Nonprofits still struggling with donor retention

• Date: 01 July 2017
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30334

6

JULY 2017NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

(See NONPROFITS on page 8)

New research shows that millennials are starting

to catch up with older generations in terms of their

charitable giving, increasing their donations and

charitable commitments as they mature.

The study, commissioned by Dunham+Company

and conducted by Campbell Rinker, found that

although millennials still give less overall than Gen

Xers, baby boomers and matures, they closely reect

Gen Xers and baby boomers when it comes to vol-

unteerism and attendance at religious services—two

of the key indicators of a person’s willingness to give

to charity, the study found.

“A growing body of research shows that millennials

are more engaged in philanthropy than we thought,”

said Rick Dunham, CEO of Dunham+Company.

“Our new study seems to indicate that millennials

will give more to charity as they mature. Anecdot-

ally, we know that factors like job status and student

debt can limit how much they give at this stage of

their lives.”

According to the survey:

• U.S. millennials gave $580 to charity in the past

year, compared to $799 for Gen Xers, $1,365 for

baby boomers and $1,093 for matures.

• Millennials averaged 40 volunteer hours over

the past year, compared to 34 for Gen Xers, 41 for

baby boomers and 70 for matures.

• Twenty-five percent of millennials attend

church once a week or more, compared to 27 percent

of Gen Xers, 28 percent of baby boomers and 36

percent of matures.

• Millennials gave an average of $416 to places

of worship and $96 to faith-based nonprots in the

past year. In addition, 22 percent of millennials said

they planned to give more to places of worship in

the coming year, the study found.

Another key nding: Millennials believe that

charities are more effective than government in

providing important services, which bodes well for

the nonprot sector, the study said.

“Millennial donors aren’t who we thought they

were,” said Dunham. “Our research showed they

are bullish on charities and are likely to give more

to charities as they mature.”

To access the study in full, go to http://www.dunham

andcompany.com. ■

Millennials increasing charitable commitments as they mature

Nonprot Research

Nonprots still struggling with donor retention

New data compiled by the Association of Fundrais-

ing Professionals and the Center on Nonprots and

Philanthropy at the Urban Institute shows that donor

retention rates hovered around 45 percent, on average,

for the U.S. nonprot sector in 2016—a slight decrease

from the year before.

According to the AFP, the groups’ 2017 Fundrais-

ing Effectiveness Survey Report from the Fundraising

Effectiveness Project summarizes data provided by

four donor software rms: Bloomerang, DonorPer-

fect, eTapestry and Neon. These four rms provided

anonymized gift transactions for all of the nonprots

using their software. All told, the report draws on data

from over 10,800 nonprot organizations across the

United States with 8.9 million donors.

According to the report, participating organizations

raised $9.129 billion in 2016 compared to $8.862 bil-

lion in 2015, for an overall rate of growth in giving of

$267 million, or 3 percent. Some other key ndings

from the report include:

• Gains of $4.893 billion in donations were gener-

ated from new, upgraded current and previously lapsed

donors. However, those gains were offset by losses of

$4.625 billion through reduced gifts and lapsed donors.

According to the FEP, this means that every $100

gained in 2016 was offset by $95 in losses through gift

attrition.

• Gains of 4.882 million in new and previously lapsed

donors were offset by losses of 4.832 million in lapsed

donors. This means that there was a growth of 49,421

donors, and every 100 donors gained in 2016 was offset

by 99 lost donors through attrition, the report said.

The largest growth in gift dollars/donors came

from new gifts/donors, and the pattern was most

pronounced in the organizations with the highest