Gaging and Engaging Your Generational Donor Segmentation
I’m sounding off on generational fundraising today and I think we’re going to have some fun and hopefully you will get some good ideas on segmenting your donor list for generational preferences and relationships!
Each generation living today has come of age with profoundly different experiences concerning mass communication and these differences have
directly impacted how each of these generations give to nonprofits.
Seniors who came of age during the era of print media still prefer their print communications and charitable giving. The same is mostly true for baby boomers who however are young enough to be experiencing the rise of all new social media in their daily lives which consequently is impacting their life long giving habits.
Then there’s Gen X and Gen Y who both came of age during the rise of mass Internet communications and they increasingly shun all print communications and fundraising but they adapt quickly to the new trends in mobile and social giving.
And Gen Y who come of age in a post-print era and will be connecting to the non-profit causes and givings through technologies that haven’t even been invented yet! Kind of scary isn’t it?
Due to the rapid speed of technology and technological advancement, from this point forward, we nonprofits will have to embrace multiple
communications and fundraising tools if we want to reach our donors and supporters of all ages.
Each generation definitely has their own they’re their own way of giving and each has a favorite or prefered communication channel and every development officer should be aware of these preferences and prefered way of giving.
Millennials take action for causes that they like and they’re active on the phone and text and guess what? They check YOUR website before giving a gift!
Gen Xers are most likely to fundraise for a cause and they’ll get out there if they care and try to do something about it! Gen Xers will check their email regularly, use social media and prefer text messages.
Gen Xers volunteer more and more often than any other generation.
Let’s look at the baby boomers. This is interesting because baby boomers spend many more hours a week online they definitely are answering their phone calls and their emails and this makes it really nice as you can talk to these donors! Not only will they answer the phone, you can
have a nice and meaningful conversation with them! Yea!
The silent generation,a wonderful generation, are very civic-minded and they really feel like they’re making an important difference when they’re donating to a cause that’s close to their heart and this and that’s nice because they are very interested in your project if it has the impact that’s close to their heart and they feel that they can help make it happen, thereby making a real difference.
Watch the Video and download the Generational PDF Check List for more info to help you with each generation.When you segment your donors, this information will be invaluable for better results and better donor relationships!
Click here for Generations Slide Presentation: generations
