Why do people give? And why do they keep giving and even increase their giving in many cases?
Fundraising consultants love to talk about all the reasons they think this happens, but it’s far better to go straight to the source and ask them. That’s exactly what the Donor Participation study from give.org did. They surveyed people from all five generations and asked a variety of questions about giving.
One set of questions sought to understand why they give to charity, and what motivates them to keep giving.
The answers will help nonprofits more effectively communicate their giving appeals to donors from different generations. So pay attention – using the information in this article can help your organization raise big money.
Why People Give to Charity
The first set of data addresses the basic question of what motivates people to give to charity. What’s interesting is that among those who increased giving and those who maintained their giving, the ranking of the reasons was basically identical.
However, the percentage of people choosing each reason was higher for those who increased their giving for every reason. The chart below shows what we mean.
The first column shows the reasons people could choose for why they give. The second column shows the responses for those who increased their giving. The third column shows the statistics for those who maintained their giving for at least five years.
There were other reasons given that garnered far lower responses, such as knowing someone who has been affected by the cause, trusting or feeling connected to the charity, simply being asked, and the tax benefits.
And those less popular reasons still matter, because for individual donors, if those are the primary reason they give, you want to be aware of it and do what you can to nurture that motivation.
But it’s quite evident that the top three reasons people give are emotion-driven reasons. People aspire to give. They long to do something great with their lives. They want their lives to matter, and they feel good when they achieve this.
If it seems like your fundraising communications have been a bit dry lately and that you’ve struggled to motivate more generosity, take a look at your messaging and see if you’re addressing any of these top reasons for why people give to charity.
Generational Differences in Why People Give
A few notable differences emerged when the survey broke down the previous data set into five generations – Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Matures.
This is important because different organizations draw their donor dollars from particular generations. Some may have donors from all of these, and others primarily from just a few of them. Either way, if you can segment your donor lists by generation, you might be able to tailor your communications to them based on the motivations for giving that appear stronger for each group.
Let’s look at the most striking differences.
Want to be part of something bigger
This motive for giving was much stronger for young donors than older ones.
47% of Gen Z respondents who have maintained their giving for at least five years chose this as one of their primary reasons for giving, as did 42% of Millennials. In contrast, 33% of Gen Xers chose this, 29% of Boomers, and just 20% of Matures.
However, it’s worth noting that among those who increased their giving, many more Gen Xers (55%) and Boomers (42%) listed this as a primary reason for doing so.
So, using language related to joining a movement that is bigger than what a person can achieve on their own seems to resonate a lot with young donors, and also with existing donors from older generations who are open to increasing their giving.
Giving builds my reputation
While the overall numbers for this motive were low across all generations, many more younger donors chose this as a motive for giving compared to older ones. In fact, less than 2% of the three older generations listed this as a reason. So, almost no one. But 12% of Gen Zers and 8% of Millennials chose this as a reason they give to charity.
So if you’re segmenting donors, it’s not a bad idea to tap into how giving affects your reputation as part of your messaging to younger donors.
Faith and religion
This motive for giving resonated across all generations, with about 20% of most generations listing it as a motive for giving to charity. However, 27% of Matures chose this, standing out from the pack. This data was for donors who have given for at least five years.
Even more notable, the numbers skyrocketed for all generations except Gen Z among donors who increased their giving. Among this group, 29% of Millennials said religion affected their decision to increase their giving, as did 32% of Gen X, 33% of Boomers, and 44% of Matures. All these figures are significantly higher than for those who just maintained their giving.
This suggests you can confidently appeal to faith and religion when reaching out to existing donors and asking them to increase their giving. Though, this will fall on deaf ears for the donors who are not religious. So it’s better to know which ones are, create a unique segment for them, and then use this as part of your messaging with that group only.
Everyone should contribute what they can
Interestingly, this motive for why people give resonated strongest with Gen X (30%) and Boomers (34%), with Millennials far below all the others at just 9%. That suggests this messaging can be harder to land since there isn’t a clear dividing line between older and younger generations.
But once again, the data changes substantially for donors who increased their giving.
Here, greater numbers of all five generations (except Gen X) listed this as a reason they chose to increase their generosity. Boomers (47%) again led the pack, but Gen Z (36%), Millennials (36%), and Matures (41%) all far eclipsed the statistics for the who maintained their giving.
So, when appealing to existing donors to increase their giving, this seems like another motive you can confidently appeal to.
I have been asked by the charity
This again was a lower-ranking reason in the overall list, but the responses were significantly higher for older generations, with Boomers (15%) and Matures (16%) much higher than all the others for donors who maintained their giving.
However, for donors who increased their giving, while all the other generations stayed at about the same levels, 26% of Matures listed this as a reason for giving more.
This suggests that simply asking older donors to give is fairly effective, and that it doesn’t really matter to a sizable portion of them why you’re asking. If they want to give, they’ll give.
What Will Motivate Donors to Increase Their Giving?
The previous data reveals what motivated actual donors to increase their giving. But what did donors say when asked about scenarios that might make them increase their giving?
In other words, we’ve seen the reasons for why some donors already did give more. But donors were also asked what might motivate them to do this again. Only a few answers emerged with a high degree of confidence, which the study authors chose based on which ones were ranked with a 9 or a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10.
How are you using their money?
Among those scenarios, the leading motivation was for donors to receive additional information about what the charity does with their contribution. 25% of donors said this could help them increase their giving. Donors want to know what you’re doing with their money. When they feel informed about this, they give more.
Local impact
The second most motivating scenario, chosen by 20% of respondents, was to make it easier to find charities that serve their local communities. People want to give locally, but this can be hard if they don’t know any local charities. This means it’s worth some effort to get your name out in local news publications and other channels that draw a local audience.
Tax deductions
Right below that with 19%, donors said they’d give more if they felt it were easier to get a federal tax deduction. There isn’t much you can really do about this, other than to make sure you’re sending giving receipts to all your donors and remind them their gifts are tax-deductible.
You could also send an email around tax time with a link to a web page explaining how to itemize deductions, for people who do their own taxes.
Social media
Below that, 14% said they’d be more likely to increase their giving if it were easier to give through social media. That’s something worth exploring if you haven’t already set it up.
Leadership
Finally, below that were bunch of similar motivations, all related to the identities of the people who run the charity, whether it be by gender, race, political alignment, or religion. Some people like to give more to organizations led by people who share common traits with them.
That suggests including photos of your leaders on some of your fundraising communications might have a positive effect on giving.
More Generational Differences
There were several other notable differences between the generations in other aspects of the study. If you’re segmenting your donor database by generation, check out this article for more details about age differences in philanthropy.
