Like a gift that keeps on giving, but only in reverse, the 2008 recession left many of the nation’s nonprofits with a challenging giving landscape.

Cause marketing and corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs underwent many changes too, as consumers became more skeptical about where their donations were actually going. With purse strings tightened, the sentiment towards giving has, in fact, changed the way brands are marketing their social impact programs, how nonprofits are communicating their good work, and how consumers are driving this change—for the better.

And now, there’s another dynamic changing the giving landscape: Millennials, cause marketers’ and nonprofits’ next donor generation. Millennials are passionate about what they believe in and demand transparency from the brands that support their beliefs. Cause marketers, nonprofits and socially-conscious brands must, therefore, forge strong relationships and build trust with this increasingly influential segment.

It’s a strategy already adopted by businesses that view heightened CSR as a viable—and potent— way to align consumers to their brand as they are perceived to be “doing good.” While that kind of cause marketing was once met with skepticism, Millennials are changing the way it ties into CSR.

In fact, it’s one of the reasons why we built 121Giving, a crowdfunding platform designed to connect cause-minded companies with charities and donors. While CSR programs are gaining in popularity with many companies, there is still a disconnect when it comes to convincing the public of the impact of their efforts. Consumers expect socially conscious brands to digest and share data as rapidly as they do, yet 70 percent are confused by the messages companies use to voice their CSR and social impact initiatives.

Millennials can use this crowdfunding platform to donate to a specific product-related, online fundraising campaign hosted by a nonprofit that supports a cause or idea they are interested in. Tech-savvy Millennials can also use the online tools to track, publicize and measure the results of campaigns they’re supporting and the impact of their donations.

Millennials, like other demographic groups, want broader choices, transparency and accountability, especially as Americans continue to drill down on balancing their checkbooks in a slowly recovering economy. Rather than donating to someone else’s charitable vision, they can now donate to campaigns where they know exactly where their giving is going. Their donations become tangible rather than going into a big bucket of dollars, and are applied directly to the purchase of specific products such as food, clothing, medical supplies, educational materials, household items, furniture, disaster relief supplies and more.

Echoing the above sentiment, Blackbaud’s recent Charitable Giving Report confirmed that fundraising is getting more personal as well. The report revealed that nonprofits are using a broad range of marketing strategies to include segmenting appeals based on donor interests and preferences, giving donors the opportunity to create their own funds. This is why the components of CSR are so important for for-profits as well. Companies and brands can gain an edge on the competition by providing visibility into their CSR initiatives, and transparency around their philanthropic goals, promises and impact.

In our always-connected and instant gratification world, Millennials don’t wish for transparency, they demand it. They’re no longer satisfied with sending money to a charity or supporting a brand’s social responsibility program without some data to prove why they should. They want to see how their money is spent, and how it’s actually affecting a social issue. They want to know if nonprofits, companies and brands are really sincere in their efforts to support the common good or if they’re just posturing for donations and sales.

To ensure a growing donor pool, cause marketers, nonprofits and brands alike must embrace the call of Millennials’ demands. For those companies who may find themselves avoiding or resisting this push—who aren’t showing where their giving is going—risk getting snared in a lost generation of philanthropy.

Don’t let that be your brand or organization.

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