# Older donors do it online

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/02/12/older-donors-do-it-online/
- Published: 2010-02-12T13:17:43+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Think it’s only young people who give online? Think again. According to a survey
by JustGiving found a significant proportion of online donors were over 45 and that
they gave the most money online of any age group.

More than 5,200 online donors completed the survey. Of these, the biggest number
of donations came from the 25-34 age category , but the 35-44 and the 45-54 came
very close. The number of over 55s who took the survey was exactly the same as the
23-34 age bracket, proving that just as many older people as younger are actively
participating online.

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Although it was the first time almost a third of the respondents had given online
a massive 70 per cent of 55-64 year olds had made a donation online before.

The [research](http://charities.justgiving.com/2010/02/11/charity-news/justgiving-online-donor-demographic-research-in-fundraising-magazine)
also showed that generally, the older you are, the more generous you’re able to 
be. As a third of all revenue came from just those donors over 45 who gave £50 or
more, we can see that trends seen in direct mail are replicated online.

![How were you asked to use JustGiving?](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/u11/
age_justgiving_20100211.jpg "How were you asked to use JustGiving?")

The survey revealed that the majority of donation asks are still made by email. 
Facebook is the next popular channel and 12 per cent of asks were made in face-to-
face situations. Only in the 18-24 age group was Facebook above email, but only 
two per cent of over 64s were asked to donate via Facebook compared to 59 per cent
by email.

This shows, says JustGiving, that email is still the most important communication
medium with your older donors because they use email more than social networks to
communicate with each other.

Jonathan Waddingham from JustGiving suggests rethinking how you communicate with
older donors by making it easy to adjust the text size on your website and focusing
on meeting web accessibility standards for starters.

www.justgiving.com

 * **[JustGiving iPhone application launches in time for London Marathon fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/04/14/justgiving-iphone-application-launches-time-london-marathon-fundraising/)**(
   14 April 2010)
 * **[Nudge to develop JustGiving's Facebook app](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/05/05/nudge-develop-justgiving039s-facebook-app/)**(
   5 May 2010)
 * **[JustGiving offers 10 data grants to charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/10/14/justgiving-offers-10-data-grants-charities/)**(
   14 October 2010)