Charitable Giving: 75% Of Millennials Donated Money To Causes In 2011 (STUDY)

The Millennial generation was recently blasted for being a fame-obsessed group that doesn’t care about giving back to its community, but a new study concludes that those in their 20s and 30s actually put charity high up on their priority list.

According to the recent Millennial Impact Report, 75 percent of young people donated to causes last year and 63 percent said they gave their time to volunteer. The survey polled 6,522 people between the ages of 20 and 35. Ninety-three percent had a Bachelor’s degree and the majority did not have kids.

“What we heard over and over again is that Millennials are eager to give if they’re already engaged in a conversation with the charity,” Derrick Feldmann, chief executive of Achieve and Johnson — one of the groups that conducted the survey — told Philanthropy.com.

These heartening results came on the heels of a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, which found that those born after 1982 care way more about money and image than values such as self-acceptance and being part of a community.

But while an impressive number of young people is giving charity, to nonprofits aren’t seeing many dollar signs from this demographic.

The vast majority of the gifts Millennials gave were $100 or less per organization and just 15 percent contributed $500 or more, according to the study. Still, organizations can rely on this group to seek out donors who can fork over major donations, as 70 percent said they have raised money on behalf of nonprofits.

But while Millennials are keen on contributing, they’re not just giving blindly. According to the study, this generation wants to see tangible results and is doing its research. Nine out of 10 said they will investigate a cause’s mission statement before giving over their money or time.

“Millennials want to make it clear that they should not be taken for granted, and can play an important leadership role…” the study noted, “even if they can’t commit a lot financially right now.

Source: Huffington Post Impact