The Generation Gap in Fund Raising Is a Myth

May 09, 2008

The Generation Gap in Fund Raising Is a Myth

The generation gap isn’t such a big deal in fund raising, according to a study to be released next week.

While fund raisers often say that baby boomers are very different in their giving styles from their parents, it turns out that other factors — such as income and education level — matter a lot more than the generation in which a donor grew up.

Researchers at Indiana University Center on Philanthropy analyzed data from 10,000 individuals, 80 percent of whom had given to charity. They represented five generations: great (born before 1929), silent (born 1929-1945), boomer (born 1946-1963), generation X (born 1964-1981), and millennial (born since 1981).

The scholars found that the amount people give rise along with their income, levels of education, and frequency of attending religious services. The age of donors didn’t matter at all.

However, the older donors are, the more likely they are to make gifts to religious causes: Seventy-two percent of donors in the great generation reported giving to religious causes, but only 41.5 percent of the millennial donors did.

The reasons people give also divided along generational lines.

Members of the silent generation are ore likely to say that they gave to “control where my money goes instead of having the government do it” or to “provide services the government can’t or won’t.” Millennial donors are more likely to say they gave to “make the world a better place.”

Beyond that, however, the most popular charitable motivations were the same across generations: “to provide for the basic needs of the poor,” “to make my community a better place to live,” “giving the poor a way to help themselves,” “desire to make the world a better place,” and “responsibility to help those with less.”

The study, “Generational Differences in Charitable Giving and in Motivations for Giving,” was commissioned by Campbell & Company, a fund-raising consulting company. The full study will be posted on the company’s Web site on Monday, May 12.

— Holly Hall.

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The Generation Gap in Fund Raising Is a Myth