‘Old” donors give more - so do we stick to the same ‘old’ fundraising?
- Tue, August 24 2010
- Filed under: Fundraising essentials
That’s what everyone is saying at the Direct Marketing Association conference here in New York, where I spoke this morning with fellow bloggers Jeff Brooks, Sarah Durham of Big Duck, Roger Craver of the Agitator and Karen Zapp. Jeff Brooks says people under 50 don’t give enough to merit much cultivation at all. Then the authors of the report, Heart of the Donor, Insights into Donor Motivation and Behavior for the 21st Century, said older donors are the most generous - and they give primarily through the mail.
So should you write off anyone remotely youthful? Forget the Internet for the next two decades? Errr…. no.
The Heart of the Donor study said those in the 25-54 age range tended to give both online and through the mail. Lisa McIntyre says:
“One thing we find interesting is this nexus in the 25-54 year old group—the donors who will be most important to us in the coming decade seem equally facile with both mail and online. The point is this: if the goal of a nonprofit is to effectively target today’s best donors, then they should focus significant and smart attention on the donors giving the most money – seniors and boomers. For example, the number of donors in the 18-24 group and 70-plus are comparable, but the 70-plus donor gives three times as much. Does that mean nonprofits should turn a blind eye to the younger segments? Of course not. Their value will likely increase as they age. But fundraising expenditures must be weighted according to a strategy that maximizes those who are giving now.”
Here’s what I think: focusing only the oldest donors is short-sighted, and we definitely can’t assume what has worked in the past will work in the future. The fact that “older” donors give more does not mean we should do the same old fundraising. Even the crowd here agrees on that: Boomers (who are not so ‘old’ for goodness sake) - and everyone younger - have a whole new set of expectations from their charities, from greater tranparency and accountability to a greater sense of engagement. We have to start changing how we fundraise now or we’re going to be irrelevant very soon - and for generations to come.
More on that here.
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I would be interested in seeing what percentage of donations came from wills? This sort of donation seems to need a whole different type of marketing than the other types, and also seems to me to be where the largest individual donations would come from. I do agree, however, that ignoring the internet generation is not a good thing. Getting familiar with marketing to that group now is important, because it won’t be long before the next older generation comes along very tech savvy.
The last paragraph of this article is very substantial- not because most of the donors are marketed via the old style of fundraising, there is no reason to be complacent. We have to devise newer advertising and marketing strategies.
even if the donors are unwavering in their support, we should not feel complacent about it. It would always be better to think and plan newer ways to advertise.
If there is nothing wrong with the old way to raise funds, then, it’s ok. However, it would be better to devise newer ways to attract encourage donors to share with us.
Although old donors are unwavering in supporting us, it would be interesting and invigorating to think and establish new ways of raising funds.
I wonder too if we are continuing to tap the same reliable group to the point that we are taking advantage of their sense of responsibility to the community. The smaller donations from a wider group has been generating substantial sums and that effort is very effective with modern marketing tools. Thanks for the insightful articles!
I believe one reason older people more is they grew up in a time that giving was important in so many ways. Younger people grew up with a lot more material things and for the most part were not taught to give. I believe this can change and the social media is a good place to encourage giving for the younger crowd.
As a younger person, I tend to disagree with Jeff Brooks about focusing on older donors.
I give to causes, volunteer, and promote them on my blog. But what thanks do many younger donors get? Not much!
Let’s not perpetuate ageism against younger donors! Why not focus on what makes younger donors give? The percentage of them that do must have different reasons for giving than the boomers or the silent generations.
Greater transparency for nonprofits IS needed to make younger donors want to give. Also we need new ways of engaging people, other than asking them to do meaningless busywork. Ask a young person to sit on your board or one of your committees. Find a young person willing to throw a party for your nonprofit, or a walk-a-thon, or a mixer. Start to become more strategic and seamless in your communications with younger donors, and you’ll find you’ve got much more engagement!
What do you think?
Mazarine
http://wildwomanfundraising.com
Along with an idea to not discount younger donors and to get them more engaged, I would add that we need to find better ways to target them. You can’t compare how a 70-year old or even 40-year old will respond to mail solicitation compared to a 25 year old. All the studies tell us how they spend their time in social media types of environments, where the endorsement of a trusted authority is as important as ever. I think with this kind of continued presence nonprofits can get past the younger-folks-don’t-give barriers.
