Welcome to your weekly Boomer Women Inspiration Series
Chapter Eight - Charity Specifics: In this week's edition, we get specific with our Boomer Women. We asked them to view charities through three specific lenses: volunteering, campaigning and regular giving. And through these lenses, we pushed them to consider how they are most likely to engage with charities, potential obstacles and barriers that may prevent them from doing so, and what charities could be doing more of in these areas to drive engagement.
Let's dive right in.
Our Boomer women have cited many examples of how they've interacted with charities over many decades. We'll dig into some of these below, but we want to start with regular giving. It is comfortably the preferred way for them to support the charities and causes they care about, for a few reasons:
"Once I have set up a direct debit, I have made a decision and taken action and this support will continue until I do something about it: stop it, increase it etc. With a monthly gift like this I just readjust my outgoings to take it into account so it is relatively painless." - Vicki, 57-66, Married, Part-time Employed
It's easy: Giving financially to charities has become so much easier over the years with the advent of easy access online banking, portals like Just Giving and other more convenient ways of regularly supporting charities financially from the comfort of your home. These can also be adjusted on an annual basis depending on need, and personal circumstances.
"If it's just another direct debit that goes out then you don't really notice it so it's a good way of donating regularly." - Joy, 57-66, Married, Full-time Employed
"I have several charities to which I give regularly by Direct Debit. I review my giving each January. It's all gift aided and gets reviewed both in terms of size of donation and charities donated to. My budget also has a line for a "slush fund" for occasional giving." - Mary, 67-66, Single, Retired
Giving means more than money: For Boomer Women, regular giving also includes donations of items that can make a difference, whether to local charity shops that they love to support, or items that can be sold for a profit at events:
"There is a regular local charity that I donate clothes to. They phone up twice a year to say they are collecting in my road and I put out a bundle of clothes. It's a good way of checking my wardrobe!" - Tania, 57-66, Married, Part-time Employed
"I support my local charities by giving goods for raffles or baking for cake stalls. The goods I give generate more earnings e.g. if I make a batch of meringues that costs me approx. £2 to make, it can be sold for £20. If I gave £2 in cash, it is still £2." - Ann, 67-77, Married, Retired
Biggest barrier? Personal financial situations will always be the biggest barrier to Regular Giving. But it's not the only one.
The cost of living crisis, uncertainty around pension laws in the future and increased financial pressure to support other family members understandably squeezes many Boomers from contributing more.
"I would like to donate more but because of the uncertainties, it is difficult to make additional financial commitments when living costs are rising rapidly." - Sandra, 57-66, Divorced, Part-time Employed
But other lesser known factors also enter their minds:
Our Good Conversations Innovation Toolkit (coming in May, 2023) will provide ways to address these barriers, but why not use them today as a prompts for your teams to consider how you might overcome them?
Time / Money and Health are predictably the biggest barriers when it comes to Volunteering and Campaigning
For many Boomer Women, the will is there to get more actively involved with charities - particularly for volunteering. But practical limits prevent them from doing so. Primarily these exist around Time (linked to the need to make money), and Health, for those whose mobility and physical ability is hampered.
"I hope to be able to volunteer for charities once I no longer have a need to be economically active. I don't think charities need to do more to encourage me, the desire is there, I just need nore time!" - Vicki, 57-66, Married, Part-time Employed
"I have been a volunteer for quite a few charities in the past, however my current medical conditions prevent me from doing so at the moment." - Bernadette, 57-66, Married, Retired
Bearing this in mind, there are other barriers we uncovered that we'll look to address in our upcoming toolkit, too.
Boomer Women feel that certain application processes for volunteering, both from an admin and requirements perspective, can be daunting and effortful.
In addition fears can exist around newer charities, for example those set up to address those struggling with gender identity, and an older demographic's struggle to show proof of 'lived experience', and how this impacts on their confidence in volunteering.
Finally, many of our women have significant experience with volunteering over their years. But it's left some of them jaded. While some feel that they've 'done their bit, others have seen a lack of opportunities in that time, making them less likely to throw themselves back into another experience. And others recall how difficult it was to wean themselves away from active helping when they could no longer afford the time to help - further increasing their resistance to getting drawn back in.
When it comes to campaigning, we see a lot less active involvement from Boomer Women. Whilst many are happy to sign online petitions, and others have written to their MPs in their time, they're not sure what to do beyond that. They worry that they 'don't know enough' to make the case for effective campaigning, so feel it's best left to others.
Beyond that, many feel it's just 'not for them'. They perceive campaigning as requiring a certain combative personality-type, one who thrives in opportunities to put their opinions forward, and aren't afraid to tackle the front lines of a cause. For many this goes beyond what they feel comfortable with, and can even instil some concerns of physical confrontations.
How might your teams start to confront and challenge some of these perceptions?
A Good Conversation Thought Starter
Lastly, our Charity Thought Starter. This is a small seed of an idea that we've stumbled upon that might have the potential to turn into something bigger down the line. It's something we'll be keeping our eye on throughout the remainder of the community to track its development, but wanted to share it with you now to mull over.
This week's seed is: You can never underestimate the importance of following up with action taken as a result of someone's previous efforts. Particularly when it comes to volunteering or campaigning.
