Aging Donor Base?

23 Mar Aging Donor Base?

24 March 2026

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

The average age of conservation donors across the U.S. is between 66 and 67. And it hasn’t changed much since I’ve been watching – going on 20 years now. The range among land trusts is 58 to 70, but those numbers include outliers that are truly extremes. The great majority of the land trusts I have studied have average ages between 66 and 67.

(I suspect that land trusts with very young donor bases might be great at communicating with younger audiences and very bad at communicating with older donors – both. I’m not convinced they are really farther ahead.)

There is a fantastic opportunity for land trusts whose donor base is 67 years old – they are just four years away from Required Minimum Distributions.

And largely, we’re missing it. Instead of embracing the donor base we have in our marketing, we are consistently marketing to younger and younger people.

I think this is misguided.

First, according to Federal Reserve data as recently as late 2025, 63 percent of America’s wealth was controlled by people 62 years old and older (Boomers and Silents). Another 26 percent was controlled by GenX. These should be Target Audiences #1 ands #2 respectively.

Second, fears about future support eroding because the donor base keeps getting, in the words of one Board director, “12 months older every year,” seem to be misguided. What’s really happening is that WE are getting older (by 12 months every year). The average age of our donors is staying the same – as older members are dying or moving away, younger members are joining and taking their places.

And third, because Millennials and GenZ are NOT monolithic. It’s difficult to target “Millennials” with any precision. People of any age who love the outdoors and who hike, bike, and bird have a lot more in common with each other than they do with other members of their generation. And when we choose images, media, and outreach activities that appeal to people under the age of 50, we run the risk of turning away the very people who have the disposable time, energy, and money to help us the most.

Instead. we should be aiming our communications, and especially our donor communications, at current donors in their 50s, 60s, and 70s – the donors we actually HAVE instead of the donors we think we WANT.

• That means we communicate on paper as much or more so than we communicate digitally.
• That means our font is larger and printed with high contrast.
• That means our photos include photos of people in their 60s and 70s.
• That means our testimonials feature people in their 60s and 70s.
• That means our stories help people remember what the landscape used to look like (and how much we’ve actually lost).
• That means we include using the telephone and hand-written cards to express gratitude.

Mark Philips is a blogger from the United Kingdom. This quote is from his post a few days ago:

The best organizations don’t show that they know better than their supporters. They show that they are for people just like them. This is not about pandering. It is about recognizing that the people who give to you have already made a choice. They have already decided they care. Your job is not to convince them to care more or tell them about things your charity does that they are not interested in – it is to remind them why they started caring in the first place.

Your primary audience for communications should be the people who already give you money. They are in their late 60s. Their kids have graduated. They are retired or will soon be. And they have disposable time, energy, and money to give you if they feel it will make a difference. They will respond to feeling like important parts of an important mission. Show them that they are.

You will retain more of the donors you have and recruit like-minded new donors as well.

And by the way, there’s another opportunity for land trusts whose donor base is 67 years old – 85 percent of charitable bequests are made by people 65 years old and older.

Cheers, and Have a great week.

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

Photo by Cynthia Beilmann courtesy of Pixabay