Giving, volunteering, and voting have long been viewed as the most important paths for those seeking to participate in civil society and make the world a better place.
Maybe it’s time to add a fourth to the list: shopping.
The coronavirus pandemic is the defining crisis of our time, and for young Americans in particular, the crisis may be accelerating a trend away from traditional involvement with nonprofits. While earlier generations would have rushed to write a check to their favorite charities, millennials and members of Generation Z are instead pulling out their credit cards to shop with their favorite merchants.
If you’re over 40, as I am, that may elicit an eye roll and a nod to the famous Time magazine headline, “The Me, Me, Me Generation.” But this isn’t about narcissism or entitlement.
In a new study by Influence|SG, researchers asked young adults age 18 to 30: “What actions have you taken in the last three weeks that may support or help other people?” In a time of unprecedented need, only 12 percent of respondents said they had made a charitable donation to a cause or organization, compared with 39 percent who said they started spending or significantly increased their spending on products and services, both local and non-local.
To be fair, 24 percent of young adults also said they had donated goods and services, but it’s cash that keeps the lights on, and most nonprofits don’t pay their staff in canned goods. So, if we’re talking dollars — the traditional success metric in fundraising — young Americans appear three times more likely to shop than to give in response to a crisis.
That’s a stunning data point, but not entirely surprising. For years, nonprofits have been talking about blurring lines and new attitudes toward doing good. Companies are now founded with a social mission that’s baked in rather than tacked on. Meanwhile, existing corporations are spending millions of dollars to burnish their reputation for positive impact, while nonprofits are talking about overhead ratios or full funding for research and development.
Impact Matters, Not Tax Status
In other words, business is adopting the language of charity while charities are speaking the language of business. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but words make a difference, and people aren’t stupid. If doing good is the goal, then impact matters at least as much as tax status in the eyes of younger Americans.
The New York Times put it like this back in 2016: “Millennials tend to view their gifts, financial or otherwise, as a lifestyle choice on par with work and consumer spending.” Last November, research from the YMCA backed up that notion with some numbers. When it asked young Americans (18 to 38) how they supported the causes they care about, 30 percent said, “Purchasing items where a portion of the proceeds goes to charity” — not far behind the 35 percent who cited direct financial donations to charity.
That YMCA study was one of the factors in my decision to recently leave my position as vice president of communications at Independent Sector and launch Cause Consumer, a website devoted to increasing the “impact spend” of consumers who care. Even in December or January, the trend seemed clear, though I could never have expected how the pandemic would bend the curve.
The more I dig into the emerging field of social enterprise, the more I understand the allure of spending for good. When it’s done right, social enterprise can connect people to causes in a way that feels more personal than simply writing a check. For instance, a lot of great organizations work with young people who get in trouble with the law, but when I had dinner pre-pandemic at Café Momentum, a Dallas nonprofit restaurant, I was served by a young woman just getting back on her feet after being released from detention. That made an impression I can’t forget, and I’ll be a supporter forever.
Similarly, hundreds of organizations are doing important work on human trafficking, and it can be hard to distinguish among the donor appeals. But in Nashville, I bought a bracelet handmade by a survivor and stamped with her initials. By logging onto the website of her social enterprise employer, Branded Collective, I could send this woman a personal message of thanks and encouragement. As a customer, I feel that I’m supporting this woman’s career in a personal way. Would I get that same feeling as a donor?
Expanding Sources of Support
I think there is opportunity in the blurring lines between donors and customers. Everyone in the nonprofit world is drawing from the same donor pool, with most organizations crowded into the shallow end. If some nonprofits can diversify funding with a consumer-focused enterprise or partnership, the result is less overall pressure on the rest of us.
This doesn’t mean that every shelter needs to get into the T-shirt business. But there is value in asking a simple question: What is it about our missions that might appeal to consumers looking to do good with their spending? That question invites a different kind of relationship with supporters and those served by the nonprofit.
Many in the nonprofit world, especially those leaders who have spent decades in the trenches, will disagree. They are accustomed to a sort of moral superiority that comes with charity status. Earning money, even from a related business, is a bit suspect for many nonprofits. Going out into the marketplace with a product or service? Unthinkable.
Those leaders will likely have exited the scene by the time Gen Z is officially our largest generation and most important pool of donors. But the train, as they say, has left the station. In the midst of a crisis, young adults are establishing patterns for giving that will persist for decades to come. We already know that they view shopping as a lever for doing good and making change.
What we don’t know yet is how the nonprofit world will respond.
