 Thanks for joining us today, and of course, thank you so very much to all of our presenting sponsors. We really could not continue the, the energy, the continuity, the amazing guest and voices that we bring onto our show without these presenting sponsors. So do us a favor, reach out to them, follow them, like them, send them some digital love. And if there's any services that you think they might be able to help you with, please do check them out because they truly are amazing. As is Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I'm Jared Ransom, also known as the non-profit nerd CEO of the Raven Group. So today is Thursday and every now and then, Julie and I pop on and provide a master class from us, by us, to you. And this is one of those really exciting days. I'm so thrilled to have you, Julia, in the hot seat. I know I've been in the hot seat several times before and I said, you know what? I'm going to turn this around. I think it's your time, long overdue. And this is such a fantastic conversation that we're talking about today. And you've got such a, you know, depth and breadth of knowledge when it comes to this. Now, I want to know, we're essentially condensing a two hour training or workshop into, I'm going to say 25 minutes because we've got the intro and the ending. So we really have a lot to cover here. But Julia, thanks so much for joining me and for sitting in the hot seat. You're going to talk to us today really about millennials and how we can engage them in our communities and not just that, but like into our organizations in a greater way. So let's get going. OK, it's really an important thing. I think that we had when we started identifying the mills, you know, they're born between 1980 and the year 2000. And there was a big period of time where it was like mill bashing because we were doing different things and they just had a different way of behavior. And we'll get into that a little bit. But it was just such a fascinating thing to see. And the reason why this is such a bad attitude that bleeds into a bad strategy is that there are 80 million millennials alone in this country that got about a $200 billion spending portfolio. And this power is only increasing. Right. Power is going up as they make more money, they inherit more money. So this is a powerhouse in terms of just not numbers, but economics. And if you're in a nonprofit and you're not cultivating this next gen of leadership for your boards, for your staff and for your donors, big mess, big mess. You know, and yesterday's guest talked about this, right, talked about not only global citizenry, but how do we prepare for the next generations to come? This is a wonderful conversation to tag on to yesterday's episode and looking at this wealth. And I too want to, you know, acknowledge many of this demographic population. They're, you know, they are inheriting and they are, you know, really managing a large portfolio of assets, but they're also earning it on their own. And they're doing this through some very non-traditional ways. I were previously non-traditional. It comes to be more and more not only society, you know, approved and endorsed, but just kind of the thing. Oh, that's that's what's happening. So they're adding to what they already have. That's the thing, Jared. I mean, they are controlling a lot of wealth that they are inheriting. And there's fewer, one of the interesting things in this demographic is they have fewer siblings, right? So like with my generation, I was born in 1961 and I had, you know, I was from a family of three kids, right? Well, we at that time were considered a small family. You know, most of my friends had larger families, right? Well, now it is not uncommon to find, you know, single, as they call single-sibs, you know, only one child in a family. So think about the concentration of wealth. It's even going down to fewer people, right? Yeah, very interesting. It is interesting. And I believe that I heard a statistic that our population growth, and I'm probably not saying this right, but actually decreased last year, meaning, and again, I'm not saying this right, but meaning there were less births last year in our society or nation before decreasing, you know, our population from the birth rate alone. I love single siblings, right? Like my mom was an only child. My son is an only child. I say one and done because when you do it right the first time, who needs to try again, but then there's also many, many, many professionals that do not desire being being a parent, right? And that is advantageous and just as good as anything. And so I just want to bring a voice to that as well. I have many friends that do not desire being a parent. And I just think that's something that we should equally honor. And you're right, Julia. So there are fewer, like, generational considerations that these millennials, if you will, are making. It's huge. And I think that that's because what's interesting about it for the nonprofits is that before when you would have this transition of wealth, which is normal, you would have siblings that would have to, you know, report back to their family unit and say, OK, what are we going to do with this inheritance? Well, now you don't have that. You are going to be having more and more. I mean, you do have it, obviously, but you're going to have more and more opportunities where you are sitting across the table or across the camera with the one decision maker. That's right. He doesn't have to say, OK, I have to get to, you know, my sisters and my brothers and they are live on the East Coast and I live on the West Coast or, you know, all this stuff. It'll be like, OK, yeah, let's go. We're going to do it or not. And so it changes the way we look at how we can communicate and get these decisions made with donors. It's really an interesting thing. Another thing to think about is that this is the highest educated demographic in the history of our country. We never had more people educated and we actually have more women educated coming out of higher institutions than we have men, which is really a whole nother topic of conversation. But this is the kicker. We also have the highest level of debt of student debt that has ever been ranked up and racked up. And so this is one of those things that can stop a potential donor