How to Engage Young Donors
How do we engage younger people, with Baby Boomers aging out as our primary donors? I wrote a post for my sponsor, OnlineGiving.org, that shares creative ways to accomplish this.
Recent reports on the state of giving in America have revealed that engaging younger generations to become motivated to give generously is one of the Church’s greatest challenges. One such study, The Giving Gap: Changes in Evangelical Generosity, states, “The youngest evangelicals have seen the greatest declines in generosity. Currently, generosity is more than three times higher among the oldest evangelicals as it is among the youngest.”1.
With Baby Boomers, most churches’ most generous age group, entering their retirement years, it is imperative that churches train up the next generation of younger donors. Reading statistics that show that younger donors have yet to step up could fill a church leader with despair. However, the bad news does contain kernels of good news that we should focus on.
If you drill down into these reports, you will find that younger generations are willing to give if they are motivated. A recent report from the Giving USA Foundation, featuring a survey by Dunham+Company, found that “millennials and Gen Z (born 1997–2012) have the highest rates of donors who had given through a charity’s website or a smartphone or tablet, as well as having the highest rates of donors who were influenced to give through social media.”2. The question is, how do you engage younger generations?
Two years ago, I interviewed a local pastor for an article I was writing for his denomination on their progress with young adults. Here is what he said, “I think one of our greatest challenges is connecting with younger generations in a way that engages them to become good stewards. We all know that there is a passing of the generational baton, but I fear we have made some assumptions about the younger generations that are not helpful. People don’t feel like we truly understand them. We need to work on this. For one thing, I find most pastors assume their audience is more biblically literate than they are. We need to assume they know nothing and start with answering the question, ‘Why do we give?’ It is not enough to say the Bible says to give. We must tell them why it says that. I find this is especially important to younger generations. When they grasp the why of giving and see what giving can accomplish, they are all in.”
I call this connecting the dots. To gain the first gift, you must help the donor see the potential that their gift can make. Multiple studies have shown that younger generations are highly motivated to be a part of something that will make a difference. The difference the Church makes is eternal.
The ultimate question becomes, how do we engage younger people? You might find this curious, but we at OnlineGiving.org believe our platform and tools are tailored to engage with all your donors. Our platform works perfectly across all major communication platforms. Using our system, you can communicate the story of what you are doing with each appeal through multiple platforms. Our church partners can instantly communicate with members anywhere in the world.
To read more about how to attract younger donors, check out this post: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/attracting-the-next-generation-of-donors
As I approach issues like this, I am reminded of the Parable of the Great Banquet that Jesus shares in Luke 14:15-23. The story is about a man preparing a great banquet and sending his servants out to invite guests. When they return, stating that all had rejected his invitation, the master said to his servants, “‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full.” For your message to be heard, it must be declared where people are. Today, they are online, on social media, and highly mobile. We must learn how to engage with younger generations to reverse the decline in giving. At OG, we have created a platform with plans to help any church do exactly that! To learn more about how we can do this for your church, contact us at (615) 206-4000 or drop us a line at support@onlinegiving.org.
This post can be found at: https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/how-to-engage-younger-donors
1. Infinity Concepts | Grey Matter Research, The Giving Gap: Changes In Evangelical Generosity. 2024 report.
2. Giving USA Foundation, Giving by Generation. 2024 report.