As fundraisers woo baby boomers and millennials, they sometimes neglect Generation X, born from 1965 to 1980. However, giving experts say those donors are poised to become increasingly important to nonprofits. Here’s a case study of a charity that’s paying Gen X some attention, and seeing results.
Most midlife alums of the Rochester Institute of Technology aren’t writing massive checks. They’re usually either still raising children or sending them to college, says Lisa Cauda, 47, the university’s vice president for development and alumni relations.
But RIT has discovered a magnet for Gen Xers: free events that let them show off their alma mater to their children.
“What we find is that when we treat their kids really well, they’re grateful,” she says. “And they’ll show it in smaller ways today, but we hope that will turn into bigger support later.”
Case in point: For the past nine years, the university has run Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival. The campus event features more than 400 exhibits, from robots to a machine that makes s’mores.
“To see the pride in the parents’ eyes, these alums, when their kid thinks he or she might want to come to RIT as a legacy student, is huge,” Ms. Cauda says. “And while that might mean we won’t see some dollars while they’re paying tuition here, it sets them up so beautifully for the long term.”
Fundraising overall has been up: The university raised $82 million in fiscal year 2016, up from $31 million in 2015. RIT and other top-flight engineering schools win praise from Jeff Lydenberg, a vice president with the consulting group PG Calc, for their savvy appeals to Gen X donors; some of the institutions’ alumni have piled up wealth early in their careers. (He quips, “It’s clear from their marketing that not all of their donors are retired.”)
Another tip from Rochester: Affinity groups — former fraternity brothers, campus radio DJs, and so on — can be a bigger draw for Gen X alumni than the university itself, says Ms. Cauda. RIT’s Gen X alumni, she says, are more likely than boomers to aim their money at specific academic departments or campus clubs: “That’s where they found a home.”
