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March 31, 2009

Association of Fundraising Professionals
Attracting Young Donors

Nonprofit groups should be aggressively working to involve people in their 20s and 30s.

But Derrick Feldmann, president of Achieve, a consulting company in Indianapolis, said they shouldn’t expect young donors to open up their checkbooks quickly.

Nor should they expect to raise significant money, Mr. Feldmann told an audience at the Association of Fundraising Professionals annual conference in New Orleans.

But nonprofit groups shouldn’t abandon efforts to seek out young donors, even if the initial return is low.

“This is a long-term philanthropic strategy to engage young people,” he said. “They are not going to be young for long. The organizations that take this approach are the ones that are going to be very successful with reaching these individuals over the long term.”

In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Feldmann discussed four key steps nonprofit groups can take to attract young donors. You can listen to the interview:

— Peter Panepento

Tuesday March 31, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

1. Two foundations in our area have each given a class $5,000 to disburse. It’s been a pleasure being considered by two classes in philanthropy, one a high school group and the other a university class. Each invited applications, did research and site visits, before selecting recipients for their funds. What a great way to grow young philanthropists and development professionals of the future.

   — annetta    Mar 31, 11:14 PM    #

2. There is a lot of territory between “aggresively working” and “abadon efforts.” It’s a no-brainer that people in their 20s and 30s are the future of philanthropy. The real question is how an organization approaches that demographic now, what it expects from them, and whether it’s really a “fundraising” question at all. I would suggest it’s much more strategic, and more about philanthropic involement/service than giving.

   — Shannon Barnes    Apr 1, 08:29 PM    #

3. I agree with Shannon Barnes. It’s all about developing the strategies to create oppportunities for involvement and service. It’s about building community and stakeholder, which will result in a stronger need to give. It’s definitely a sustainability issue.

   — Michael Chang    Apr 2, 08:27 AM    #

4. Can I ask help for this congregation www.camilliansisters.org they were take care of abandoned woman.

   — Rubilyn Ramo    Apr 4, 08:29 AM    #

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