when they know when that debt is going to be paid off. How do they mitigate making an investment in something when they still have a heavy level of debt? And that's another big, big impactor that we're seeing from the millennials. And I think I want to add to that because what I have seen and I'm curious how you speak to this, Julia, you know, particularly with this demographic is millennials are younger demographics, right? Younger than me, for sure. They there's so many statistics and studies that show they don't want to be tied down, right? So like they're not purchasing homes. They're not doing these things. So they really do want to pay off their debt so they don't feel tied to a certain, you know, commitment there. So for me, I remember going to college, you know, taking out a loan and thinking this is how you do it. You know, this is normal and I will just have have a debt and student loan debt for the rest of my life until it's paid off and I will just chip away at it. But these individuals are really looking to chip away in bigger chunks, right? So that they don't have that commitment and that tie into the debt. Right. And so what is going to be something that we're seeing more and more are corporations that will do kind of like scholarshiping in of maybe absorbing some of that debt in like a signing bonus because we also have a diminished workforce. You know, with this birth, there comes fewer people in the pipeline, right? To to hire. So that's going to be like one of the next big waves. We don't have enough talent to fill the jobs that we have. But apart, aside from that, we will have more and more HR teams come to the marketplace saying, yeah, we'll support you if you want to go get an MBA or if you want to, you know, move through different phases of education in type of almost like a matching piece or a rebate because this is a big, big issue looking at this debt and understanding if you could go get a job with ABC Company and they're going to have some sort of student loan mitigation, it's going to be a lot more popular. So something that this demographic is looking at. And I think that later is like, what are the benefits? Even the societal, the community, the involvement, the do good benefits that come with engagement of of the service. It's really true. And I think it's one of those things that we need to really acknowledge and that this is a community that, you know, yeah, they're completely social media oriented, they've had this digital communication. But this has bled over into what they're doing and what they're sharing and absolutely they want to be proud of the company that they work with or their spouse works with even their extended family. And they know what's going on with those companies. And so part and parcel to that is having that I call it the witness, but a social media witness where they're like, my company, we just did this community action. You know, we are donating this. We just took a day out of our month and we all put our resources towards helping this organization. You know, there's a lot of these things going on and that if you can't as an organization, as a nonprofit, understand how to engage in this. You're missing the boat. You're missing the boat. And we see this a lot with nonprofit working with for profit HR departments and HR departments saying, how do we create a benefit for our employees by doing something that's socially strong, socially good and that can be shared socially, right? It's very interesting. Never had that before in our sector. You know, what I saw a lot of recently, Julia, with Earth Day, that was recently celebrated, is a lot of organizations, including our sponsor, Bloomerang, that took out the entire team. It looks like, at least from social media into their community to do good, to be of service in their community. And that might be one way, if I'm correct, if I'm understanding you properly. Julia, of opportunities and benefits of engagement at a higher degree, higher level for the employees. So again, the millennial population demographic really looking to be involved in their community and looking to have those opportunities to be involved from their companies in which they're working. Right. So the next big day, I mean, you know, you'll you'll see things like around major American holidays, of course, but the next big volunteer day is the day of service, which is now officially September 11. And there is a big, big push in corporate America to say, OK, we are not going to work in our offices or on our business that day. We're going to give it to our communities in a day of service. And maybe you're an accounting firm. OK, so you're going to go in and help, you know, you're going to send all your accountants out and bookkeepers. And you're going to find nonprofits to help with for that day. Or, you know, they're creative ways to do it. They can also strengthen the skill sets with which your business serves, right? Or it can just be something completely random. But this is really goes back to employee satisfaction. And that's something that millennials really look for. They are not staying at their jobs as a penance thinking, oh, well, you know, if I leave, I'll be ruined. They don't have a problem giving two weeks. Notice, because remember, they are part of a demographic where there are not enough, there are too many positions open and not enough bodies to fill these positions for educated workers. Right. And so they can get a new job. And they also know the gig economy. So they know that they can support themselves, you know, bartending or driving an Uber or whatever for a short period of time. They're not afraid of that. It's very interesting. So I was interested yesterday. I found this just so intriguing. A connection of mine from the Southeast had posted, you know, that she just received her 25 year employment award. Right. And I thought fascinating. I do not know the last time I saw a post mentioning that, right? I do not remember the last time I saw someone, you know, really celebrating that 25 years of service to one employer. And that to me was it was all inspiring, right? I mean, the commitment, the dedication, all of the good things that goes into it. And then also like that is so rare, you know, to hear because it used to be I've got to get that watch that