions from tens of millions of people and that campaign was able to engage Millennials in huge numbers because of the use of the Internet.

Third, if you look at the average student loan burden ($21,000 in 2008), one can understand why Millennials cannot afford large dollar gifts.

Finally, nonprofits will need to reframe the way that they look at development in order to leverage the power of social media marketing. The conventional development strategy has always been to cultivate large dollar donors and fill in the gaps with the smaller contribution. Now the paradigm shift requires them to cultivate online relationships with huge numbers of donors who will make the small but steady contributions.

If you look at programs like Kiva, Donors Choose, Twestival and other micro-philanthropy initiatives – they have shown that the Millennial Generation may not give in large amounts, but the power of their collective voice and small donations can help organizations thrive at a time when they are looking for new individual donors. The key will be how organizations choose to engage these Millennials in an ongoing basis – and that goes broader than soliciting them for money, but finding opportunities for them to give their time and talent. Let’s not forget that Millennials may not have large bank accounts – but they do have networks of hundreds if not thousands of online “friends.”