Donor Demographics

Four fundraising experts discussed donor giving trends and what they mean for fundraisers at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New York Chapter's Fund Raising Day in New York. Margaret Holman, president of Holman Consulting, tackled individual giving.

Four fundraising experts discussed donor giving trends and what they mean for fundraisers at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater New York Chapter's Fund Raising Day in New York. Nonprofit consultant Mary Hoyt kicked things off by sharing the big picture of the fundraising landscape.

Yes, the millennials, those born between 1981 and 2000, are coming. And, yes, they are the largest generation in American history. (Sorry fellow boomers, we’ve been usurped.)

Different kinds of donors tend to support different kinds of charitable causes, a new study says.

Only a minority of religious donors support specifically religious work through nonprofits, for example, while black donors are twice as likely as white donors to support higher education, and the causes people choose to support often are quite dependent on their political views, says Heart of the Donor, a study commissioned by Russ Reid and conducted by Grey Matter Research & Consulting.

Ethnicity plays a role in how people perceive charitable and political causes they encounter on social networks and whether they go on to get involved with those causes, a new survey finds.

Out of 2,000 participants in the survey, 30 percent of black adults and 39 percent of Hispanics said they were more likely to support online causes rather than causes they encountered offline; 24 percent of whites said the same. The study was released by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication and Ogilvy PR, a public-relations company.

Different donor segments respond in different ways to different approaches. Successful fundraisers know that nuances in messaging can mean the difference between a gift and a gaffe.

MINDset Direct’s Karin Kirchoff talks about how fundraisers can best communicate with the newest donors: millennials.

Women are more passionate than men about getting involved in nonprofit causes and paying attention to them through social-media sites, while men tend to view supporting causes through social media as a fad, according to a study released last week.

The study, which analyzed responses to an online survey completed by 2,000 Americans, was prepared by Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication and paid for by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.

While both men and women put “feeding the hungry” and “supporting our  troops” as top causes, they differ on what else they consider important.

A seven-figure gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts from former General Motors group vice president Roy Roberts and his wife, Maureen, has put a spotlight on the relative dearth of high-profile African-American philanthropists, Crain's Detroit Business and the Detroit Free Press report.

In recognition of the first seven-figure contribution to DIA by an African American, the museum will rename one of its galleries after the couple.

Here are some of the key findings from the U.S. edition of the 2011 Cygnus Donor Survey, Where Philanthropy is Headed in 2011.