As nonprofits worry about the impact of the new tax law on donations, they may want to focus specifically on people who are in their mid-30s to mid-50s, a new study finds.
In a poll that sought to understand differences in generational giving habits, Generation X donors were the most likely to say their gift was motivated by its tax deductibility, according to a study conducted by Qgiv, a fundraising technology company.
Most baby boomers, on the other hand, responded that their gifts weren’t inspired by the tax deduction but by the idea that the charity would make good use of their money.
The study asked more than 1,300 people age 18 and older whether they gave to charity during the previous year. Only the 60 percent of people who said they had made a donation during that time were surveyed in full.
Biggest Causes
A third of those donors — 33.7 percent — were millennials, ages 25 to 34. Baby boomers, ages 55 to 72, tailed them at 26.4 percent.
An additional 22.4 percent of donors were from Generation Z, ages 18 to 25, and another 16.3 percent were Generation X, age 35 to 54. Only 1.2 percent of respondents were older than age 73. Since that share is statistically insignificant, researchers folded the silent generation’s responses into the baby boomers’ answers.
Donors in the survey gave to both religious and nonreligious groups, but millennials were the most likely to say they gave recurring donations to a religious institution — more than 32 percent of those donors classified their giving as tithing. The causes these donors supported varied by age group:
- Generation Z gave most to environmental and wildlife causes, closely followed by arts and culture. Generation X donors shared those same top causes.
- Most millennials preferred to support research and public policy, followed by international affairs issues.
- Most donors older than age 55 said they supported religious causes, with human-service organizations landing the second-most popular spot.
Awareness of GivingTuesday
Generation Z spends the most time of any age group on social media, but 42 percent of those donors said they had not heard of GivingTuesday — the lowest level of awareness in the survey. This finding is in contrast with a 2019 survey by Classy, another fundraising technology company, which found that Generation Z donors were the most aware of the giving day.
The Qgiv survey found donors age 55 and older also had a low awareness of GivingTuesday, with 38 percent of baby boomers saying they didn’t know what it was. The earlier Classy survey found similarly low levels of awareness among this age group: 33 percent of baby boomers said they were aware of the day.
Most donors said they conduct some form of research on a charity before they give money, but millennials and Generation X donors were the most likely to say they did so — typically by reviewing testimonials from their peers or the organization’s beneficiaries or reading news stories or reports about how well the nonprofit meets its mission.
Among the other findings:
- Baby boomers said they gave because they believed charities would use their money well; among the other generations in the study, donors said they gave because they wanted people to think they were “philanthropic.”
- Social-media appeals, like Facebook fundraising events, were Generation Z and Generation X donors’ favorite way to give. Millennials most liked app-based giving or contributing by text message, while baby boomers preferred mailing checks.
