Millennials on a Mission

The newest generation of college students is into charity in a big way—and turning campus events into major money-makers

by Julie Gordon

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From Feb. 16 to 18, the Penn State community will come together for a cause even greater than Nittany Lion football—the university's annual Dance Marathon. Said to be the largest student philanthropic enterprise in the world, THON has raised more than $41 million over its 34 years of existence for Hershey Medical Center's Four Diamonds Fund, which helps children with cancer.

Penn Staters prepare for THON all year. To raise money, members of fraternities, sororities, and other student organizations go on "canning" trips to their hometowns, jingling cash-filled cans to collect money for the children each group sponsors. Students also work to get private donations and corporate sponsorships.

The event culminates in a non-stop, no-sleep, two-day affair of dancing, games, and celebration for 700 selected dancers, most of whom are seniors being honored for their dedication to the cause. "Standing on my feet for 48 hours will never be as painful as the cancer treatments the kids have gone through," says senior dancer Kelly Davitt, a donor-relations captain for THON and member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. Other students, parents, sponsors, and members of the PSU community also gather for the weekend of festivities along with THON kids and their families. And each year, THON grows.

Big Shoes to Fill

Davitt and other members of her generation, known as "millennials," are increasingly aware of and engaged in volunteer work, community service, and philanthropic activities. About 67% of students said helping others who are in difficult situations is an essential or very important objective, according to UCLA's annual survey, "The American Freshman—National Norms for 2006."

The report also found that 35.2% of undergrads think it's important to become leaders, and 42.5% believe it's important to influence social values, which is the highest that measure has been since 1993 (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/19/06, "Americans Dig Deeper for Charity").

So why are young people becoming civically engaged? The main reason is that millennials are stepping into a place where the generation they're replacing—the World War II-era GIs and Rosie the Riveters—was extremely civic-minded and socially responsible. "What we find in history is that the generations tend to replace the social role that all their life was powerfully associated with the generation that's now dying," says Bill Strauss, who has co-authored a number of books about the millennials, including Millennials Rising and Millennials Go to College.

Mandatory Volunteering?

Furthermore, millennials want to offset what are perceived to be the major flaws of their parents' group, the self-obsessed Baby Boom generation. "While Boomers felt they could improve on their parents by thinking thoughts and feelings, millennials look at their boomer parents and think, 'They couldn't deal with Katrina. They can't manage the economy properly,'" says Strauss. "The Boomers' cry was 'Hell no, we won't go.' The draft-resistance chant meant young men and women were resisting any sense of civic connection. A signature millennial movement right now is to draw civic connection."

The generational trend is encouraged by high schools and colleges, many of which require service learning as part of class or graduation requirements. It's drilled into many high-school students' minds that volunteering and contributing to the community looks good on a college application. College students are told that civic experience can boost their résumés or make them look more well-rounded when applying to graduate school.