A Nickel
By Ray Brimble
My first gift was a nickel, put into an offering basket at my local church. It was magic when my mom handed me that shiny nickel, so that I could immediately give it away. I looked forward to giving in that way every Sunday. I did not quite understand it at the time, but I had been introduced to the culture of giving.
Back then, there were plenty of established channels to cultivate giving in every community. Houses of Worship, Fraternal organizations (Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows, etc.), local charitable clubs like the Kiwanis, and many others which served as a regular pipeline for the generosity to nonprofit organizations and activities for community needs. This was an ecosystem for the greater good.
But something has happened.
These days, philanthropic giving isn’t keeping pace with the growth of wealth and prosperity in our community. And the giving appears to be ever more concentrated amongst fewer donors. Are we less generous than we once were? Probably not, but perhaps the old ecosystem and its traditional channels have changed, and we need to build a new ecosystem with new channels of giving. In 1953, approximately 70% of all charitable giving in the United States was funneled through churches. In 2021, this figure had declined to just 23. Similarly, fraternal organizations, and their wonderful generosity are no longer hubs of community giving that the once were.
What has replaced these channels of giving? To be clear, philanthropic giving has continued to increase even as traditional channels have dried up. Generosity is still all around us powered by philanthropic foundations, family funds, corporate giving, community giving days, and yes, the continued vital contributions from places of Worship, community organizations and even our Fraternal groups..
But there may be a specific part of our community philanthropic giving fabric which is not being adequately addressed- the “Next Gens”, folks between 20-45 years old.
Current philanthropic channels, perhaps even the entire philanthropic narrative, may not speak to them in a way which will activate their engagement. This is particularly important for the Greater Austin community because Next Gens represent around 48% of our entire population. Yet, they may not have been properly invited to the table. Obviously, it’s not a good idea to leave out half of our population who are some of our brightest, most energetic and committed citizens. And there’s another compelling reason to weave Next Gens into our community giving fabric- they will be the recipients of the greatest wealth transfer in history, estimated to be $15 trillion, nationwide.
So, here’s the dilemma- a large part of our community, educated, active and ready to address community needs, is not as involved as other age groups. Perhaps our community’s philanthropic scaffolding needs some refurbishment.
What might that look like? The older scaffolding, our traditional philanthropic channels, were persistent and automatic. For instance, church members gave weekly for decades. Lodge members paid dues for life. The new channels are more likely to be voluntary and episodic—someone might donate via Facebook today but not establish a lifelong giving pattern. New channel scaffolding must integrate digital and social media in ways that speak more clearly to Next Gens and take advantage of the spectacular message leveraging available through these mediums . Also, Next Gens donors are more likely to volunteer, fundraise, and act as mentors for charitable causes rather than just give money. This can create new opportunities for nonprofits but also requires that nonprofits speak to the holistic values Next Gens bring to the table. Finally, Next Gens do not necessarily need, or want intermediaries in their giving. Next Gens want direct and personal connections. New philanthropic channels should reflect these and many other features which will appeal to Next Gens.
www.ggatx.com, seeks to be part of this new scaffolding. GGATX is a networking, informational resourcing and mentoring collaboration for our community’s Next Gens who want to learn more about philanthropy and get more involved. We hope you will join us!