Across Learning by Giving courses, we’ve seen several key questions emerge as trends in students’ decision-making, including:

How does the organization integrate the perspective of their constituents into their decision-making processes? Does the organization’s leadership reflect those with lived experience in their respective work? We’ve seen that not only are students comfortable with nonprofits changing their strategy when it is done to adapt to constituents’ feedback, but that they are even more willing to direct resources to these types of organizations.

How does the organization collaborate with other nonprofits in the community? Are there ways that funding can promote more collaboration to better serve constituents? Young donors are not only asking questions about collaboration, but they are also willing to use their funds to support nonprofits hoping to do more to partner and collaborate with other local organizations.

What are the infrastructure and staffing needs of the organization? Can funding support these areas in a way that would increase efficiency? A new generation of donors embraces the idea that nonprofits need talented staff, reasonable office space, and access to decent infrastructure and technology to effectively deliver on their mission and retain talented people.

How can we use our circle of influence to encourage businesses to do more for the community? Young adults are less likely to view “social good” as limited to nonprofits and philanthropy — they are increasingly asking how the businesses they frequent reflect their values.

Read the full article about learning from the next generation by Amy Kingman and Cate Latz at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.