Arts Giving Is a Low Priority for Data-Driven Millennial Donors

A new generation of donors committed to social causes and sympathetic to the tenets of “effective altruism” could create long-term fundraising problems for cultural nonprofits, according to The Seattle Times.

Theaters, museums, symphonies, and other arts institutions, long popular with more traditional donors, are struggling to connect with younger philanthropists, who, in a recent survey, ranked arts and culture last on a list of giving priorities, the Times writes. Particularly in tech centers such as Seattle, well-off millennials favor a data-driven, results-oriented approach, favoring organizations that can quantify their effectiveness in metrics such as mortality or graduation rates.

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy article on charities’ challenges in attracting millennial donors.