AFP CEO's Take on Convio's 2010 Holiday Giving Survey Findings

By Joe Boland

Convio recently released its 2010 Holiday Giving Survey, conducted by Edge Research, which predicts that overall giving during the 2010 holiday season will exceed $48 billion. Furthermore, 74 percent of U.S. adults plan to give before the end of the year — despite the economic troubles that began in 2008.

"People are aware of the economy and the economic impact that it's had on those individuals who are less fortunate than themselves," says Paulette Maehara, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. "So the economy is a major concern to them, but it's also a concern as it relates to the impact on others less fortunate. At this time of year, people tend to be very emotional in their giving. So when you look around and you see, you read and you hear in news reports that the need has grown significantly in food banks and in social-services organizations around the U.S. and the world, it's hard not to be emotional about it and to be concerned."

That heightened awareness of need and emotion helps explain why online giving alone is expected to top $6 billion according to the survey, an increase of more than 30 percent from 2009.

Maehara recently shared her thoughts on some of Convio's key survey findings in an interview with FundRaising Success.

Target younger donors
According to the survey, 83 percent of Generation Y plans to give this holiday season, while 79 percent of Generation X plans to give. The data suggests that Gen X and Y are actually more likely to give during the holiday season than older generations, evidenced by Gen X's predicted average total gifts of $348 this holiday season, larger than any other generation.

"The really fascinating thing to me was the gift amount for the Generation Y and X donors being larger than that of the boomers or matures. I'm not really sure that I could leap that far, but if that's what the data is saying, it's really fascinating," Maehara says. "The message here is that you can't ignore young donors, or you do at your peril.