In Nonprofit Communications Strategy: A Generational Guide, CCS Fundraising explores how different age groups want to hear from the causes they support – and what this means for communication and fundraising planning. The guide moves beyond stereotypes and focuses on what donors actually experience across channels, not just what is convenient for organisations.
Nonprofit Communications Strategy: A Generational Guide (CCS Fundraising)What stood out to us
Preferences differ, expectations don’t. Older and younger donors do favour different channels and rhythms – but almost everyone expects relevance, respect for their time, and a sense that the organisation knows who they are. “More of everything” doesn’t work for any generation.
Younger supporters expect a conversation, not a broadcast. Younger adults are more likely to respond when communications feel two-way: opportunities to ask questions, give feedback, and see how their perspective is shaping the work – not just being asked to fund it.
Generic journeys quietly push people away. The guide shows that mis-timed messages and generic journeys are one of the fastest ways to lose attention. People notice when they receive the same content regardless of what they’ve already done.
Why this matters for leaders
It’s tempting to frame generational differences as a channel problem: “What do we do on TikTok?” or “Should we still send letters?” The more useful question is: “What does it feel like to be this person in our hands?” A genuinely audience-first approach starts there and lets channel choices follow.
For senior teams, that often means slowing down enough to decide who your priority audiences really are, what you want each relationship to look like, and where you might be over-serving your own need to “get messages out” at the expense of how they land. An external perspective can be helpful here, not to invent yet another segment, but to challenge the default assumption that everyone sees your organisation the way you do.
Different people need different kinds of clarity – and that takes the hard work of offering it.
Done well, generational strategy isn’t about slicing your database into smaller and smaller boxes. It’s about recognising that different people need different kinds of clarity – and committing to the hard work of offering it.
