Donors Vary in Age by Nonprofit Sector

Some in our industry might respond to our headline with a resounding “We already know that!” It is reasonable to assume that one nonprofit sector attracts donors who are younger or older than another. But do you know how wide the differences are?

The median age of a donor in the United States is about 57 years old, a figure that ranges widely depending on the nonprofit sector. Through studies Campbell Rinker has conducted among donors for scores of clients, we have found that educational institutions tend to have the youngest donors with a median age of 49. On the other hand, donors who give to health or hospital charities tend to be the oldest audience with a median age of 64.

Donors and members from museums and arts organizations tend to be younger than the norm at a median 53 years of age. International organizations and faith-based organizations duplicate the national median of 57. Donors to child sponsorship and other children/family-orientated charities tend to have median donor ages in the late thirties.

The findings provide perspective on how nonprofits in varying sectors may be served by tailoring their message to better communicate with donors of different ages and sensibilities. The results were compiled using data from 45 recent studies conducted by Campbell Rinker representing about 13,000 respondents.

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PC Ownership and Internet Access varies Widely by Religious Preference

It might not be a natural conclusion… Which donors are users of the Internet, Protestants or Catholics? Two recent studies of ministry donors point out an unmistakable gap in the number of households that own personal computers, have access to the Internet for personal use, and the time spent on the Internet in a given week.

Just under half of Catholic donors indicated they own a personal computer, in sharp contrast to Protestant donors, where four of five own personal computers. Three-quarters of Protestant donors say they have access to the Internet for personal use, compared to just 38% among Catholic donors.

While there are strong differences in ownership and Internet access between these two groups, it appears that once a donor owns a computer, their Internet use tends to follow similar patterns. While Catholic PC owners are slightly more likely to use the Internet less than 15 minutes weekly, Catholic and Protestant donors who spend an hour or more each week on the Internet do so in virtually identical patterns.

These figures came from Campbell Rinker’s DonorPulse studies of donors by nonprofit sector. Each study polled a sample of about 630 donors screened for recent (Catholic or Protestant) giving behavior. The sampling error for each study is +/- 3.9%.

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DonorSpeakT is a free publication of Campbell Rinker, a market research firm dedicated to helping organizations obtain accurate feedback from their constituents through surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, donor file analysis and advanced statistical modeling.