Philanthropy is a hot new trend?

Here's an early sign of the Boomer invasion of the donor pool: Philanthropy is becoming cool.

Check out this article in The Huffington Post: Exploding Philanthropy: Moguls Spur a Rich and Unregulated Marketplace.

The point, all kinds of famous cool people are giving tons of money to worthy causes:

Coupled with moguls like Gates, Buffett, Sir Richard Branson, and the founders of online powerhouses like Google and eBay, stars like Bono, Oprah, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, and Brad Pitt add a consumer-friendly, front-page brand of philanthropy -- stylistically a cross between the sidewalks of Beverly Hills and the lobby of the Ford Foundation. Like all luxury consumer brands, this surge in upscale philanthropy has one clear message -- "be like us." Or to be more precise: "give . . . and be like us."

It's classic Boomer behavior: Take something that want to do, and define it as a hip new trend. Then do it like it's never been done before. Like protest in the 60s and career focus in the 80s.

This is great news for nonprofits. The Boomers are coming! Are you ready for them?

Thanks to the Charity 2.0 Blog Network for the tip.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, boomers

Comments

[Sean Stannard-Stockton]

Not only are the boomers coming, but their children, Generation Y, is volunteering like crazy.