that I get at this point or I've got to get, you know, this this nice plaque or whatever that thing was to really, you know, demonstrate the company's appreciation for your long term service. Right. And, you know, it's funny, Jared, you had mentioned that I was on a panel probably about two or three years ago with a bunch of nonprofit leaders. And we were talking about the demographics of millennials versus, you know, different generations and and specifically about how they relate to the nonprofit sector. And one of the the speakers was an HR professional. And they said, you know, back in the day, I would look at a resume and I'd be like, oh, wow, they're a job jumper, you know, they're not stable. And she said, now we look at resumes and we see if people haven't moved, we think of them as intransigent. They're like, oh, they're not going to play well with others because they have a specific way and they are not going to be able to be nimble. It was fascinating. And so this is how this demographic is shifting our mindsets from how we work with them to how they work with us. So let's talk about this thing that you briefly mentioned. And that is this massive, massive transference of wealth that's going on right now, right here, right today. Some people estimate that it is as much as 90 trillion with a T, 90 trillion dollars in assets that are flowing into the millennials. I don't even know what that looks like, by the way. I mean, how many years are in a team? Too many. That's why it's a T. You know, and so I'll be here all week. You know, this is why it's so hard for most of us to understand because the people passing on their wealth don't even understand it. The people receiving the wealth can't grasp it. I mean, you can see our countries. We've been wrestling with inheritance laws, taxation, all of these things. And that is because of this. It's a 30 year window, according to demographers, and we are into it in about 10 years. So we have we are really seeing this ramp up. And so your nonprofit needs to understand that this is going on now. It's not a forward thinking issue. It is an actual occurrence that's only going to get picked up and emboldened. We hear this silver tsunami, you know, the aging of America and the transference of wealth. That's what we mean by that. And it's really significant. Now, it's not all going to be cash. It's going to be, as I like to call it, velvet paintings of Elvis. It's going to be second homes. It's going to be boats. It's going to be stocks and bonds. Assets of all kinds, all kinds. And so you have to understand how your organization can work with that. It's a bit coin and cryptocurrency in there. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and I'm glad you brought that up because you're absolutely right. No, you're absolutely right. It's going to be really interesting. One of the big things that we're seeing, too, is IP and intellectual property. And my favorite IP story is Irving Berlin, White Christmas. If I'm not mistaken, the intellectual properties to that has been given to the Boy Scouts of America. Wow, which was done in what, the thirties? Yeah, late thirties. So, I mean, these are things that you will happen. In fact, we had a major foundation, the Leicester Foundation from San Diego, if you remember. And the Leicester had invented, Dr. Leicester had invented some sort of medical device and the royalties from and he had invented, I think, several, but from one particular, all the royalties from that went to to fund this foundation that supports Jewish causes in San Diego County. That was just one of his assets. So how do we prepare Julia for this transference of wealth as a nonprofit entity organization? I'm thinking with my nonprofit nerd glasses on and my fundraising hat, gift acceptance policies, right? How do we prepare for this? Absolutely. So we need to have a shift in this because millennial donors don't look at charity as much as they look at investment. So they don't attack something to a moral issue. Like poverty is wrong. OK, millennials are going to be like poverty. Yeah, it's wrong, but it has a negative impact on our on our other social systems. You know, it has negative impacts on our environment, on our economics, all of these things. And so it tags back to the data driven piece versus the emotion. And that's why to your point, Jared, we do need to have very, very structured and thoughtful gift policies, understanding what those how those are tagged to our investment policies, because guess what? As our nonprofits grow and we have investment portfolios or we're managing endowment, millennial donors are going to come back and say, wow, you know what? You shouldn't be involved in investing in fossil fuels. You know what? You shouldn't be investing in war torn nations. You know, it's going to be those questions that come up where before the other donors would never get involved in that they would never even think to ask those questions. So how do you recommend an organization then really embracing this transference of wealth, embracing the millennial demographic and really all demographics? But today we're talking specifically in this master class about the impact of the millennial demographic. How would you recommend organizations embrace and I want to say, Alyssa, if that's right, cultivate this whole thing. But, you know, the their their thoughts for their particular organization. Right. So a couple of things you need to look at your CRM and figure out where that millennial flow is, right? And you need to be looking at your donors, your current donors who might have millennial, you know, that next millennial generation that's coming behind them. And what are you doing to cultivate them so that that you can steward in that next generation? You also need to be looking about what millennial staff you have and what millennial board members you have. And if you have a young professionals board, yay team, if you don't, you need to be looking at that. You need to be looking at leadership councils, everything from chambers of commerce to the Greek system and how you can engage those demographics into your organization, whether that be tours, events, you know, lunch and learns, whatever, in real life or virtual, but bringing these people and speaking their language, speaking their