The Influential Nonprofit Episode 86: Maryanne Dersch: Donors Through The Decades: How To Connect With 5 Generations
Older generations and younger generations are struggling because of a gap relating to emotions. Boomers are more inclined to believe that feelings don’t matter while younger generations put heavy emphasis on understanding and being in touch with what they feel.
The mature generation is more generous and loyal to an organization.
To them, everything is about sacrifice, loyalty, and creating stability because they were born and raised during uncertain times.
They represent 26% of national giving.
Boomers represent 43% of total giving. They are more driven by emotional appeals, they like significance and being honored publicly, and they also are the most likely to want to know more about your finances and get into gritty details before they donate.
Millennials want a sense of community. They don’t want to just give money and be thanked, they want to be a part of something that’s greater than themselves. Meanwhile, Gen Z puts a greater emphasis on meaning. They want their work to have a meaningful effect on society.
As generations go through, you can see that every generation, we're developing this culture of philanthropy deeper and deeper and deeper into our culture.
You can't make people care about your nonprofit, you can only connect with people. And so it's more important now because people won't give just out of a sense of duty or loyalty they're going to give because it's meaningful to them.
Reflect in your own stories in your life of how you were raised and how you were taught to manage feelings, how you were taught to see the world, and then how that plays out in your everyday decision-making and how you connect with other people.
Donor statistics were taken from https://www.classy.org/blog/how-to-engage-different-generations-of-donors/
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