The Pew Internet Project recently released a report entitled: The State of Millennials.   While the presentation covers basic demographic info, values, and habits, a few key pieces of data stood out to me as important for nonprofits as they seek to work with millennials as supporters and employees.

Millennials are pro-government: 53% believe the government should do more to solve problems.  I see this not only in terms higher expectation of government but also higher expectation of people and  their engagement/ involvement with government.  How are nonprofits positioning themselves and their work to connect and challenge the government and pursue a larger impact?

Millennials connect offline around hobbies: While comparing the type of groups millennials are most active in, millennials seem to connect online around interests (music, news, games) and offline around hobbies.  How are nonprofits connecting the interests and activities of millennials to their organization’s outreach initiatives and engagement?

Millennials build community online: In addition to simply being active online (including commenting and “liking”) millennials are more likely to use the internet to keep up with news and information about groups they care about and share what they are learning with others online.  How are nonprofits participating in a conversation with millennials around their interests?  What are nonprofits learning from these conversations?

At the same time, while the stats provide insight on behavior I’d be curious to get to the “why?”  Why do they believe government should do more?  Why are they more active online in some instances and not in others?  The “why” provides a framework for reaching out to millennials and more room for crafting innovative ways to connect with them.

Have you seen the report?  What do you think?  Share your thoughts below!