by Gary Weinberg
President, DM Pros

At The Bridge Conference in Washington, D.C., I attended a presentation focused on modern giving pathways presented by Woodrow Rosenbaum (Chief Data Officer at GivingTuesday) and Steve Froehlich (Chief Customer Growth Officer at GoFundMe).

The research presented was fascinating. While the fundraising sector faces ongoing challenges with donor retention and small-dollar decline, GivingTuesday’s data reveals that generosity itself isn't dying—it's evolving. People are as eager to support causes as ever, but fundraisers must shift their approach to capture this potential by:

• Looking beyond traditional audiences
• Embracing the donor mindset of the next generation

The opportunities to expand the base of donors are clear — fundraisers simply need to adapt their strategies to capture them.

Tapping Untapped Potential: Strategies for Growth

Rosenbaum outlined three high-impact strategies to unlock what GivingTuesday’s research projects to be $52 billion in underutilized donor support:

• Deseasonalize Giving: GivingTuesday proved that donors respond enthusiastically when invited to give outside the standard year-end crunch. Relying strictly on Q4 campaigns leaves massive potential on the table. Extending solicitations, giving days, and strategic touchpoints across the entire calendar could unlock an estimated $23 billion in additional giving.
• Expand Recurring Giving: Currently, only 7.9% of donors participate in recurring giving programs and only 2% of donors are acquired as recurring givers. GivingTuesday research indicates that increasing the share of new donors who sign up on recurring schedules by just 5% could yield an additional $10 billion, while a 10% increase could generate $10 billion to $20 billion.
• Broaden Engagement Beyond the "Usual Suspects": Traditional acquisition models tend to solicit the same core demographics repeatedly, leaving vast populations untouched. GivingTuesday’s GivingPulse survey data found that 10% of people who aren’t currently being solicited would give if they were invited. Broader engagement across these groups could increase total donations by $19 billion to $46 billion.

Understanding and Engaging Gen Z

Twenty years ago, there was a running joke about engaging younger generations:

    “We need younger donors. How can I get a Millennial to donate to our cause?”

    “Wait for her to turn 55.”

The assumption was that life stage—becoming an empty-nester with disposable income—was the primary driver of giving (and that the majority of donors are women). While life-stage is still very significant, Gen Z (today’s younger generation) has fundamentally different giving habits and motivational drivers than past generations.

To capture these donors and build a sustainable pipeline, fundraisers must adapt to how younger generations approach philanthropy. Froehlich shared key insights into Gen Z’s unique behaviors, busting the myth that younger demographics are disengaged:

What Gen Z Is Telling Us

• 71% gave in some form (monetary, item, or advocacy) in the past week.
• 57% say family or peers directly shape their giving decisions.
• They are 10 times more likely than Boomers to share their donations on social media.
• 91% of Gen Z who give on community fundraising platforms like GoFundMe, also give to registered nonprofits—and they are 16% more likely to give than peers who don’t use crowdfunding platforms.

The Gen Z Pathway: See  Share  Fundraise  Give

Engaging Gen Z requires adapting to their social-first ecosystem:

• See  Share: Gen Z often shares a cause with their personal network before making a financial contribution.
• • Tactic: Ensure every campaign is frictionless to discover and share on social media.
• Share  Fundraise: When supporters share, they mobilize their networks.
• • Tactic: Provide turn-key peer-to-peer tools that empower supporters to rally their personal circles around your mission.
• Fundraise  Give  Repeat: Community fundraising acts as an entry point. Gen Z users who engage for causes on platforms like GoFundMe are primed to become repeat donors to registered nonprofits over time.

Designing Experiences to Tap Gen Z Generosity

To turn Gen Z's natural habits into long-term organizational support, nonprofits should focus on three execution rules:

1. Build for the Full Spectrum of Generosity: Gen Z engages through sharing, digital storytelling, peer-to-peer fundraising, livestreams, and advocacy—not just traditional donation forms.
2. Reduce Friction Across Every Action: Community-powered fundraising should be fast to start, flexible to shape, and easy to join. Every extra step or field creates donor drop-off.
3. Create Seamless Pathways Between Ways of Giving: Supporters move fluidly between helping individuals, mobilizing peers, and supporting formal organizations. Your digital experiences should feel unified rather than siloed.

Practical Takeaways For You To Apply Today

To turn these high-level research insights into actionable fundraising wins, here are a few immediate strategies to test in your upcoming campaigns:

1. Deseasonalization Tactics

• Keep Asking in the Summer: Don't go silent in July. Donors remain engaged online year-round if given a reason to respond.
• Create Custom "Giving Days": Anchor mid-year campaigns to mission-aligned calendar events—such as Earth Day for environmental groups, "Clear the Shelters" for animal welfare organizations, or a "Summer Hunger" appeal in June when school meal programs pause.

2. Recurring Giving Growth

• Make Recurring Gift Asks Part of Your Acquisition Effort: Test direct mail and digital acquisition programs by featuring monthly giving as the primary option—or even the default/only option. Use a simple, compelling message showing how reliable, ongoing support fuels your mission. Many animal welfare organizations use this tactic effectively in Direct Response Television (DRTV) campaigns ("We need 1,000 new partners to commit $19 a month by midnight...)
• Layer Strategic Upgrades for Active Sustainers: Don't leave active recurring donors on autopilot. Ask your monthly sustainers for a one-time extra gift twice a year, and invite them to upgrade their monthly giving amount annually.

3. Broadening Engagement

• Identify Overlooked Audiences: Look beyond traditional wealth scores. Community groups, volunteers, local churchgoers, and event participants represent warm, highly engaged pools waiting to be invited into donor relationships.
• Expand Direct Mail & Digital Lists: If you rent acquisition lists, test geographic areas you normally don’t solicit and interest-based pools that fall outside your traditional solicitation footprint.

4. Making Gen Z Engagement Fun & Easy – Empower Your Supporters to Become Champions For Your Mission

• Event Selfies & Digital Postcards: Provide event attendees with a digital frame or photo booth setup so they can text or post a branded selfie ("I'm at [Event Name] supporting [Cause]!").
• Statement-of-Support Forwarding: Create a 1-sentence "Why I Care" image card on your donation thank-you page that givers can immediately post to their Instagram Stories or text to three friends.

Looking Ahead

Organizations must think outside the traditional direct-response box to meet donors where they already gather and give. The opportunities to broaden your donor base, build recurring revenue, and engage the next generation are vast—you simply need to take the first step.

Resources:

GivingPulse Reports: https://www.givingpulse.givingtuesday.org/

GoFundMe Gen-Z Nonprofit Report: https://pro.gofundme.com/c/resources/gen-z-nonprofit-report/

Gary Weinberg is an individual giving specialist with over 35 years of leadership experience in direct mail and direct response fundraising communications. He takes a holistic approach to development, managing the complete donor lifecycle—from integrated digital and direct mail solicitations to meaningful acknowledgment and long-term stewardship.

A dedicated leader in the philanthropic sector, Gary serves on the Board of Directors for AFP-NYC, where he chairs the Government Relations Committee—advocating for charitable giving policies in Albany and Washington, D.C.—and contributes to the Chapter’s Professional Advancement Committee. He also serves on nonprofit boards ranging from the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx to the Hastings High School Alumni Association.

As a third-generation direct mail professional, Gary affectionately refers to himself as "the son of a son of a mailer."