Young people and charity campaigns

The below information has been gained from 'An Insight Into the Charitable Giving of Young Adults & Students' Written and researched by Josh Harden, Ian Jukes and Paul Joyce

"Charities play an important role in society“ 

86% of young adults agreed 

100% of respondents aged 25+ agreed

Social media and charities 

91% of both those aged under and over 25 stated that they use social media regularly. This underlines industry best practice: if charities are going to successfully raise awareness and money online, a coherent social media strategy is more important than ever! The pie chart below shows the social media sites used by our respondents, when we asked them which of the following social media sites they used.

When charities are present on social media, does this prompt you to learn more about their causes or donate? 

33% of young adults said yes, 45% agreed said sometimes. 33% of respondents aged 25+ said yes, 54% said sometimes. Charities should not underestimate these figures: given that 78% of young adults and 87% of adults aged 25+ regularly use social media, the potential for supporter engagement is huge. If a charity’s Facebook post was to be shared online by 100 people, and assuming each sharer had the Facebook average of 338 friends (Pew Research, 2014), this post would reach up to 33,800 people. Out of these, 11,154 would be prompted to learn more or donate, with a further 15,210 indicating that they may do so. 

In the past year, have you shared or posted about a charity on social media? 

48% of young adults said yes. 87% of respondents aged 25+ said said yes. As long as people share or post about charities on social media, the messages of charities are reaching more and more people: a charity’s presence on social media doesn’t have to come directly from the charity itself. Somebody could share the post of a charity, or write about their causes. All of this raises the charity’s online presence and, subsequently, awareness of their cause and the potential for donations.

 “When my friends post about charities online I feel more inclined to donate to charity or learn more about them.”

58% of young adults agreed 76% of respondents aged 25+ agreed Young adults: 17.1% did not agree Adults aged 25+: 11% did not agree It appears that a charity campaign on social media will have more of an effect when it is endorsed by a user’s online community. Recall that only 33% of participants said that they feel more inclined to donate or learn more about a charity when a charity is present on social media