In 2013, who made the largest philanthropic gift of the year? Do you know?

Here’s a hint: he is a millennial and just turned 30 this year. He wears flip-flops to work and he invented something I spend way too much time on.

It was Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of Facebook[1].

More and more, millennial entrepreneurs are breaking traditional expectations and embracing philanthropy in new ways. While people over the age of 50 are still responsible for the bulk of major gifts – large gifts from people born between 1980-2000 are on the rise.

If you are interested in tapping into millennial major gifts, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Find people with similar passions: It is nearly impossible to convince a millennial to care about your cause. Instead of listing off rich young people in your area, spend time qualifying prospects and focus on those who have similar values and interests to what you do. Building a partnership based on your shared goals will always be more profitable in the long run.
2. Ask for advice, and actually use it: Too often fundraisers use the “ask for advice” approach as lip service.  This approach tends to assume all a donor is good for is money. That’s such a waste of a relationship. As Emmett Carson, CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation says: “With people who have invented things I could never conceptualize, it’s unwise to ever start with the idea that we’re the smartest people in the room”.
3. Let them get hands on: Instead of saying: “give me money so I can solve the problem” – try this approach instead: “how can we solve this problem together?” If you can get a millennial on board to commit 100% to solving the problem, they money will follow.

“Younger donors in our area are more interested than donors in the past with being hands-on and more involved with the groups they donate to, It’s not the model of writing a check at year’s end”

-Jennifer Ratay, Executive Director Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund

We need to walk the walk when it comes to engaging millennial major donors. For many organizations that may mean a step outside their comfort zone – but isn’t that where the magic happens?

Rory Green has been fundraising since the age of 10, when she volunteered to help run her school’s annual Bike-A-Thon for juvenile cancer research. Fundraising became her vocation at 14, when she lost a friend to Leukemia. Rory Green has been in the philanthropic sector for over eight years and is currently the Associate Director, Advancement for the Faculty of Applied Science at Simon Fraser University. In her spare time Rory is the founder and editor of Fundraiser Grrl, the fundraising community’s go-to source for comic relief.