Baby boomers continue to account for the largest share of dollars donated in 2017 — an estimated $59 billion, or about 41 percent of all giving, according to a new study.
The findings are nearly identical to those in a similar study by the same researchers five years ago — and they forecast the trend will continue for at least the next few years. In the previous report, 43 percent of all giving came from boomers.
Boomers plan to continue to give in high numbers in the year ahead, according to the latest study. Some 60 percent of boomers say their giving will stay the same this year, and 12 percent say it will increase.
That’s less than the overall forecast for giving by people of all ages: 19 percent of donors said they will give more this year, while 54 percent said their giving would remain flat and 12 percent said it would decline.
The survey of more than 1,300 donors was conducted in January by the Blackbaud Institute, a fundraising-software company, and the study was executed by Edge Research, marketing-research firm that advises nonprofits.
Boomers’ Continued Giving
About three in four boomers said they had contributed to charity in the 12 months before they took the survey. Donors in the boomer generation — people born from 1946 to 1964 — gave on average a total of $1,061 to roughly four charities during that period.
Boomers’ dominance among donors will likely last at least several more years, say researchers who worked on the study. A separate Blackbaud report released in February said donors’ average age is 64 — in the middle of the boomer generation.
That average may worry fundraisers concerned that their donor pools are increasingly filled with people who are older, but many boomers will still be giving for years to come. Average life expectancy in the United States is nearly 79 years.
“Fundraisers make two mistakes,” said Mark Rovner, a principal at Sea Change Strategies, who wrote the report. “One is worrying that they have too many gray-haired people giving to them. The other is assuming that they therefore need to focus on millennials.”
Giving by millennials, defined in the study as people born from 1981 through 1995, made up an estimated 14 percent of all dollars donated during the period covered by the survey; giving from Generation Z, born after the millennials, was only 2 percent. (Researchers estimated the total giving numbers by applying average gift sizes from the survey to census data.)
Many young donors don’t have stable enough lives to give, Rovner said.
“Life stage is going to be the dominant factor because when you’re just starting your career or you’ve got two small kids at home, you’re paying for day care — you just don’t have a lot of money left over and a lot of mental space to think about charity,” he said. “I think that’s driving a lot of the generational trends.”
Generation X Rising
Generation X, however, is “warming up in the on-deck circle to be the dominant giving generation,” Rovner said.
The proportion of Gen Xers who donated last year fell 4 percentage points — to 55 percent — compared with a similar study conducted in May 2013.
Still, Gen Xers, people born from 1965 through 1980, gave an estimated $3 billion more in 2017 compared to those in the 2013 study. Supporters from Gen X gave an average of $971 to charity last year — almost $200 more than donors from that generation reporting giving in the 2013 study. “Both of those are significant,” Rovner said.
Generation X is larger than many people realize, Rovner said — 66 million Americans, according to census data. So there are many potential donors out there.
The study marks the first time that Gen Xers have given a larger share of dollars than people born before 1946. The oldest generation’s giving made up about 20 percent of all dollars contributed last year.
Direct Mail Declining?
As technology changes how people give, the popularity of direct mail has declined, the study found. The share of donors giving by mail fell to 23 percent for all donors in 2017, down from the 32 percent who reported mailing in gifts in the 2013 study.
Older donors were more likely than younger supporters to donate by mail: About 43 percent of donors born before 1946 and 27 percent of boomers reported doing so, while only 14 percent of Gen Xers, 13 percent of millennials, and 9 percent of Generation Z did the same.
Younger donors say they are more open to appeals sent digitally than older givers. Almost half of Gen Xers say email is an acceptable way to send appeals, and 54 percent of millennials and people in Generation Z say the same. Only 37 percent of boomers and 22 percent of people 73 or older said email was acceptable.
Younger generations were also far more open to accepting appeals sent through social media and mobile devices — including through apps and texts — than older ones. Sixty-two percent of Gen Xers and 76 percent of millennials said they would be willing to give using their smartphones or tablets, compared with 38 percent of boomers and 20 percent of those born before 1946. Thirty-seven percent of all donors said they gave online.
Other findings in the study:
- Three in four donors in all generations say they are concerned about a charity’s overhead expenses, but only 56 percent say they research how nonprofits spend their money.
- Those who participate in charity walks, runs, and bike rides tend to be Gen Xers or younger, though many older people make a gift to support participants.
- Many donors like hearing about charitable giving from family or friends: Sixty-six percent of all donors said an appeal from family members or friends on behalf of a charity was acceptable, making it the most popular type of appeal for all age groups.
DOWNLOAD: Gen X and Younger Donors Poised to Step Up in 2018
