Seattle nonprofits Meet and Tweet to Woo Young Donors
Date:
Friday, June 4, 2010 By Carl Holztman
Seattle nonprofits are recruiting their next generation of donors with a strategy that focuses on putting fun into fund development.
Tempted by the prospect of doing good while having a good time, young professionals in their 20s and 30s are turning out by the hundreds to attend social mixers organized by nonprofit groups — a new trend loosely called social philanthropy. Enabled by social media networks, nonprofits are taking a more sophisticated approach to merging online communities with traditional fundraising events to highlight their work and cultivate a new generation of supporters.
“So many groups of friends go out on a Friday for a happy hour, why not make it a benefit of sorts,” said Lesa Linster, director of foundation and corporate relations at the Moyer Foundation, a charity started by former Seattle Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen.
The foundation recently launched Get Into Giving (GIG). The effort is managed by young staff members who reach out to their peers and plan monthly social gatherings that range from happy hours to Mariners games — all with the purpose of soliciting support for the foundation’s network of children’s bereavement camps. The first meet-up was planned for this week.
Recruiting young supporters is a top priority for nonprofits. Young professionals offer enthusiasm, new ideas, long-term donation potential and large social networks to leverage for additional support. Young people represent new dollars, and offer a solution to the problem of losing donors to death.
Source:
Puget Sound Business Journal 
