The popular image of millennials often puts the members of that generation at one end of the philanthropy spectrum: the receiving end. At best, this storyline goes, millennials may throw a little money at the occasional GoFundMe. However, like generations of Americans before, this cohort—which the Pew Research Center defines as people born between 1981 and 1996—contains financial multitudes.
Census Bureau data from 2023 show that the median household income for householders aged 35 to 44, the upper two-thirds of the millennial demographic, was $101,300, the second highest among the five, under-65 age brackets covered. (The picture wasn’t as bright for householders aged 25 to 34, half of whom are millennials and half Gen Z: Their median household income was $85,780, good for fourth place.)
A study commissioned by Worth Media Group and done in partnership with Boston Consulting Group that looked into the most well-off millennials, so-called trailblazers, found outsized income coupled with a concern for living and spending according to their values—and an alternate approach to philanthropy.
The nearly 2,600 trailblazers surveyed make more money, with the household incomes of 82% topping $250,000 and almost 20% at $500,000 and up, and they try to spend it more conscientiously. This survey found that trailblazer millennials are 30% more likely than older generations to consider if a brand shares their values and 67% more likely to consider the sustainability aspects of a purchase.
Trailblazers also self-identify as more aware and engaged: About 67% said involvement in initiatives advancing social justice was crucial, and 58% called themselves politically engaged. Both figures surpassed the numbers for older generations by 40%.
However, that combination of money and motivation has not resulted in the change you might expect in charitable giving. To wit, 76% of trailblazers did not donate money in the last year, but 44% of those non-donors preferred volunteering time—far more than the 31% of Gen X non-donors and 21% of Baby Boomer non-donors who had the same preference.
And even among donors, 68% didn’t just give money but were actively involved in one way or another.
All of this presents challenges to nonprofits that they can’t meet only with a better social-media game.
The Decline in Donations Is Real, But Not Universal
“Giving incident rates have been on the decline,” said Jon Bergdoll, associate director of data partnerships at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. But, he added, it’s not specific to millennials: “That is a cross-generational effect dating back to the Great Recession.”
In January, the school published a report, “The Next Generation of Philanthropy,” that cited previous study data showing an overall drop in donations to secular causes since 2008—with millennials’ secular giving rate peaking at 32.3% in 2009 and then declining steadily to 21% in 2021, the most recent year available.
But millennials who did reach for a credit card or (presumably less likely) a checkbook were keener to donate to charities covering such basic needs as food, clothing, and housing: The share of millennial households giving to basic-needs efforts rose from 8% in 2008 to 14% in 2019.
David Dietz, director of impact initiatives for the global philanthropy community Nexus, said he’s seen a similar shift among members interested in “on-the-ground institutions, especially in a thing like disaster relief.”
He added that while the Trump administration’s slashing of foreign-aid efforts have raised awareness of human needs overseas, private charity can only do so much: “Philanthropy is just not going to come close to filling the billions of dollars that USAID gets.”
Donations to educational institutions also remain a smaller share of millennial giving, even as millennial earning power has grown. The Lilly School’s study found that only 3.5 % of millennial households gave to education causes in 2003, and just 6.5% in 2019.
Bergdoll said that may be a function of how many millennials are already giving money to colleges and universities as student-loan repayments. Millennial donors giving to educational institutions have more specific societal goals beyond supporting one school or another. “They’re exploring how to think about education and job training as they intersect with the other issues that they fund, such as early childcare and healthcare,” said Caroline Hodkinson, head of philanthropy and family governance advisory at Bessemer Trust. For example, that private advisory firm has been seeing a growing interest among clients in supporting nursing scholarships.
How Milennials Are Giving
Millennials are also finding different ways to give. The Lilly School study found that younger generations were more willing to donate through more personalized online mechanisms, like crowdfunding platforms and Facebook birthday platforms.
Bergdoll noted that this can also be a function of the 2017’s tax law changes, which left most taxpayers ineligible to deduct donations to qualifying charities. That makes a gift to a GoFundMe no more or less tax-relevant than a donation to a longstanding 501(c)3: “They’re a lot less likely to be receiving a tax benefit for their giving.”
However, he continued, younger donors also write their own definitions of philanthropy that go beyond cash gifts to include volunteering time or skill. “They’re doing these things in place of giving,” he said, cautioning that volunteering also declined overall during the pandemic and still seems to be recovering.
“We definitely see a lot of people who join different boards, join community foundations,” said Dietz.
Hodkinson said interest among Bessemer clients in serving on the boards of educational institutions can meet those organizations’ own interests: They can diversify their boards with younger members who bring fresh perspectives.
Nonprofits making those opportunities open to potential donors can also help themselves stand out in a crowded market. “There’s close to two million nonprofits in the United States alone,” Hodkinson said. “You can’t fund them all.”
Meeting Millennial Donors Where They’re At
These changes give leadership at nonprofits a great deal to think about. Bergdoll advised charities to recognize that younger donors are much more likely to try to do their own due diligence, researching a nonprofit’s operations and effectiveness at length before committing to a charitable gift.
The Lilly School’s report advised nonprofits not only to hire social-media experts but also to “seek collaboration with influencers who align with their organization’s mission and values,” and develop expertise in “emerging technologies such as blockchain and other advanced online engagement tools to improve transparency and accountability.”
Dietz advised against the traditional and time-consuming nonprofit practice of trying to keep the generosity of donors by preparing lengthy and info-dense year-end reports.
While he suggested that larger organizations may be unable to get away from putting out a 100-page annual report, smaller projects should think about better ways to use that organizational bandwidth.
Dietz, in turn, cited two things that charity: water founder Scott Harrison (also a Nexus board member) did to earn donors’ trust.
“One, he used technology to make it very transparent,” Dietz said, nodding to how that nonprofit provides real-time multimedia documentation helping impoverished communities design and build water projects such as wells.
“He did a ton of work to capture the process on video and share it back in real time,” he said.
Harrison’s other decision was to address longstanding concerns about how much of a donation goes to the work of a charity by setting up a second tier of funding, paid for by wealthier donors, that only covers charity: water’s operating costs. “
Bessemer’s Hodkinson, meanwhile, advised nonprofits not to forget the value of making a human connection with a potential donor. “It’s the relationship,” she said. What can cement that, she added, is “often being able to speak with one or more representatives of the organization, perhaps do a site visit.”
And done right, building trust can pay benefits over generational cycles: “Those relationships get passed down too.”
