Philanthropy in the Millennial Age: Trends Toward Polycentric Personalized Philanthropy

Abstract

In the digital age dominated by social media, neither non-profits nor traditional for profit firms can rely on traditional promotional activities. Rather, promotion and word-of-mouth are generated through an organic and polycentric process of commons-based peer production over social media. This type of co-production appeals to the millennial market values of localtarian, social entrepreneurial, and personalized experiences. As the millennial generation comes of age they are now the largest generational cohort in both population and buying power and their preferences are increasingly dominating trends in the marketplace. The nonprofits that are most adept at harnessing the millennial desire for co-production will be those that succeed at attracting the increasingly important millennial donor base. Because of this, we see a future nonprofit arena characterized by polycentric commons-based peer production.