Are your donors old and dying?
Are they so old they don't respond to the modern look you want for your organization?
Are they so set in their ways that they don't respond to your great new positioning?
Is it time to drop everything and start going after Millennials?
Before you do anything drastic, read We need a new audience! at Fundraising Fundamentals:
You don't want younger donors. [H]aving an elderly donor base isn't a bad thing. On the contrary, it's great news. Old people give massively more to charity than young people. They have more money and more of it is disposable, they are more charitable and there are more of them. As donors they are vastly more valuable, giving both much more and much more reliably.If your charity isn't happy with the supporters it has got, I'd say the fault lies with the charity not the donors.
It's true. Young donors will cause you untold pain. They sometimes give in astounding numbers in response to a fad (Did someone say Ice Bucket Challenge?) or to major disasters. But outside of that, their giving is rare. And their retention is far below what we can expect from older donors.
Old people make the nonprofit world go 'round.
If you're serious about replacing your dying donors, you'll aim at almost old people, those between 45 and 65.
Potential donors fit into three categories:
Gold: 65 and older
Silver: 45 to 65
Brown: 45 and under
