Are nonprofits ready for the Boomers?

The Boomer Blog, in a post titled If You're Not, Why? asks the business world a tough question: "Are you ... paying any attention to the 50+ cohort? Why aren't you?

The challenge many businesses face today is that Boomers are aging. They adjusted to the Boomers years ago, and now they act as if these lucrative but demanding customers became frozen in time, like insects in amber. Boy aren't they going to be embarrassed when they realize the Boomers aren't in their 20s any more!

Here in the nonprofit sector, we have a very different challenge ahead of us: We've been paying attention to the 50+ group all along. They're the ones who give. And that age group is slowly, inexorably repopulating with Boomers.

Are we going to adjust to them? Or are we going to keep on fundraising from their parents, sinking further and further into irrelevance?

We need to keep our eyes open. Right now, the ranks of donors are still dominated by older-than-Boomers. That won't last. What it will means as the Boomers take over is not yet clear. We have a lot of learning to do. And none of it will happen unless we're mindful of what's happening around us.

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