47: Millennials & Corporate Partners: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know (Derrick Feldmann)

47: Millennials & Corporate Partners: What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know (Derrick Feldmann)

SUMMARY
How do you get the millennial generation to engage in your nonprofit’s cause?  That’s the first question Derrick Feldmann and I explored during our conversation on episode #47 of the Path Podcast.  There is no one more qualified to answer that question, given his decade-long research on the millennial generation.  While Derrick provided a fascinating look at that demographic, we were also able to follow his research journey into two other specialty areas as well.  His work around Social Movements for Good explored what makes some causes not only go viral, but truly engage their constituencies.  Finally, we delved into the findings published in his latest book, The Corporate Social Mind, which provides invaluable insight about what companies are looking for ion their nonprofit and community partnerships.  All of these topics certainly should be ingrained in the minds of nonprofit leaders as they strengthen their organizations as well as engage critical support from community and corporate leaders.  Not only are Derrick’s books ones to add to your collection, but he also adds four others to your wish list!

ABOUT
Derrick Feldmann is a sought-after speaker, researcher and advisor for causes and companies on social movements and issue engagement and is the author of three books, Social Movements For Good: How Companies and Causes Create Viral Change andCause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit MillennialEngagement and The Corporate Social Mind. He has been recognized as a leading researcher in cause engagement for more than a decade and his work is regularly cited by such outlets as Forbes, Fast Company and The Wall Street Journal and as a reliable source of data on today’s cause engagement. During the prior 10 years, he led the research team for the Millennial Impact Project, producing the comprehensive study on how the generation has engaged with causes from varying perspectives. Derrick currently splits his time between INFLUENCE|SG and the Ad Council Edge, the Ad Council’s strategic consulting division that advises during the formative stages of public engagement programs. 

EPISODE RESOURCES
Derrick’s study on Influencing Young America to Act
Mark & Paul Engler’s book This is an Uprising
Robert Shiller's book Narrative Economics
Walter Isaacson's Leonardo Da Vinci
Samantha Power's The Education of an Idealist