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Millennials

Cancer society hopes crowdfunding attracts Millennial donors

Laura Ungar
USAToday

The American Cancer Society is, for the first, time targeting Millennial donors to give to cancer researchers using something increasingly popular with this tech-savvy generation: Crowdfunding.

The campaign’s initial goal is to raise $200,000 for post-doctoral research grants, collecting the money online through Crowdrise,and will set a higher goal down the road if it works. The group is chasing donors considered by many in the philanthropy world as difficult to attract through traditional channels – and who aren't particularly wealthy. Although the Case Foundation found 84% of Millennials made a charitable donation in 2014, an earlier report by Blackbaud, a maker of software and services targeting the non-profit industry, found that adults ages 18-32 comprised only 11% of total giving, the smallest portion of any age group studied.

“Everybody’s plugged in these days, so it just makes sense we target people this way,” said Bill Chambers, senior vice president of extramural research for the cancer society. “We need to fund the next generation of scientists."

The campaign, which just got underway and has so far raised about $5,000, not only meets young adults where they live technologically, it taps into their tendency to give to people, such as researchers, rather than organizations. And crowdfunding is a way for lots of small donations to add up.

"There's got to be a way to reach these young people ... Usually the givers are much older, " said Dianna Preece, a finance professor in the College of Business at the University of Louisville.

Michael Lewis, a University of Kentucky student who co-founded a small crowdfunding business that raises money for college expenses, said he would consider giving to the cancer society's campaign. Cancer is personal to Lewis; his mom survived melanoma in the back of her eye. Lewis and his business partner used Kickstarter to raise $16,000 to launch their company, FinanceU.

“There’s so many young people who know people affected by cancer,” said Lewis, 19. “I could see  a lot of my peers donating.”

The campaign coincides with the cancer “moonshot”  initiative being spearheaded by Vice President Biden, whose son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain cancer last May. During the State of the Union address in January, President Obama announced $1 billion in funding for moonshot over the next two years. The funding will go toward developing vaccines, improving cancer detection and analyzing the genetic makeup of tumors, among other things.

Though the cancer society's effort is comparatively small, experts say it's an innovative example for other charities. Crowdfunding is growing, with a report by Massolution, a research and advisory firm specializing in crowdsourcing, saying the $16 billion crowdfunded in 2014 was expected to more than double in 2015.

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