'Greater Good' project to find out what motivates younger people to give
Howard Lake | 15 September 2010 | News
Alan Clayton is to chair a new project which will be looking at what motivates younger people to give to charity. The project, under the auspices of the Institute of Fundraising, has the working title ‘The Greater Good’.
“Emotions are driven by values and it is emotions that make people give,” said Clayton. “What makes people happy has changed, but it has been proven that there is a correlation between happiness and giving. There is no reason why young people should respond to direct mail in the same way their grandmothers did, so we need to find out what it is that makes young people happy and therefore what motivates them to give.”
The first stage of the project will be to undertake a feasibility study to see what work is needed. Following this a Think Tank will be formed, followed by detailed research into economic, political, commercial, social and psychological aspects of how giving motivations have changed and what will be the trigger for younger people to respond to fundraising asks.
Clayton said the research is scheduled to take several months, but that he aimed to have a paper ready for release at the 2011 National Convention.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.