{"id":5364,"date":"2026-08-16T10:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T10:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5364"},"modified":"2026-08-16T10:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T10:11:31","slug":"the-124-trillion-great-wealth-transfer-is-fully-underway-but-nonprofits-are-paralyzed-by-how-to-chase-millennials-newfound-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5364","title":{"rendered":"The $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer is fully underway\u2014but nonprofits are \u2018paralyzed\u2019 by how to chase millennials\u2019 newfound wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Namely, the old ways of philanthropic giving won\u2019t work on younger generations, and that could be a huge problem for nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n

Read more Candace Bushnell on AI, creativity and why originality still wins<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe older generations are disproportionately providing the majority of the philanthropic dollars,\u201d despite the Great Wealth Transfer already being fully underway, Steve Isom, chief operating and financial officer of nonprofit software company Bloomerang, told\u00a0Fortune. \u201cEveryone knows about the transfer of wealth that has happened. It\u2019s going to be record-setting, and I think that a lot of nonprofits feel a bit paralyzed in how to tackle that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On the surface, it may be confusing why more money flowing could be a problem. But it\u2019s because community-based nonprofits have built deep relationships with the \u201cpillars of the community\u201d\u2014in other words, wealthy baby boomers, Isom explained. But the further you get from baby boomers, the lower the interest in philanthropic giving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of connection tends to wane,\u201d said Isom, who gave the example of an organization where he\u2019s based in Omaha, Neb. He said being involved in philanthropic giving for that organization in the 1960s and 1970s was very much a \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d in town. And those same people who gave to that organization are still its major donors today.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, those donors\u2019 kids are less involved, and then those donors\u2019 kids are like not involved at all,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think the challenge is how are you introducing these next generations, and what programs do you have that are pulling in the younger generation?\u201d<\/p>\n

And a lot of this trend has to do with a sense of belonging, trust, and community. Bloomerang\u2019s 2026 Giving Signals Report, conducted with The Harris Poll among more than 1,000 U.S. donors and 400 fundraising leaders in March, shows millennials and Gen Z care most about giving because it makes them feel as if they are \u201cpart of something.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That sense of belonging matters most to millennials, who the report actually pegs as the most active generation of donors right now. Three-quarters of millennials plan to give more this year than last, while just 49% of Gen X and 36% of baby boomers said the same. This is evidence of the Great Wealth Transfer in action, but it doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re giving the most dollars or have become the major donor class, so to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s why the Great Wealth Transfer matters so much in philanthropy: Millennials stand to gain more than any other generation, according to wealth management firm Cerulli Associates. So understanding how to reach millennials and Gen Z early will translate into more dollars down the road.<\/p>\n

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That money won\u2019t land evenly. More than half the total will come from the roughly 2% of households that are already high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth, the Cerulli report shows. Isom sees that concentration up close in Omaha, where he said family foundations account for about double the national average of nonprofit funding in Nebraska.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can kind of go to five families, and they support a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Donors want the receipts<\/h2>\n

So what nonprofit organizations desperately need to do is reconfigure how and when they involve community members if they\u2019re hoping to build long-term donors.<\/p>\n

Read more Jimmy Wales: \u2018AI can generate answers. It still can\u2019t earn trust\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A big factor is building trust in organizations, especially when discretionary spending is more precious amid inflation, stagnant wages, and a higher cost of living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDonors are ready to trust nonprofits, but they want to see the receipts more,\u201d Isom said. \u201cA bit more trust, but verified.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Bloomerang report shows 85% of active donors trust the organizations they donate to to use funds effectively and 97% say those organizations appear aligned with what they care about, building that trust takes time\u2014but they want evidence their donation was worthwhile.<\/p>\n

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According to the report, 94% of donors said they\u2019re motivated to give when an organization tells them exactly where their money goes, and 90% said the same about hearing the impact of their gift. In one test, donors chose a specific pitch of \u201c$50 buys a week of groceries\u201d versus a generic \u201cevery dollar makes a difference\u201d by 88 percentage points, which illustrates that specificity in impact makes a difference.<\/p>\n

And Isom actually runs his own test each year. On Giving Tuesday, he donates to 25 of Bloomerang\u2019s 24,000 customers and watches what happens after the gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe range of experience is shocking,\u201d he said. Some call that day to say thank you and spell out what the gift will fund, but from others it\u2019s crickets. \u201c[If] you don\u2019t feel that connection, that feedback loop isn\u2019t there, and you\u2019re just going to fall out,\u201d Isom added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of it comes down to why people give in the first place. Isom pointed to the slow death of workplace giving campaigns, which came during the era of giving as an obligation. That doesn\u2019t work anymore in a younger, more remote workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople don\u2019t feel compelled as much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So the nonprofits that survive the Great Wealth Transfer, he argues, are the ones planting seeds now by stewarding volunteers and earning smaller donations now before they ever write a major check.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI need to solve for today. But I also have to build for tomorrow,\u201d Isom said about how nonprofit organizations should be thinking now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Nvidia has $21 billion SpaceX stake, $30 billion in Intel shares<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Isom, a top exec at donor-software firm Bloomerang, says most nonprofits are approaching the youngest generations of donors the wrong way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philanthropy"],"yoast_head":"\nThe $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer is fully underway\u2014but nonprofits are \u2018paralyzed\u2019 by how to chase millennials\u2019 newfound wealth - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5364\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The $124 trillion Great Wealth Transfer is fully underway\u2014but nonprofits are \u2018paralyzed\u2019 by how to chase millennials\u2019 newfound wealth - 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