Next generation of donors give time, skills as well as money

CEDAR RAPIDS - For Chris Demmer, joining the Cedar Rapids Jaycees had a lot of benefits.

It was a chance to meet new people and build his professional skills - all while giving back to the community.

The Jaycees is a 100-year-old public service organization open to people under age 40. The Cedar Rapids chapter organizes several annual events, the biggest of which is Uptown Friday Nights, a downtown Cedar Rapids summer concert series which raises money for area non-profits.

The Jaycees members are just a few of a growing number of young professionals who are looking to give back to non-profits with more than their money. They're also donating their time and their skills, says Hilery Livengood, vice president of donor relations for United Way of East Central Iowa.

She calls them the next generation of donors - Millennials and Generation Xers - who want to be involved with more than their wallets.

Demmer, a vice president on the Cedar Rapids Jaycees board, says donating his time is a win-win situation. He can network and practice his event organization skills while giving back. For many Jaycees, the organization offers a chance to build up their resumes by getting real-world experience organizing big events like Uptown Friday Nights.

'It's an opportunity to meet more people, but you have the gratitude of helping out at events,” he says. 'It's making yourself better while making your community better.”

Creating lifelong donors

For organizations like the United Way, getting young people to give their time can lead to greater returns.

That was the case for Shilo Knapp, a Rockwell Collins employee who joined the United Way's Young Leaders Society and previously served as its chair.

He had given to the United Way through giving campaigns at work, but never more than having a few dollars automatically deducted from his paycheck.

Then he began participating in United Way Day of Caring events, in which groups of co-workers spend a day doing service projects together. It's a way to bond as a team while getting out of the office and giving back to the community. Knapp helped build wheelchair ramps, paint houses and trim trees, among other things.

'It kind of opened my eyes, seeing that my money wasn't going to waste,” he says. 'It made it real.”

He started increasing his donations each year, until he qualified for the society, which is open to people under 40 who donate at least $250 a year to the United Way. Society members get together for social events, but also plan additional service projects, most centered on literacy.

Knapp said the activities he's been involved with through the Day of Caring and the Young Leaders Society helped turn him into a committed volunteer and donor.

'I'm hooked now,” he says. 'It's something I really believe in.”

Filling gaps

While people of all generations give both their time and money, United Way of East Central Iowa volunteer engagement coordinator Sue Driscoll says different types of giving can appeal depending on life circumstances.

A young person with less salary and more student debt, for example, might be more likely to want to donate their time, while someone with children and a busy work life might be happier writing a check.

Ultimately, organizations can build donations and loyalty by working with donors where they are, rather than asking donors to adapt to them, she says.

'We look not only at giving dollars, we look at their time as valuable as well,” she says. 'They can bring skills to non-profits that non-profits might not have. They can fill in gaps.”

That's what led Jennifer Germaine to join the board of the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy. Another board member asked Germaine, an attorney at Cedar Rapids law firm Day Rettig Peiffer, to join the board because they needed a legal perspective.

Germaine is also the chair of Impact CR, a program under the Cedar Rapids Metro Alliance that aims to connect young professionals with area non-profits and cultural institutions.

She says she meets a lot of young people who want to do more than go to work and go home. They want to find ways to improve their communities and to feel involved.

Driscoll agrees.

'Younger professionals want to be engaged. They're knocking at the doors and trying to figure out how to get in,” she says. 'They want to share their talents.”