Although the older generation donors are incessant in reaching and helping out. However, we also have to encourage the younger generation to donate. After all, they will be the next older generation in the future.
It is not suprising to see that elder people tend to give more than younger ones… To be quite honest they live in total different circimstances.
Someone in his twenties will have a lot more personal responsibility for his money than someone who is now retired. They will still be planning their careers, will be thinking about a wife/husband, children, a house for themselves, and their social life will be a lot more active. Essencially there are many more personal things that they will need to use their money for.
While on the other hand with a 70 year old things are a bit different, his/her children are now old enough to look after themselves, he/she has far less responsibilities to worry about, and is at an age where personal uses for his/her money are not as important. So really, they are more happy to part with their money for something that won’t necessarily benefit themselves.
But that doesn’t mean that you mustn’t try to get donors from the younger generation. Lisa McIntyre is qouted above as saying that 70-plus donors give 3 times the amount as the 18-24 year old group. Which means that if the 2 groups donations are added together the 18-24 group will account for 25% of the donation. So if $10,000 has been donated, then $2,500 of that donation is from the 18-24 group. Would you want to loose out on that donation… I wouldn’t!
But what it does mean is that you need to find the right balance of the amount of marketing effort you place into each group. If you get it right, you should in the end have the same percentage Return of Investment (R.O.I) from each group.
What also should be taken into consideration is that there will be different marketing methods needed for each group. i.e. There will be different ways of pulling on peoples emotions in order to get them to donate. So you should be looking for the best ways of marketing in each group in order to get the best R.O.I.
Which leads me to say that maybe another reason why the younger generations don’t give as much is because they are not being marketed at properly!
Anyways it’s good food for thought! Thanks for the great post!
The two most important factors in determining if a person gives are:
1) Did the donor’s parents encourage giving?
2) Has the donor been asked to give by someone he or she knows?
Well, as a fundraiser you can’t do much about # 1 for current donors, just support philanthropic education for children and youth.
One of the huge benefis to the entire charitable sector of workplace giving is that colleagues are encouraged to give to charities they support, by people they know, in face to face conversations.
“Workplace giving is the nursery where donors are grown.”
Regards,
Bill Huddleston
http://www.cfcfundraising.com
703-560-1825
I’ve just come across a great article which gives an interesting idea about how to gain more younger donors. It’s by a man called Bill Jacobs…
http://www.grizzard.com/want-to-attract-younger-donors-hire-younger-people/
It was a rather interesting read.
Newer generation have less willing to give.
I would stick with old donors
Excellent! The post is indeed interesting. For me, I could say that being a donor depends not only on the age level but also on the upbringing of a person. If a person even on his twenties has been a witness of his parents doing a charity then he might acquire that and may do the donation as a routine.
Encouraging younger donors to be participative I guess would be great.
i love the idea written in the article. I agreed with what the author has been saying. We should not value older contributor just because they give more but rather think that young contributor will be the best contributor in the future.
Maybe older people realize as they grow older that it is best to give. This is a good article for realization.
You just gotta push the buttons that will make younger people donate more. The younger generation is more hardened, I blame the internet, but give them a chance and make a move towards where the disposable income is.
Iain
It’s unfortunate, but I would have to agree with many of the comments pertaining to young donors and their perceptions on non-profits.
Having just graduated I can say personally that the virtues of philanthropy and altruism taught to my parents at the various phases of their education is just not taught anymore. Schools don’t require students to go out and volunteer in shelters or retirement homes. And in order to get them to donate canned food or time there has to be a pizza party, or no homework, etc. Consequently, my generation doesn’t want to do anything unless they are shown how they can benefit. And sadly, I think that is how more non-profits are going to have to start to approach donors. No longer will the mantra of doing something good just for goodness’ sake apply. Organizations will have to begin to highlight tax breaks, networking/career opportunities, money-making opportunities, etc. in order to incite any interest.
This is a really thought-provoking post. I wanted to chime in about a fundraising campaign that my client is currently running that allows young and older people alike to easily make a donation, as it requires only the click of a mouse (or “like”) on a very popular website - Facebook.
Shire Human Genetic Therapies is donating $1 for every person who “likes” its Gaucher Disease Awareness Month Facebook page (http://facebook.com/GaucherDiseaseAwarenessMonth) during the month of September. Check it out! Feel free to e-mail me for additional information.
Thank you again for sharing your insights!