From top-notch schools to groups like Heifer International, charities want the same thing from baby boomers that they wanted from your parents and grandparents: money. The trouble is figuring out how to get it. There’s gold in them thar boomers, but how do you mine it?
Researchers have estimated that the baby boomer generation gives more money to charity than any other generation, about $47 billion a year. A big number, sure, but recall how this generation got its name (hint: something to do with a record number of babies being born around the same time).
“Of course the baby boomers are going to give more money than any other generation,” said Robert F. Sharpe Jr., a consultant to nonprofit groups. The real question is whether they are giving more per person. And the evidence so far, Mr. Sharpe said, suggests that they are not.
There are a number of things that might explain this, he said. Boomers tend to have started their careers — and their families — later than those before them, which may push back the time when they hit their peak earnings and the time when they get their homes to themselves again. Beyond that, more divorces and second families put a strain on their finances. And in recent years, of course, the recession and declining home values have made things even tighter.
Some groups whose goals speak to the children of the 1960s, like environmental organizations, have done well at attracting boomer donations, Mr. Sharpe said. But in general, charities have had a tough time connecting.
