How to strengthen engagement between NGOs and young people

Today, nonprofits seeking closer collaboration with younger generations face a clear challenge: becoming attractive and relevant to a cohort that is demanding, critical, committed to change, distrustful of institutions, and living amid deep uncertainty. These are young people who believe in change, who act and mobilize for social or environmental causes—three out of four consider this important—and who seek new forms of involvement, collaboration, and participation.

The report Youth and NGOs: The challenges of collaboration between NGOs and young people, published by Esade’s Institute for Social Innovation in partnership with the PwC Foundation, provides an in-depth analysis of this challenge and the levers required to address it. Its authors, Mar Cordobés, Ignasi Carreras, and Maria Sureda, argue that if nonprofits want to remain relevant, they must listen more, communicate better, and build organizational cultures that are flexible, authentic, and inclusive.

How to align

The main challenge nonprofits face is transforming their traditional operating model into a more contemporary one that incorporates younger generations. In fact, more than 40% of Spanish nonprofits state that they are open to changing their approach to attract and work with more young people.

NGOs that see youth participation as an opportunity for innovation are renewing their energy, legitimacy, and social impact

The first step is to create channels for active listening and real participation, in both in-person and digital formats. Initiatives such as Youth Talks or the ThinkXSocial social hackathon, referenced in the study, are good examples of spaces where young people are not only heard, but also co-design projects and participate in decision-making.

Nonprofits that successfully align with new generations do not do so intuitively; rather, they learn to understand their codes, languages, and priorities. Active listening thus becomes a strategic tool for talent management and social engagement. It requires opening the organization to new ways of working and allowing younger generations to question established practices in order to build collaborative approaches.

Authenticity and transparency

For 78% of young people, transparency is the most valued attribute in a nonprofit, especially regarding the use of funds. Yet it is not only about accountability; it is about building trust through sincerity and consistency. Storytelling must align with storydoing.

In an environment saturated with messages, transparency is not a mere communications tactic but an identity-based value

To achieve this, adopting an authentic leadership model is useful—one in which organizations act with integrity, communicate truthfully, and use language that is accessible, inclusive, and relatable. It also involves acknowledging mistakes, showing processes rather than only results, and demonstrating the real impact of each initiative. The nonprofits that connect best with young people are those that are approachable, share real stories and human narratives, and, when appropriate, reveal their own vulnerabilities.

In an environment saturated with messages, young people can clearly distinguish what is genuine from what is manufactured. For them, transparency is not a mere communications tactic but an identity-based value—one that shapes credibility and influences their willingness to mobilize for social causes. In this regard, the report also offers targeted recommendations for collaborating with emerging forms of youth activism.

Redesigning nonprofits: flexibility, learning, and purpose

The overarching goal is to foster real youth participation and ensure that their contributions have influence in decision-making spaces. During the report’s presentation event, the three speakers highlighted the need to trust young people more, grant them participation spaces, and give them room to contribute ideas and lead initiatives. Some nonprofits’ fear of “losing control” when incorporating young people into their boards often turns youth into a marketing asset rather than a genuine ally. Speakers María Caso Escudero (Madrid City Council), Sara Simon Penas (Youth Business Spain Foundation), and José Ignacio Conde Ruiz (Foro de Foros) underscored the importance of offering young people functional roles and integrating their knowledge and proposals.

The change required is not only narrative; it is structural. The study shows that the NGOs most effectively connecting with young people are those undertaking organizational redesigns to become more flexible, horizontal, and purpose-driven. Examples such as the Young People Program by Manos Unidas with Canon Spain, or Ayuda en Acción’s ONsiders platform, illustrate how organizations that experiment, learn, and listen become more permeable to new realities.

Among the key lessons highlighted by the authors are several inspirational lines of action:

• Horizontal, collaborative environments where young people can participate in decision-making and where intergenerational collaboration is genuine.
• An inclusive and flexible culture characterized by less rigid structures, adaptable schedules, and policies that promote diversity and inclusion.
• A shared purpose as a core identity and cohesion driver, strengthening the sense of belonging when impact is tangible.
• A value proposition centered on impact, offering young people actionable pathways to contribute and to visualize the outcomes of change.
• A culture of learning and recognition that values skills, knowledge, and competencies gained, and that incentivizes their development.
• Professional development through mentoring by experienced leaders, continuous training, job rotation, challenging projects, or structured development and coaching programs capable of attracting and retaining talent.
• Designing actions that mobilize and motivate participation, combining creativity, purpose, and alignment with experiences and events that capture young people’s attention.
• Innovative technologies and methodologies that resonate with digital natives who expect agile, connected, and interactive environments.
• Holistic well-being in programs that support personal balance and strengthen community ties.

Organizations that view youth participation as an opportunity for innovation are managing to renew their energy, legitimacy, and social impact.

This redesign also affects fundraising strategies. New generations prefer to support causes on a recurring basis, even through small contributions integrated seamlessly into their digital lives. The report notes a growing trend toward agile, participatory, and gamified models in which donating is not a one-off act but an engaging experience that includes symbolic rewards, challenges, or shared achievements.

Simplifying processes, aligning campaigns with values, and demonstrating tangible results are essential to attract and retain young supporters.

The role of communications

Communications constitute another major challenge for nonprofits. According to the report, 79% of third-sector leaders believe there is a critical gap between young people and current communications strategies.

The challenge is to rethink the strategic role of communications as a driver of connection and participation, grounded in three pillars: authenticity, transparency, and interactivity.

Connecting does not mean “speaking more,” but “speaking better.” Nonprofits must update their languages, tones, and channels to resonate with young people’s communication codes: brevity, humor, and storytelling. Oxfam Intermón’s Feeling Good “tardeos” (afternoon gatherings) offer an illustrative example: a hybrid format combining leisure and conversation with culture, music, and social purpose to create authentic connection spaces.

Narratives matter as well. As the study notes, the relationship between narrative, belief, and action is direct: the stories we tell shape how people understand the world and act within it.

Social communication expert Mar Andrade, a contributor to the report, summarizes the keys to effective engagement by pointing to the most successful strategies for strengthening connections with young people:

• Segment and personalize messages according to different youth profiles
• Select appropriate channels, prioritizing social networks and audiovisual platforms with higher performance.
• Foster co-creation by inviting young people to take leading roles in campaigns and narratives.
• Demonstrate the correlation between purpose and impact to materialize the value proposition.

The result is a more horizontal, emotional, and participatory communications model in which engagement is not forced, but built organically.

Learning, communicating, and transforming

Youth is a strategic ally for social innovation—a source of energy and creativity capable of reimagining collective action. The future of the social sector will be defined by its ability to learn, share, and co-create with new generations. This path—more diverse, more conscious, and more transformative—may shape social leadership in the decades ahead.