3 Reasons Why Nonprofits Need to Take Millennial Donors More Seriously
Many nonprofits remain focused on baby boomers as the core of their donor pool, but more evidence is showing that organizations should start taking younger donors more seriously. Millennials, in particular, are quickly leveling up their giving. Though their generosity remains about half of baby boomers’, a new study shows a promising uptick in their charitable giving from 2022 to 2024.
“Giving by Generation,” a special report from The Giving USA Foundation that examines how generations have given to charity over the past decade, now has comparative data snapshots for four generations.
“While the boomer generation is outgiving other generations at a significant level, the growth in charitable giving by the millennial and Gen Z generations is a positive sign for the future of the charitable sector,” Rick Dunham, founder of Dunham+Company, which commissioned the study for the Giving USA Foundation, said in the report.
Here’s a look at what the data shows for baby boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980) and millennials (1981-1996) in 2015, 2022 and 2024, as well as Generation Zers (1997-2012), who were added to the study in 2022.
1. Millennials Have the Second Largest Increase in Annual Giving
Last year, baby boomers gave nonprofits $3,256 annually on average — a 27% increase over 2022 — while millennials upped their charitable contributions by 22% to $1,616. Though the average millennial dollar amount lags behind boomers, millennials gave more — on average — in 2024 than Gen X and Gen Z donors, who gave $245 and $749 less, respectively.
"What stands out to me is the fact that millennials gave 18% more than Gen X even though their household income was $23,000 less per annum," Dunham told NonProfit PRO via email regarding the 2024 data.
Millennials first surpassed Gen Xers in 2022 when they gave 9% more. Though millennials skew seven years younger in the 2024 survey versus Gen Xers circa 2015, the giving gap between generations widens to $351, which would widen further when adjusting for inflation.
Though Millennials gave more than Gen Zers last year, they gave $942 annually on average in 2015, while Gen Z gave $867 on average in 2024, when they were about the same age as 2015 millennials. Adjusting for inflation, Gen Zers would be ahead of their 2015 millennial counterparts.
It's more difficult to compare millennials to baby boomers, but Dunham shared some data from the 2005 DonorTrends Project, which indicated boomers, ranging in age from 40 to 58 when the study was conducted in 2004, gave an average of $1,361 per household. For comparison, millennials were 28 and 43 at the time of the 2024 Giving USA Foundation survey, so the boomers are 12 years old in the comparative data.
"[Millennials' average annual giving of] $1,616 in 2024 dollars would be $973 back in 2004," Dunham told NonProfit PRO via email. "And if the average rate of annual inflation is 2.5%, over 12 years, that would make millennial giving around $1,309 at the same age of boomers back in 2004. That places today’s millennials within 4% of boomer giving based on this calculation, so it seems reasonable to think that Millennials will be as generous as boomers."
The top three charity sectors donors supported varied by generation. | Credit: "Giving USA Special Report: Giving by Generation" by Giving USA
2. Millennials Are Most Likely to Give Online
More than any other generation, 82% of millennials gave online in 2024. There is some truth in older generations’ unwillingness to give online — only 33% of baby boomers and 44% of Gen Xers who haven’t given online cited a willingness to do so.
Like their millennial counterparts, 79% of Gen Zers have made an online donation. For those who haven’t, 71% of Gen Zers and 66% of millennials, indicated they would. More than half of millennials also cited that they gave online with their smartphone.
It’s also important to note that despite older generations being likely to be more resistant to online giving than younger generations, 69% of Gen Xers and 58% of boomers have donated online, so digital fundraising is still an important strategy, regardless of what generation you’re trying to reach.
Of all generations, more millennials made donations through online channels. | Credit: "Giving USA Special Report: Giving by Generation" by Giving USA
3. Millennials Are Also Most Likely to Respond to Direct Mail
In a rating out of five, millennials rated direct mail as 3.5 in terms of likelihood of motivating a gift over email — the highest among all generations. However, that doesn’t mean millennials return the reply form for easy attribution on the nonprofit’s end. More than half of millennials indicated a preference of giving online in response to direct mail, while only 21% give by mail.
Millennials were also most likely to give based on email. Meanwhile, Gen Zers were most likely to give via other online channels, including texting and social media.
More than half of millennial donors preferred to give online after receiving a direct mail appeal. | Credit: "Giving USA Special Report: Giving by Generation" by Giving USA
