Yesterday, in the course of making some comments about raising money from Boomers, I published this chart estimating the number of individuals in each cohort prepared by The Boomer Project.

Today I want to make a different point about this chart.

Today there are already more than twice as many Gen X and Gen Y’ers as Boomers. Of course the oldest Gen Y’er is only 25 years old, and not likely to be any nonprofit’s major donor!

Nevertheless, the fact is, fundraisers need to be learning how to talk to these “post-Boomer” segments, using the channels these individuals prefer.

So even while fundraisers are just beginning to understand some important differences between traditional donors (i.e., Seniors) and Boomers (see yesterday’s post), there is already the need to begin thinking beyond Boomers.

Now this might sound strange coming from Tom Belford. I’ve been pretty disinclined to attribute much fundraising significance today to social media. Consequently, some irate readers have accused me of being a fearful, closed-minded, blinders-on, head-up-my-butt, direct mail troglodyte. And, the truth is, I do believe it will be a long time before revenues from Facebook, Twitter or their clones and successors amount to much more than footnotes in any nonprofit’s balance sheet.

That said, one can’t deny the demographics. Nonprofits must devote some energy and resources to new marketing channels and their users. But it’s all a matter of balance.

For most groups, small gift fundraising must still focus on direct mail and what maybe we can begin to call “traditional” online fundraising — email campaigns, converting website visitors, and generating leads online for direct mail prospecting (and providing online giving options in the mail).

But seed investments must also be made in social media. Not only because these are channels of choice for younger generations and future donors, but also because word-of-mouth and referrals have become hugely important to successful fundraising amongst all generations, and this kind of “missionary” work can be powerfully amplified and accelerated by social media.

Again, it’s a matter of balance. I’d still treat social media as experimental for fundraising purposes; I’d treat the investment as risk capital … and any money raised as gravy. And the smaller my organization’s fundraising team and budget, the larger (much larger) percentage of my resources I’d devote to what actually works (i.e. reliably raises money) today.

Tom