Ah, Youth…
Anyone working for or with donor-supported organizations is probably familiar with the fact that younger adults are less likely to give money to church or charity than are older adults. Younger donors also tend to give less money than older donors.
It’s been this way for a long time. And as time marches on and those younger adults age, they start becoming more settled, earning more, focusing more on others, and wanting to set an example for kids. All of these factors tend to lead each younger generation to grow into the reliable donors their parents were.
Except…
…what happens if this stops? If younger adults don’t change and mature into dependable donors to charities and ministries?
What then?
In The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving, we examine the giving habits of American evangelical Protestants. And one thing we’re rather concerned about is evidence that today’s younger evangelicals may not support ministries and non-profits tomorrow at the same levels their parents do today.
This is just one of the issues we dig into through this research. Some other important findings:
- One out of every five evangelicals did not give a penny to church or charity over the last year. This includes one out of every ten with a six-figure income.
- Among those higher-income evangelicals, only 65% gave money to both church and charity.
- Half of all evangelical Protestants contribute less than 1% of their total income to church or charity.
- Among evangelicals who give outside of their church, the average is 3.8 separate organizations supported over the course of a year.
- Virtually every measurement of giving – whether they give, how much they give, what proportion of their income they give, etc. – depends heavily on how engaged they are in their faith (frequency of church attendance, Bible readership, small group involvement, etc.).
Learn More about Evangelicals and Giving
Discover more in The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving, a study of the donor habits of more than 1,000 evangelical Christians. The study is available exclusively from Grey Matter and Infinity Concepts. Just e-mail your request to ron@greymatterresearch.com and we’ll send you the free report.
And while you’re at it, consider how research like this can address the questions you have about your own organization’s current or potential donors. What are the questions that, if you had the answers, could help make you more effective in donor retention and/or acquisition? We specialize in providing information that helps organizations make wiser decisions. How can we help you?