Trends in Youth Philanthropy

Patrick RooneyDecember 5, 2008

Giving USA Conference

Patrick Rooney•Interim Executive Director / Director of Research

Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

•Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

rooney@iupui.eduwww.philanthropy.iupui.edu

About The Center on PhilanthropyMission:

Increasing the understanding of philanthropy, improving its practice, and enhancing participation in philanthropy.Mantra:

Research informs practice & Practice informs research

•Largest, most comprehensive academic center on philanthropy

•Staff ~ 50•Faculty ~ 60 professors at IU•Fundraising training faculty ~ 50 •Budget ~ $10 million/year•Regular programs in U.S. and internationally

About The Center on Philanthropy

About The Center on PhilanthropyFive core program areas•Research•Academic Programs•Public Service and The Fund Raising School (TFRS)•Public Affairs•Enhancing Philanthropy

Improve and enhance practice through Public ServiceHome of the world-renowned The Fund Raising School (TFRS).

Train ~10,000 per year in ethical and effective fundraising to help build organizational capacity.

Provide workbooks and text books about fundraising and about charitable giving.

Increase awareness of philanthropy in society through Public Affairs300 media contacts/year.

Dozens of presentations to national, local groups.

Provide info to policy makers.

Annual symposia.

Philanthropy Summit.

Philanthropy Matters.

Offer programs to enhance and strengthen the nonprofit sector Women’s Philanthropy Institute.

Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, serving individuals and groups desirous of exploring the religious and spiritual face of philanthropy.

Third Millennium Initiative, focused on philanthropy among communities of color, women and youth

Train sector leaders through Academic ProgramsDegrees Offered:

MA in Philanthropic Studies

BA in Philanthropic Studies being developed

MPA in Nonprofit Management.

First PhD in Philanthropic Studies in world.

Doctoral minors in several disciplines.

Learning to Give K-12 curriculum.

Publications series.

Research informs practice; Practice informs research.Academic and applied research about giving, volunteering, and nonprofit management.

Giving USA written and researched under contract for the Giving USA Foundation.

Local/regional giving studies conducted following the Giving USA model of all sources and uses of giving

Cities: Memphis (twice), St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City

States: IN (several times), IL, GA, NH

GenerationsGreat: born before 1925

Silent: born 1925 to 1945

Boomer: born 1946-1964

Gen X: born 1964-1981

Millennial: born since 1981 – the oldest are 27 this year.

Percentage who give at all

Who gives?

•Boomers, Silent generation: 84-85%

•X and Greats: 82-83%

•Millennials: 79%

These differences are all statistically significant to p < .05, and to p<.01 for the difference between Millennials and everyone else.

Average Giving by Generation

Another way to see who gives

HighHigh

AmountAmount

MiddleMiddle

AmountAmount

LowLow

AmountAmount

High %High %

GiveGiveBoomer Silent

Middle %Middle %

GiveGiveGreat, Gen X

Low %Low %

GiveGiveMillennial

Incomes > $100,000 by Generation

Education levels are rising

Millennials > 21

B.A. or above by generation (2006)

15.5 7.3

37.2

26.9

15.8 13.5

Millennial > 21Millennial (all)xBoomerSilentGreat

For Gen X:

Top five descending order:

1. Help meet the basic needs (39.6 %)

2. Make community better (39.4 %)

3. Make world better (37.3 %)

4. Give poor way to help selves (34.3 %)

5. Responsibility to those w/less (27.8 %)

For Millennials

Top five in descending order:

1. Make the world better (44.5)

2. Meet basic needs (39.4)

3. Make community better (34.3)

4. Responsibility to those w/less (28.7)

5. Give poor way to help selves (28.5)

Contrast with Great

Top five are:

1. Basic needs (52.3)

2. Give poor way to help selves (43.9)

3. Make community better (36.7)

4. Make world better (26.5)

5. Responsibility to those w/less (21.7)

Transition of giving priorities

Meet basic needs

Help poor help selves

Improve Community

Improve world

Responsibility

Millennial 2 5 3 1 4

X 1 4 2 3 5

Boomer 1 2 3 4 5

Silent 1 2 3 4 5

Great 1 2 3 4 5

Cross tabs shows differences; after controls, only a few remainThe differences we see in motivations are NOT “caused” by

generation.

Likely associated with life experience that varies by generation: Education, worship, marriage, income.

After controls for these, there remain only a few differences.

Compared with Boomers:

Millennials are 20 percent more likely to say that they give to improve the world (coefficient = 0.20, p<.01).

Silent : More likely to say they give to provide services government can’t or won’t (0.12, p<.01)

Gen X: LESS likely to say they give because government can’t or won’t provide the services (-0.11, p<.01).

Implications for practice

Engaging those born since 1964 (now 43 and younger) is critical

Creating “relevance” for singles is especially important as more people marry later or remain unmarried.

Millennials respond to a ‘world’ message