Your donors are older.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Donors to your organization are older – in most cases, between 65-75 years of age.

We’ve tracked this repeatedly and have found this giving demographic continues to move up the age ladder.

Nonprofits love chasing younger donors. Some have success with it, but most don’t.

Every time we test a younger demographic for acquisition, the older group always wins.

Younger segments almost never produce the kind of response that makes sense ever to do it again.


Why most donors are older…

There are good reasons younger people don’t respond very well.

... They’re not having health issues like older people.

... They have less discretionary income. They may also be paying off mortgages or college expenses.

... They have not yet reached the age where they are interested in being philanthropic.


It's all about motivation.

Jeff Brooks, in his blog post “The motivation divide between young and old - and what that means for your fundraising” – says that when people get to about 50 years of age, a person’s motivation shifts from achievement and success toward “significance.”

In other words, older donors are less interested in “winning” and more interested in “mattering.”

He writes:

“If you are well under 50, you may have to suspend your disbelief as you read this, because it seems utterly alien to the way you think.

But it’s a meaningful and important change. Part of the reason older people are more likely to be donors than younger people: Giving helps your sense of significance a lot more than it helps you feel like you’re ‘winning.’”

Learn to talk to older donors.

Jeff says since most fundraising is created by younger people, they tend to overlay their own success motivation onto it.

To them, the motivation for significance that drives older donors doesn’t make sense. So, they create fundraising focusing on their own interests.

Success-motivated fundraising is full of facts and proof. But significance-motivated fundraising is emotional, story-driven, and donor focused.

It says, “This is how you make a difference!”

Jeff says if you’re under 50, your challenge is to figure out how to talk to older donors, even if you don’t find it compelling.

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