Is collaboration the key to attracting and retaining younger donors?

You are very familiar with this question, no doubt. How can our organization attract and engage younger donors?

Two new studies suggest younger donors want more partnership, transparency and collaboration with non profits they support.

Shaping Tomorrow: How Gen Z and Millennials View Charitable Giving and Bank of America’s recent survey of high-net-worth individuals both suggest younger donors are eager to volunteer and collaborate more than their older counterparts.

Some notable takeaways:

• They aren’t too young to engage! Both Gen Z and Millennials stated they began their charitable activities early, Gen Z at age 14 and Millennials at age 18.
• Gen Z and Millennials don’t limit their charitable activities to financial contributions. They see a range of activities as an expression of their commitment to social change including volunteering time and sharing expertise and knowledge.
• While all donors surveyed by Bank America said monetary giving was the most common way they gave, 71 percent of the young donors in that study prioritized actions over monetary giving, compared with 48 percent of older donors.
• 25 percent of younger donors said they are willing to mentor others while just 6 percent of donors 44+ were.

Further, our cross-vertical study of nearly 6,000 midlevel donors representing 36 organizations found that 42% of midlevel donors have been engaged with the cause they care about most since young adulthood (ages 20-39).

This argues that connecting and building relationships with younger donors regardless of how much money they donate now will pay off as they can give more as their income and wealth grow.

One of the study’s authors suggests “Treat them like the adults that they are and build those personal relationships by bringing them into your world through direct service volunteer opportunities, through young professional mission-aligned networking groups, and by putting them on the board as fiduciaries.”

Another way to increase collaboration is through listening activities like a donor Insight Panel which aims to  solicit actionable insights from donors while making them feel heard and valued.

Similar to customer communities that are frequently a core engagement strategy for major for profit brands, Insight Panels help non profits create deeper relationships with donors by gauging their attitudes on topical issues, taking action on what they learn and reporting back to the donors.

As Boomers pass the torch, we must start adapting to the needs and wants of younger generations.