Older donors will become more demanding and discriminating and fundraisers will have to work harder to gain their donations, a new report by the Commission on the Voluntary Sector & Ageing predicts.
The report, A better ask, says charities could enjoy a “funding bonanza” as the baby boomers retire with men and women over the age of 50 holding 80 per cent of the UK’s wealth and those over 60 contributing more than half of all donations.
But the new generation of retirees is likely to be more demanding and less loyal than the current generation, it says, and fundraisers will have to adapt and innovate.
It warns that the ‘age of deference is over’ and that the baby boomers are “the most savvy generation in British history”. It says they are unlikely to settle for giving money away without knowing why it’s needed and how it’s used.
Donors are likely to want a more engaged relationship with the organisations they donate to, it says.
Already nearly half of all donors also volunteer and the report says this trend is likely to continue.
Charities will need to develop stronger links between fundraising and volunteering programmes and offer a mix of giving, volunteering and social activity, the report says.
It predicts that the blurring of lines between donor, volunteer and beneficiary is a trend that is likely to continue, along with more demanding consumer behaviour.
“Donors will increasingly seek organisations which they feel share their values and priorities,” it says.
The baby boomers are likely to become more focused on a cause or issue, rather than specific organisations, which may require charities to take a more collaborative approach to fundraising, perhaps in a similar way to the Disasters Emergency Committee crisis appeals, the report suggests.
A better ask is based on interviews with fundraisers and donors across the sector and a roundtable event with fundraisers held in June.
The report says Ice Bucket Challenges will not be the answer for this this generation, which is “as sceptical as they are generous” and have seen fads come and go. “Some fundraisers have told us they are concerned about perceptions that these types of fundraising challenges alienate older, more established donors,” it says. “It is hard to predict what viral fundraising campaigns will look like in a few decades’ time, but fundraisers will need to watch out for jarring differences in expectation and tone between different age groups.”
Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC and a member of the Commission, said: “The voluntary sector has two major challenges: to find the right way to attract donations from this group, and to try and secure the donors of the future before they retire.
“Charities can look at all sorts of things, from responding to new financial rules to making sure the right staff are in charge of making the big ‘ask’.”
The Commission was set up by the think tank NPC in partnership with the International Longevity Centre-UK, and has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund and Prudential.
