Young Donors Want More Than ‘Tweets’ and Texts From Charities, Survey Finds

They may sleep with cellphones by their beds and share details of their lives online in 140-character “tweets,” but people in their 20s and 30s want more from nonprofit groups than a connection via social media, according to a new survey.

Ninety-one percent of respondents in a survey of 2,000 people under 40 said they are at least somewhat likely to respond to a face-to-face request for money from a charity.

Eighty-six percent said they wanted updates on a charity’s programs or services, 55 percent said they wanted information on its financial condition, and 68 percent wanted information about volunteer opportunities.

The survey was conducted by Achieve and Johnson Grossnickle and Associates, two groups that consult with charities on fund raising. Five nonprofit groups that work with the consulting firms, including two universities, distributed the survey to students and supporters.

Nearly 42 percent of people in the survey said they donated $300 or more to nonprofit groups last year—a finding that people who conducted the survey said shows that young donors deserve attention from fund raisers.

“A lot of people have associated small gifting with millennial donors, and that might not be the case,” says Derrick Feldmann, chief executive of Achieve.

Young people in the survey said they prefer to get communications from charities via e-mail.

Ninety-three percent of respondents favored that method of communication, while 27 percent preferred print and 24 percent preferred Facebook.

Not surprisingly, Google is many donors’ first stop when they want to find out information about a charity: 86 percent of respondents said they used the search engine to learn about nonprofit groups, 72 percent rely on e-mail, and 51 percent on Facebook.

Among the survey’s other findings:

• More than 61 percent of younger people said they would like access to board and executive leaders; 53 percent said they have such access.

• Seventy-five percent are at least somewhat interested in working with a charity’s leaders to shape the organization’s direction.

• Many people in the survey (75 percent) said they would be likely to give if asked by a family member, compared with 63 percent for a friend and 38 percent for a co-worker.

The 2010 Millennial Donor Study is available at http://www.millennialdonors.com.