Donor Demographics

New donors are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. However, the challenge of finding, engaging and retaining them has only increased. Given all of this, we need to be thinking carefully about how we acquire donors and what we do to get them excited about our missions in order to retain them. This holds true for both traditional older donors and the younger ones who all organizations have been tasked with finding, but it’s particularly true with younger donors.

If most donors are 60-something, what does this mean for millennial philanthropy? Should we ignore these 75 million younger Americans until they come of “donor age”? Or should we take a different approach to millennial cultivation and giving? And if so, how should we proceed?

You should not eschew small-gift fundraising, even if the lion’s share of your funding comes from major donors. So let’s take a mini-break from thinking about major-gift fundraising (of which I’m a huge proponent). Whenever you can get a donor in the door, one with affinity for your cause, you should. Let’s look at 10 ways to succeed with small gift fundraising: …

Is this about new donors? Just about the cash? Raising awareness?

Those aging baby boomers want what you have to offer. And there are a lot of boomers. But if you really want to tap in to this incredible reservoir of people seeking meaning, you have to fulfill boomers' search for meaning. That means: giving them great fundraising offers, being thankful and reporting back.

Chances are, the average age of your donors is startlingly high. And because of that, I'll bet you or someone in your organization has said: "Our donors are dying! We've got to replace them!" That's absolutely correct. The next panicked statement is usually: "We need to find young donors!" That's also correct. But the whole thing goes off the rails when someone interprets that to mean: "Let's focus on Gen Y donors!"

Recently, the New York chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals hosted a terrific event focusing on the younger donor pipeline. Each of the three panelists bared all of the details of their young patrons' programs — from strategies, budgets (very low!) and staffing to the databases and e-mail systems they use. Here are a few takeaways: Younger donor programs are a long-range strategy. While each of the three organizations featured have specific income and membership targets for their young donor programs, they are a fraction of the organization’s overall operating budget.

Fidelity Investments released results of its sixth Fidelity Millionaire Outlook, an in-depth survey analyzing the investing attitudes and behaviors of millionaire households. A key finding is that Gen X/Y millionaires are generous with time and money, averaging $54,000 in donations to charity each year and having a higher likelihood to volunteer or serve on a nonprofit board than baby boomers (82 percent vs. 49 percent).

As the members of the most active group of donors age and possibly cut down on donations in lieu of planned giving, boomers are the up-and-coming demographic for nonprofits to focus on right now. Then of course there are the Gen X and Gen Y "kids" and the millennials.

In a really smart move, organizers of the 2013 Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, which took place in National Harbor, Md., in July, set up chairs and monitors outside some of the more heavily attended sessions so participants who spilled out into the hallways could be comfortable and actually hear the speakers. I…