Millennials Embrace Both Online and Snail-Mail Appeals, Says Study

May 23, 2017 | Read Time: 2 minutes

Title: “Millennial Donors: They’re Not Who You Think They Are”

Organization: Dunham + Company

Summary: More than half of millennial donors have made a charitable gift online, and they are more likely than older donors to be moved to support a charity by something they see on the organization’s website, according to a survey by researchers at Campbell Rinker for Dunham + Company, a fundraising and marketing consultant that focuses on Christian-oriented charities.

About 36 percent of millennials said a charity’s website has motivated them to give, versus 27 percent of Generation X donors and just 14 percent of baby boomers.

And yet, the survey also discovered that young adults are likely to respond to direct mail, too: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 indicating the highest level of agreement, young donors responded with an average of 3.4 that appeal letters moved them to respond.

The researchers surveyed 1,391 American adults of all ages who had given at least $20 to charity in the previous year.

Among the findings:

Millennials had given an average of $580 in the previous year, compared with $799 for Generation X (born 1965 to 1980), $1,365 for baby boomers, and $1,093 for the eldest generation.n Millennials volunteered an average of 40 hours in the previous year, making them nearly even with boomers (41 hours).

Matching grants are more attractive to millennials than to donors over all. About 57 percent of all donors said they were more likely to give when a matching grant was offered, but 72 percent of young adults said the same.

The top three causes millennials supported were, in descending order, places of worship, faith-based nonprofits, and education. For boomers, the top three causes were: social services, places of worship, and health and medicine.

One in four millennials reported that they attended religious services at least once a week. Twenty-two percent of young adults said they plan to give more to a place of worship in the coming year.

Today's Top Jobs