language, they're going to be really interested in data sets. They're going to be really interested in solutions, not just feel good charity. They don't even use the word charity. The investment aspect in social concerns, that's where it's at. And I hear social profit used a lot by the more by the individuals, which I love and I've started to change my vernacular. You know, I used to say tax exempt status or, you know, that it's it's not a nonprofit. We we are here to build a profit. We are here to make a profit to help provide a solution to our community. But you will hear in certain demographics, the words social profit being used instead. Right. Absolutely. You know, and we don't have much time left. And again, when I do this work, a lot of times I will spend between two and four hours on this topic alone. And so it's a lot jam packed into a short period of time. And we have more free courses on the American Nonprofit Academy site that you can get into. But you mentioned something in that you asked the question, you know, how do we engage this next level? And it's really important to know their interests. Social justice and issues are at the forefront. And so how you engage them and these topics are really important. They're very, very interested in the natural world and climate change. They're very pro engagement on everything from recycling and packaging to understanding that that it's super cool to to buy clothing from thrift stores or, you know, high end resale shops, I mean, from those two extremes. And then they're also big into education. They understand because of their journey, educational issues are important in women and children's education around the world, not just in the U.S. Really, really a hot button. And then last but not least, work life balance. And so we're seeing more and more events that are organizations that are moving away from like the Black Thai Gala concept, virtual or IRL and doing things that involve walks like me with kids or their pet parents or their parents or grandparents, multi-generational things really cool. Yeah. And so it's which is healthy. I think it's a really great thing. So, you know, we're we're earlier. Demographics might not see that as a win. This demographic does. Absolutely. Well, I know you have so much work to go through. I think you did reference the American Nonprofit Academy website. So there's going to be more information there for all of you to go and dive deeper into this conversation. Julia, I'm sure we are going to receive questions I can already see are asked and answered not tomorrow, but a future one really filling up with some, you know, questions coming about from today's master class. But I think you hit the nail in the head, right? Like if you are not engaging in this demographic, if you are not embracing this demographic, you're missing out. And that's what I heard you say, at least my words. But no, no, I think we started off saying that, Jared. And it's, you know, it's happening now. This is not a forward thinking thing. When when I first started talking about this, you know, 10 years ago, it was probably a little people were like, that's kind of like pie in the sky. I don't know. And then I just started seeing more and more people coming back to the topic. And it was in a negative way. You know, they're like, damn, I hate these millennials. They're the worst workers. Or I mean, it was just like millennial bashing. And it was like, wow, I'm seeing a big picture. I'm glad you said that. I and I just sat in on a scholarship review committee in which it was a multi-generational review panel. And I would hear from the older individuals that, oh, well, this person jumped around from their volunteerism. They didn't stay at one particular place. And younger demographics said, I see that as a benefit. I see that, yes. And and they said, I see it as a benefit that this student, the scholar was, you know, interested in learning. They wanted to pique their curiosity. They wanted to feed their curiosity. I see it as a benefit for many ways. And for that reason, you know, I chose not to see it negatively, rather in a positive. And I witnessed in conversation another individual changing her vote because of the younger individual bringing that to their attention. That is awesome. And I private message this person. And I said, way to use your voice, that was powerful. I love it, Jared. That's, you know, that's great. And I think that that's the perfect way to end this because it is just such a shift in mindsets. Absolutely. Really cool. So we just got a message that came in. Lisa writes, you're so on point. I'm sharing the nonprofit Academy info with coworkers and others in my field. Rock on, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it's really cool. You know, I'm a mother of a millennial. I have two nieces that are millennials and then I have Gen Z's. And it's fascinating to see these. And then I'm privileged to have a mom who's like super de duper fabulous. And so we have these different generational shifts that we can see. And this is a tipping point, I believe, a fundamental tipping point in the nonprofit sector. So we've got to be looking at this and honoring it. OK, so hey, I'm Julia Patrick. I've been joined by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jared Ransom. Another great, if I do say so myself. Yeah, thanks to our sponsors. We really appreciate you. You know, there are occasions when Julie and I say, you know, we would love to nerd out with you on this topic. We would love to stand on our soapbox and share our information with you. And thanks to our presenting sponsors for allowing us to do this on occasion. Tomorrow we'll be back with another fryer asked and answered. So if you have any questions about today's conversation in particular, there are four ways how you can send that to us. But do send it over to us. We can't get it in tomorrow because it's already packed to the brim. But we will certainly get it to you or get that in at a future date. Absolutely. And, you know, Jared, thank you for letting me talk about one of my favorite subjects. I so appreciate you letting me do this masterclass. It's been a lot of fun. And as we like to end every episode of the nonprofit show, we want to remind and encourage you to stay well so you can do well.