Institutional Donors versus the Baby Boomers and Younger Generations touched upon the changing demographics of the nonprofit constituency. Mike Browne’s audits of faith based nonprofits showed that, in some organizations, Depression and WWII cohorts make up 90% of the donor databases. This is an alarming statistic, especially when you consider how many may be major constituent donors. Think about the time it took to develop the relationship with these constituents.
A question the nonprofit should ask is: How will our cultivation process change to bring on new generations of cohorts? What happens if the cultivation process takes longer with Boomers and younger cohorts? The approached used on Depression or WWII cohorts will not be successful with the next generation of constituents. As nonprofits try to cultivate relationships with the “Me Generation,” how will you bring value to these cohorts to support your mission?
The organization may already see a change in support from family foundations. An annual gift that once was a “given” from the foundation is no longer there. As younger generations of the family sit on the board, funding decisions are likely to change. They will have a different perspective of what is worthy of support – especially in faith based non-profits.
If the nonprofit is seeing a change in giving patters, now is the time to understand why. A strategy session with representatives of present and future cohorts will bring to light the differences in each generation. The knowledge gained from this session can help to develop a cultivation strategy for the next generation of funding opportunities.
-Gail
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