Survey breaks down Giving Tuesday donors, engagement by generation

• Date: 01 May 2020
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30756

MAY 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

5

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Nonprot Research

Survey breaks down Giving Tuesday donors,

engagement by generation

A new survey of donors from across generations

nds that awareness levels and engagement with

Giving Tuesday campaigns vary widely. The survey,

from fundraising software company Qgiv, nds that

baby boomers had the lowest donation rates for

Giving Tuesday 2019, followed by Generation Z,

Generation X and then millennials at the top of the

list. Surprisingly, Gen Z had the highest number of

respondents that weren’t even aware of Giving Tues-

day, a seemingly contradictory nding, as the bulk

of Giving Tuesday campaigns focus on the younger

demographic. Nonprot Business Advisor spoke with

Abby Jarvis, nonprot education manager at Qgiv,

about the results and what they mean for charities.

Q: As Giving Tuesday has grown in popularity over

recent years, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is es-

pecially appealing to younger donors. Yet, your data

shows that Gen Z is the least familiar with it, and logged

the second-lowest donation rate behind boomers. What

explains this disconnect?

A: Well, let’s ip the script a little bit. Yes, Gen Z

donors are the generation least familiar with Giving

Tuesday. But 58% of Generation Z are aware of Giving

Tuesday. That’s a pretty remarkable awareness rate.

I think a 28% giving rate jibes pretty well with

what we know about Generation Z. It’s important to

remember that they’re a young generation! We only

talked to people 18 years of age or older, which is

a relatively small part of the generation as a whole.

Many Gen Z donors are still students. Many more are

just getting established in the workforce. They don’t

have a tremendous amount of disposable income yet,

so I think it’s kind of remarkable that they’re donating

at the rates we’re seeing.

Millennials, on the other hand, are predominantly

in their 30s. They’re much more well-established and

have more income. Many have families and have been

in the workforce for years. It makes sense that they’re

donating to Giving Tuesday at higher rates—right

now, they probably have a greater capacity to give.

Q: With millennials topping the list of Giving Tues-

day donors and boomers at the bottom, Gen X is right in

the middle. But notably, this group accounts for much of

the higher-dollar gifts. Does that make it more crucial

for charities to engage this generation of donors?

A: One thing to keep in mind is that donors don’t

tend to make very high-dollar gifts right away. Very

few donors land on a Giving Tuesday form and make

a $500+ donation without having previous ties to an

organization. That’s why major gifts ofcers will look

at a donor’s giving history as part of their prospect

research!

Instead of trying to come up with a Giving Tuesday

engagement strategy for Generation X donors, focus

instead on cultivating your donors year-round. The

person who makes a big gift on Giving Tuesday is

probably already making smaller gifts the rest of the

year, so year-round cultivation will be the most im-

portant strategy. Communicate your donors’ impact.

Thank them for their gifts. Show them the difference

they make. When you send appeals, send appeals

that speak to their motivations and past support.

Donor cultivation should be a year-round activity,

not something done exclusively for Giving Tuesday.

Q: Per the report, boomers are the least likely to

support Giving Tuesday, with just 17% donating last

year. Numbers like these can be taken by nonprots as

a reason to “write off” this cohort, and indeed many

charities have developed their campaigns in ways that

largely leave out older donors. Is this a smart strategy,

given the low donation rates?

A: Oh gosh, don’t write off entire groups of people!

Since we didn’t ask people why they did or did not give

on Giving Tuesday, I don’t want to condently state

why boomers do or don’t give to Giving Tuesday cam-

paigns. What I will say is that our study revealed that

many boomer donors prefer to give through the mail

in response to direct mail campaigns. Giving Tuesday

is a giving event that started online and picks up tons

of momentum on social media channels and other

digital avenues. If a nonprot doesn’t include direct

mail pieces in their Giving Tuesday campaigns, they

may not engage donors who prefer to give that way.

Right now, the baby boomer generation is respon-

sible for the majority of charitable dollars given, so I

don’t think it’s that boomer donors aren’t interested.

If your boomer donors aren’t supporting you on

(See DONORS on page 8)