Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

Charities Leverage Tech To Tap Millennial Dollars In Season Of Giving

Darpan News Desk, 17 Dec, 2015 10:53 AM
    VANCOUVER — A group of 20-somethings flew from Vancouver to El Salvador earlier this month to build new homes for agricultural families displaced by flooding. Their materials included wood, fibre cement and, most importantly, Snapchat.
     
    The millennials used the popular video-messaging app to record heartfelt donation requests, and then fanned them out to their social networks. In short order, each had crowdfunded the $3,000 required per home for the 20 families.
     
    The innovative fundraising method that leverages several technologies was developed by a Vancouver technology startup called Change Heroes.
     
    It's just one of several ventures by British Columbia-based tech companies that are turning philanthropy on its head. They're doing it by tapping the hard-to-reach millennial demographic using the digital medium that dominates their lifestyle.
     
    "It's thinking totally outside of the box," said Taylor Conroy, CEO of Change Heroes.
     
     
    By using the tools young adults communicate with, in this case personal, one-to-one video messages, more than 50 per cent of those asked made donations. The average donation was $250.
     
    "It's the highest converting fundraising platform on the planet, it's way higher than a person on a street, a black-tie dinner or golf tournament," Conroy said.
     
    Charities are facing challenges these days raising donations from younger donors, and the void is especially apparent during the season of giving.
     
    The cost associated with persuading people to give to charities has jumped over the past five years from $150 per donor to upwards of $800 each, Conroy said.
     
    "Non-profits are in absolute crisis right now because of the shift from baby boomers to millennials," he said.
     
    Millennials represent a vast potential donor base. The problem is that traditional charities don't know how to connect, say the experts.
     
    It's not correct that millennials don't give, said John Bromley, who has spent a decade working with charities.
     
    "(Millennials) are so web-fluent that they live online — and charities don't," said Bromley, CEO and founder of Chimp, a technology-driven public foundation that facilitates gifts to other charities.
     
    Chimp gives users a free online bank account to specifically manage their charitable donations. It helps people give money to any registered charity in Canada, to pass money to a friend to give away, or, to organize groups who want to pool cash and give socially.
     
    Many charities don't have sophisticated websites that attract the advanced web user, Bromley said. Millennials instead gravitate to crowdfunding platforms that specifically target them, like Indiegogo and Kickstarter.
     
    But they don't realize that donating directly to a friend's cause is more altruism than charity, he said. They may encounter trouble in the unregulated system that lacks checks and balances — and will also miss out on tax receipts.
     
    Rather than be stingy, Bromley predicts millennials are becoming even more generous than previous generations because their online capabilities mean they are hyper-aware of problems across the globe.
     
    "Everyone in the world wants change and has something to give," he said.
     
    Technology also allows non-profits to focus on their core competencies, rather than spend resources putting on elaborate events to extract donations, said Shafin Diamond Tejani, a director with the Vancouver branch of Social Venture Partners.
     
    The costs of soliciting donors also plummets as non-profits transition to online campaigns and donor management systems — away from expensive mailouts, TV commercials and third-party sidewalk canvassers.
     
    Tejani is also CEO of Fantasy 6, a firm with expertise in mobile gaming that's benevolently using online fantasy sports to fundraise using its foothold with 18 to 34 year olds.
     
    "You might have a good message, but won't succeed without the ability to hit this new audience that has access to so many choices," Tejani said of the copious options for giving.
     
    "It's really working with a charity to equip them to take advantage of all these things."
     
    But can good acts be done by companies seeking profits?
     
    Conroy with Change Heroes said the charity model is broken when good only counts if it comes from a non-profit that must squeeze every penny and avoid all risk.
     
    He believes for-profit tech firms and non-profits can work together.
     
    "Think Facebook, think Instagram, think of these companies that have been able to scale 100-times, 1000-times in one year because they're leveraging technology," he said. 
     
    "What we're doing is leveraging technology — but we're leveraging it for the benefit of humanity."

    MORE Tech ARTICLES

    Capsule to send Singaporean to near-space unveiled

    Capsule to send Singaporean to near-space unveiled
    A Singapore company's project to send the first Singaporean to near-space touched a major milestone Saturday, with the unveiling of the space capsule....

    Capsule to send Singaporean to near-space unveiled

    App to help blind 'see money'

    App to help blind 'see money'
    The blind have a reason to smile, courtesy a new smart phone application that helps them "see the money" as it aids in identification of notes....

    App to help blind 'see money'

    Nestle to introduce robots as sales clerks

    Nestle to introduce robots as sales clerks
    Nestle will use robots as sales clerks at its outlets selling coffee makers in Japan, an initiative that will later spread worldwide, a Nestle spokesperson...

    Nestle to introduce robots as sales clerks

    Review: Is Amazon's Ultra-cheap $134 Fire HD 6 Tablet Any Good?

    Review: Is Amazon's Ultra-cheap $134 Fire HD 6 Tablet Any Good?
    TORONTO - At first glance, Amazon's new Fire HD 6 tablet looks like something you would not want to buy. The six-inch screen seems tiny compared to the display on a full-size iPad. It even makes the iPad mini look pretty large.

    Review: Is Amazon's Ultra-cheap $134 Fire HD 6 Tablet Any Good?

    Are you sleeping with your smartphone?

    Are you sleeping with your smartphone?
    A considerable number of people take their smartphones with them to bed - some even holding them in their hands as they dream, said a survey.

    Are you sleeping with your smartphone?

    Phone call data can accurately map population

    Phone call data can accurately map population
    Population maps based on anonymous mobile phone call record data can be as accurate as those based on censuses, finds research....

    Phone call data can accurately map population