10 responses to “Our Donors Are Dying”

1. Simone Joyaux says:

   July 17, 2015 at 7:13 am

   And how many times do we have to fight board members and even executive directors about the age thing?

   We even have to fight the millennials about this. So many millennials working in development offices want to do fundraising their way… the way that these young fundraisers and their friends want to read and what they want to hear. Too many young fundraisers don’t bother to read the research about the different interests of real donors and young people. Too many young fundraisers invent events and direct mail and newsletters that actually run directly counter to the interests of real donors.

   So why? Why do so many boards and board members and EDs doubt what experienced fundraisers tell them? What are development officers doing or not doing that too often produces denials by boards, their members, and the EDs?

   We fundraisers must solve this problem of denial and ignorance. I don’t expect EDs and boards and board members and young fundraisers to know all the stuff. But I do expect young fundraisers and experienced fundraisers to regularly read research and body of knowledge and best practice and share the highlights — with authority and sources. And then I expect EDs and boards and board members to acknowledge, accept, and behave accordingly.

   Has everyone read CompassPoint’s 2013 UnderDeveloped Report? Still all over the Internet. And visit my Free Download Library on my website and read my response.

   Come on people. Let’s get it together. We are a profession. EDs and board members don’t know what we should know and tell them.

2. Mike Cowart says:

   July 17, 2015 at 9:20 am

   Roger,
   Thanks for this great reminder. I saw this life expectancy information last week and am excited, as we do not mail to grateful patients younger than 60. We measure ages 60-64 and 65+. Yep, the older group performs better, and we have many more years of productivity IF we nurture them properly.

3. Kathy Swayze, CFRE says:

   July 17, 2015 at 9:33 am

   Great discussion Roger. Yes, our donors are old but we still have MANY great years left to talk with our donors about how they can leave their mark on the world by leaving a gift to charity. Now is a great time for every organization to increase its investment in planned gifts that can be truly transformational.

4. Leslie Turcotte says:

   July 17, 2015 at 9:59 am

   Charities eager to spend time and resources chasing the youth market, many whom are not coming close to reaching their actual market?

   Before specifically targeting the next generation it is important to ask yourself how much of my limited time, energy and resources should we be spending focused on this cohort? What would success look like and what exactly is our goal? Once we engage this group do we have the resources to mentor them and continue to engage/inspire them? What is the opportunity cost?

   Too many charities see the youth as an easier “safe” ask.

   Remember – effort is often directly linked to reward. The donor or volunteer that needs more cultivation and is more engaged in philanthropy often has more to offer a charity in time, treasures and talents.

   Passion and enthusiasm is not exclusive to people under 25 years of age. Often the true understanding of commitment and perseverance comes with age.

5. Chuck Pruitt says:

   July 17, 2015 at 10:32 am

   Great topic, Roger. Like you, I have been in my fair share of those meetings when Board members and others ask: “What are we going to do in 10 years when all our donors are dead?” As you astutely observe, here you are 46 years later and the question hasn’t changed.
   Research on donor giving behavior over the last several decades consistently shows that this is a lifestyle not a generational phenomenon and the pool of donors is continually being refreshed as baby boomers and others “age into” the donor market.
   The challenges ahead continue to be crafting new multi-channel strategies to engage folks where they want to be rather than where we want them to be and to continue with ever-better new donor acquisition efforts to ensure that we are doing our part to expand the market and offset the real losses that are happening every day.

6. Ava Myles says:

   July 17, 2015 at 11:17 am

   Young fundraiser here! I am 22 years old and let me tell you, it is not gonna be easy to try to get people my age to donate. It’s not that we don’t care. It’s not that we don’t think you have a worthy cause. Many times, it’s not even that we’re unemployed or underemployed (though that is a real problem for many people).

   When I talk to my friends about my work or fundraising in general, the number one obstacle to giving I hear is DEBT. A LOT of student loan debt.

   Youth unemployment is a real issue, but even among those who are gainfully employed, there are so many other financial priorities (paying down debt, saving/paying for medical school, law school or graduate school, getting married, scraping together some savings from the remaining nickles, etc.) that donating is not even an after thought.

   If you really want to get young people involved, my advice is to lure them in with volunteer opportunities.

   You have to make it substantive though. “Making the world a better place” is great, but you have to offer a little more than that. They want experience and skills. “Stamping envelopes and answering phones” is much less impressive on a resume than “Assisted Director of Communications with development of website redesign”. What are you doing for their resume and their employment prospects?

   Think about it like this: Substantive volunteer jobs give me (young person) the opportunity to gain experience and add something valuable to my resume. The more impressive my resume and experiences are, the better chance I have of moving ahead in my respective career and making more money. When I am making more money later in life and I have more dispensable income, hopefully you have kept in touch with me, I really enjoyed volunteering with you, I really believe in your mission, and I want to continue to be a part of it. At this point, maybe I want to become a donor.

   There are a million and one different ways to engage younger people. If you are willing to engage them now, without asking for their money, you may see significant returns later. (No guarantees, that’s just my hunch). You might just have to wait a while to see the fruits of your labor. In the meantime, you have enthusiastic people who are willing and able to help your organization in other ways. Who knows where this will lead?

7. Pamela Barden says:

   July 17, 2015 at 12:11 pm

   Great post, Roger. How well I remember the meeting where the lament was that those cheap Baby Boomers would destroy the nonprofit community in general, and our nonprofit in specific, because they were not as philanthropic as their parents.

   I teach fundraising at two universities,and in almost every class hear arguments for throwing out the “old fashioned” in exchange for “new” and “fun” ideas that, as Simone said, “run directly counter to the interests of real donors.”

   There’s room for new methods, too, but when the budget is tight and staff time is stretched, “go where the fish are biting” – and that’s “old folks” like us baby boomers who, shockingly, turned out to be pretty darned philanthropic once we finished paying for our Millennial kids’ braces, soccer league fees and college educations.

8. Tom Gaffny says:

   July 17, 2015 at 2:45 pm

   Great points.

   Where can I get one of those special “Agitator Board Meeting Emergency Swipe Files” – I can think of about 100 times when I could have used one!

9. June Steward says:

   July 20, 2015 at 2:08 am

   I’ve begun my own swipe file. And it’s not just boards… it’s everybody else in an organisation that does not understand direct response fundraising. My swipe file includes answers to questions around:

   – Long vs. short copy
   – Technically ungrammatical copy
   – Isn’t it cheaper/ easier/ better/ trendier to acquire donors online
   – Why not just run a dinner/ fun run/ anything else that usually doesn’t raise much money
   – Why not just go for corporates
   – But it’s not my job to ask donors for money
   – If we’re going to hire a fundraiser, can’t we just pay them by commission?
   – We need to get our name/ brand “out there”

   What would actually really be useful – and one day when I have time (ha!) – I may research and compile this myself, would be to gather together actual examples of research/ testing that shows that long copy really does outperform short copy most of the time. Or how tweaking the offer affects results ie. asking for something concrete performs better than asking for something generic or abstract.

   Although some of my clients do testing, a lot of smaller organisations just don’t have large enough donor files to get valid results from testing and I spend inordinate amounts of time trying to explain, that yes, many other organisations (both commercial and non-profit) do it this way, yes, it really does work and yes, it will work for you as long as you let me do what you’re paying me for.

10. June Steward says:

    July 20, 2015 at 2:14 am

    Sorry i just realised my previous post was off topic – I read the post on the emergency swipe file then read this post and responded to the emergency swipe file post on the wrong post!