Millennial Generation and Their Work in Nonprofit Millennials and the Nonprofit Sector: A Modern Volunteer Workforce

Volunteer work is always crucial to help increase the strength of supporting those in need within our society. However, who volunteers and works with nonprofit organizations is a huge part of driving new innovation in charitable practices. Today, a new development generation that is increasingly entering adulthood is the Millennials. These individuals have more education and a greater demand to give back to their society. As such, more young people are volunteering in getting involved with nonprofit organizations, which is a positive outlook for the future.

The Millennial generation is the newest group of individuals reaching adulthood. It features young adults born between the years of 1982 and 2002. This makes them roughly between 18 and 29 years old, many of whom are teens and twenty somethings. They are incredibly different than any other generation which came before them. They have been more exposed to technology throughout their years of development. Thus, "they have been plugged into technology since they were babies, are a safe generation, are the first generation for which Hispanics/Latinos will be the largest minority group instead of African-Americans and have the most educated mothers of any generation for them" (Central Piedmont College, 2013). All of these features set them apart from other generations which saw less involvement in technology and less promise for educational opportunities. Additionally, the Millennial generation is becoming increasingly diverse, much more so than any other generation before. It is clear that "they are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. Their less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history" (Pew Research Center, 2010, p 8). This helps them set themselves apart from other generations, including Generation X, which was the generation just before them. Fortunately, Millennials will eventually become individuals with the highest education level, "a trend driven largely by the demands of a modern knowledge-based economy, the most likely accelerated in recent years by the millions of twenty somethings enrolling in graduate schools, colleges or community colleges in part because they can't find a job" (Pew Research Center, 2010, p 10). This strengthens their skills and put them in a position to make crucial changes for positive innovation in the future. They have the most potential and continue to achieve educational success. Hopefully, these individuals will bring this greater level of education straight with them into the workforce. According to the research, "this generation will replace the Baby Boomers as they retire" (Central Piedmont College, 2013). Thus it won't make up a large portion of the modern workforce, fighting with it increased knowledge of technology and future innovation.

Not only are Millennials entering into the paid workforce in great numbers, many of them are choosing to work with nonprofit organizations and volunteer work as well. In today's agenda, nonprofit organizations need resources and manpower in order to continue to maintain their strong role within modern society. Millennials help offer some of the resources needed to continue serving the society on an increased level. According to the research, the millennial generation is one of the largest groups entering in to volunteer and nonprofit work. Essentially, these individuals "want to make a difference, give back, and get connected to organizations that can help them translate their talents into solutions to our most complex problems" (Corvington, 2011, p 2). Nonprofit organizations can benefit dramatically from the increased knowledge and technical savvy that these younger individuals embrace. Millennials have a great sense of how technology works, and can thus learn and develop as the technology develops, unlike previous generations. They are a great source of innovative critical thinking. As such, "the most promising places for nonprofits to recruit new volunteer talent are among retired baby boomers, young people (Millennials), businesses, and religious organizations" (Eisner et al., 2009). The nonprofit organizations within the modern sector need to pay attention to the growing Millennial generation. They are a vast wealth of resources that can benefit the nonprofit sector dramatically.

Millennials themselves are incredibly interested in giving back. Here, the research suggests that 21% of Millennials say that the most important thing in their life is to help others in need (Pew Research Center, 2010). More and more Millennials get involved with nonprofit activities each day. According to the research, "nearly 6 in 10 (57%) of Millennials say that they had volunteered in the past 12...

It is clear that Millennials want to give back in great numbers. Many of these individuals work with nonprofit organizations to help develop a specific cause, while others simply volunteer on their downtime in order to help give back to the community they love so much. Either way, Millennials are making a huge difference in the nonprofit sector. Essentially, "for this new generation -- known as Generation Next, Generation Y, or Millennials-- volunteering is part of what it means to engage in the life of the community, whether locally, nationally, or on the other side of the world" (Corvington, 2011, p 3). They often volunteer both locally and internationally. These young adults are working towards a greater future, and do not mind setting aside time for volunteer work with nonprofit organizations. Many of volunteer opportunities are actually political. It is clear that "Millennials remain the most likely of any generation to self-identify as liberals; they are less supportive than their elders of an assertive national security policy and more supportive of a progressive domestic social agenda" (Pew Research Center, 2010, p 11). Many of these young individuals work with campaigns and nonprofit organizations "to help mobilize young voters" and thus strengthen the political identity of the increasingly liberal Millennial generation (Pew Research Center, 2010, p 88). The increasing political attention to recent campaigns and elections has seen a spike in volunteering with political causes. As more and more young adults become active in politics, it is clear that more will continue to work with nonprofit organizations in order to help advance their cause of choice.
A lot of generation Y individuals that volunteer actually do so with the help of their employers. Modern corporations have adopted stricter conceptions of corporate responsibility, and as such have begun offering opportunities for their employees to do volunteer work and get involved with nonprofit organizations during company time. The structure of this comes from the notion that "employee volunteer programs provide an effective recruiting and retention strategy as well," and "nearly two thirds of Gen Y employees say they would prefer to work for an organization that provides opportunities to volunteer their skills" (Corvington, 2011, p 3). Moreover, this country is still deep within the current recession. This is greatly restricted potential job opportunities for this age level. As such, many Millennials have turned to nonprofit work in order to volunteer to build the resume during a time where finding a stable paying job would not later help their career goals (Pew Research Center, 2010). Many of these individuals either have a job or are currently looking for a job, but this employment is often not up to par with their skill set. As such, the use volunteering with nonprofit organizations to help build the resume during a period of time where their position of employment or unemployment is not helping them do so. In fact, "one recent study revealed that 68% of people between the ages of 18 and 26 prefer to work for a company that provides professional volunteer opportunities" (Eisner et al., 2009). As such, as stated previously, the nonprofit organizations in today's industry sector can benefit dramatically from working with Millennials who want to help build their resume and give back in the process.

Still, the fact that they have matched older generations already at this young age is encouraging for their future work in nonprofit sectors. Thus, "on some measures, such as volunteering or boycotting a product or service, Millennials match their elders," suggesting that volunteer rates, although increasing, have not yet surpassed previous generations (Pew Research Center, 2010, p 71). They remain on track with the level of volunteer service seen in the Gen X group, but have higher rates of working with nonprofit organizations and Baby Boomers (Pew Research Center, 2010).

Overall, the Millennial generation is not the highest volunteering generation in this nation's history; yet, it carries with it a new and innovative set of skills and technical knowledge that will definitely help bolster the nonprofit sector's capabilities. A large portion of the Millennial generation is volunteering in choosing to work with nonprofit organizations. However, encouraging more youth to get involved will only continue to strengthen the nonprofit industry's capabilities today and in the future. It is important to get young people active and engaged in their community, and working with nonprofit organizations is the perfect way to do so.