Beth Kanter explains why charities need to encourage Generation Z to be champions of their cause

'Philanthroteens': young people who use their pocket money to change the world

“Gen Z are the next generation of donors. They are tech-savvy and generous.”

For Beth Kanter, self-styled master-trainer, blogger, speaker and author, if charities are to be successful in the future they need to look ahead and engage with Generation Z – young people born between the late 1990s and the present day.

“I call them philanthroteens,” she tells the Guardian Voluntary Sector Network. “They want to go out in the real world and do something.”

Quoting findings from the Cassandra report, the blogger says nearly half of teenagers in the UK and the US want to volunteer, 32% have already donated money and just over one in 10 want to start a charity.

You have to learn those emojis – even if you think they are ridiculous

She says that this generation wants to change the world with their pocket money. “They are connected and they can see what is going on in the world.”

The uncertainty of the economic crisis has encouraged Gen Z to get involved, believes Kanter. It created a generation of resourceful people who are “really concerned about the economy – not just for themselves but also for their communities”.

Gen Z and social change

Kanter champions Gen Z – young people like Jack Andraka, who left school at the age of 15 to work on a new test to detect pancreatic cancer.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest For Kanter, Jack Andraka, now 18, is an example of Gen Z’s enthusiasm for social change. Photograph: Paul Morigi/Getty Images

“They [Gen Z] are very entrepreneurial, or should I say social entrepreneurial,” says Kanter. Some 61% of high school students say they want to be an entrepreneur, she adds, and 72% say they want to start their own business.

Mary Grace Henry was aged 12 when she launched her social business Reverse the Course. After finding out some girls in Uganda are unable to go to school because of financial or cultural reasons, she asked her parents for a sewing machine. She taught herself how to sew and started making headbands, which she sold to raise money for Ugandan girls. She has raised $200,000 over the last few years.

“Gen Z are not afraid to stand up for what is right,” says Kanter.



Engagement and emojis

So, how can organisations engage with Gen Z? Kanter says it comes down to empowerment, understanding their habits and adapting your organisation to help them.

“They have shorter attention spans, they communicate with symbols and they communicate fast.

“You cannot just give them word documents, you have to be short, to the point and visual.

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“You have to learn those emojis – even if you think they are ridiculous and you have to be able to tell your story across mobile screens. If your site isn’t mobile ready then that is a problem.”

Gen Z are much more active online than millennials – those born between the 1980s and late 1990s. According to Kanter, they spend an average of 10 hours a day online including time at school.

“They use social media as a research tool at school, so think about creating a curriculum that could connect with a school, so they can learn about your organisation.”

Kanter explains that Giving Tuesday – a campaign that encourages a global day of giving every December – created a Guide to Giving for schools, a resource that can be used to teach children about raising money.

To get support from Gen Z, organisations need to “hand over” campaigns to them. She highlights Unicef’s trick or treat campaign in the US, which asked children to take out an orange box and ask for donations for Unicef instead of asking for sweets.

“They encouraged young people to be champions of the cause,” says Kanter.

Another organisation that, for Kanter, “does a extraordinary job of reaching and engaging Gen Z” is DoSomething.org. “They have over 3.8 million teens active on social change causes. They launch different activities that can involve teens – volunteering, give money, whatever.”

The organisation wanted to help animal shelters and encourage more young people to give their time to help them, explains Kanter. They noticed that the shelters already had an internet presence because photos of the animals were often shared on social media. To take this a step further DoSomething created a Facebook app that directs young people to the nearest shelter to volunteer, move goods, adopt a pet or to simply to take pictures of the animals and share them on their social media networks, raising the profile of the shelter on their own platforms.

“DoSomething really use their data to improve and get better results. If you want to reach this segment or any segment then you have to understand what the data is saying and be more agile and innovative.”

If you are allergic to Excel spreadsheets or whatnot – bring in a data nerd

“You cannot reach them [Gen Z] unless you understand the data.” And, managing data doesn’t have to be expensive, she says. “There are lots of ways you can find help – you don’t have to do all the work yourself and if you are allergic to Excel spreadsheets or whatnot – bring in a data nerd.”

Kanter recommends resources like Datakind – an international organisation that matches data scientists with not-for-profits and LinkedIn, where users can indicate if they would like to volunteer.

The future of social media for Kanter, is about “organisational change from the inside out”.

“The future is everybody in your nonprofit engaging and connecting with donors and supporters. It is about being there to engage with the supporters of the future. Adapting to fit their mould, not making them fit yours.”

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