Millennials changing the face of United Way campaigns at work
Local organization sees spike in Day of Caring volunteers in past decade
As 26-year-old Sahar Shoja doled out plates to homeless men twice her age at Toronto’s Good Neighbours’ Club, she felt the connection between her workplace United Way donations and the people they help.
“So many times you get asked for money, and you donate maybe 20 bucks or 50 bucks, but you don’t really understand what that money is going to do,” said the sponsorship marketing manager at CIBC. “I think going to places like the Good Neighbours’ Club really helps you understand what your money is doing.”
Shoja is just one of the Greater Toronto Area’s millennials — born between 1980 and 2000 — pushing back against the stereotype that they’re a selfish and uncharitable generation. Members of this globally connected demographic are changing the face of corporate social responsibility with their desire to feel invested in a cause.
Millennials are more likely to volunteer than baby boomers did when they were young adults, according to the U.S. National Conference on Citizenship.
About 70 per cent of millennial employees volunteered last year, and among those who did, 79 per cent said they felt they had made a difference, according to the Millennial Impact report.
The preference for “active philanthropy” over “passive philanthropy” is a major trend among the 760 employers participating in this year’s workplace campaign at the United Way Toronto & York Region, said Daniele Zanotti, its senior vice-president of resource development.
“For a new generation of donors, they really want to engage and give,” Zanotti said. “In the past, it may have been enough to say, ‘I’m going to give to the United Way,’ but donors now want to see their donation on the ground.”
The local organization hopes to raise $100 million by December for community organizations and social services across the region. Corporate campaigns are expected to comprise about 20 per cent of that goal.
Day of Caring projects, which encourage staff to use a work day to volunteer in the community, provide the opportunity for employees to see their dollars at work firsthand, Zanotti said.
The local United Way has seen a nearly 200-per-cent increase over the past decade in Day of Caring projects, which have often resulted in more people signing up to volunteer afterward, he said.
Twice a year, volunteers at the 50employee CANSO Investment Counsel go out in the community to do everything from window washing to weeding gardens.
In addition to giving employees a sense of the return on their investments, the events are also important team-building initiatives that allow junior employees to mingle with senior executives, said Heather Mason-Wood, the firm’s vice-president.
“They come back and they’re so much more engaged with United Way having done the Day of Caring, because they see the end result of what they’re doing,” she said. When engineering firm MMM Group first started its United Way campaign, younger employees donated the least among any workplace cohort, said CEO Hugo Blasutta.
But, he added, after the company launched biannual Days of Caring — “once they were engaged and realized where their money was going” — donations from the firm’s youngest employees spiked.
Shoja started at CIBC fresh out of university in 2011, and was curious about the organization she was hearing so much of at the bank, yet knew little about.
She attended an information session about the hundreds of community organizations the United Way helps fund and decided to become involved. Now, she is co-chair of CIBC’s GenNext cabinet, a group designed to engage young employees in their 20s and 30s.
Shoja’s committee has since been flooded with questions from other millennials about how they can volunteer, she said.
“For a variety of reasons, the millennial generation, they actually want to see the impact of their money or the impact of their efforts.”
“For a new generation of donors, they really want to engage and give.” DANIELE ZANOTTI UNITED WAY TORONTO AND YORK REGION