Economy Causing Older Donors to Cut Back Gifts, Study Finds

September 04, 2008

Economy Causing Older Donors to Cut Back Gifts, Study Finds

The troubled economy is causing more older donors to cut back their giving this fall, while younger people plan to step up their giving, finds a new study by the Grizzard Communications Group, a direct-marketing firm that works with nonprofit organizations. The results of the study were distributed on Business Wire.

The company said its study found that donors ages 25 to 34 are more likely to increase their giving to charitable organizations this fall while those over the age of 65 were more likely to say they will give less.

Of all respondents, 44 percent say they will contribute the same amount to charity compared to what they gave last fall. Almost 30 percent of all respondents say they plan to give less to charitable efforts, and about a quarter say they plan to stop giving altogether.

Comments

In this economy we need to develop ways for people to support the causes they care about without taking cash out of their pockets. It is not only a hardship for the nonprofits when supporters can no longer afford to donate…it is an emotional turmoil for people who find joy in supporting those causes.

Rose Riskind

— Susan "Rose" Riskind Sep 5, 02:17 PM #
It is important to read the full report in this case. The report was based on just 495 respondents. Of that group, 17% or 84 respondents were over the age of 65. Further, they were drawn from a group “who made a financial contribution to a charity other than a house of worship.” I would hesitate to base my fund raising plans on what 84 people out of over 30 million people over 65 had to say…

— Robert Sharpe Sep 13, 06:45 PM #

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