The Succession Problem in Philanthropy: $12 Trillion Is Headed to Charity and Most Development Offices Aren't Ready

$84 Trillion Is Changing Hands

Between now and 2045, Cerulli Associates projects that $84 trillion will pass from Baby Boomers and older generations to their heirs. Of that, Cerulli expects $11.9 trillion to go to charity (Cerulli, "Cerulli Anticipates $84 Trillion in Wealth Transfers Through 2045", January 2022), if, and this is the whole problem, organizations are positioned to receive it.

Most aren't.

Most major-gift and bequest donors are already past retirement age. Pull your own file: sort major donors by birth year and look at the median, then do the same for anyone who has told you they put you in a will. That median is your clock. These are your most reliable, most generous supporters, and within a decade many of them will stop giving for the one reason no stewardship plan can fix.

The Generational Giving Gap

Millennials and Gen Z give differently, and different doesn't mean less. Younger donors give to more causes in smaller amounts, prefer a monthly gift to an annual pledge, and find you through a friend's post or a group chat, not a mail piece. They want to know what the money did, not what the annual report looks like.

If your development strategy was designed for a 65-year-old who writes checks, it won't work for a 35-year-old who gives from her phone.

Three Things to Do Now

1. Start asking for bequests

Most small and mid-size nonprofits never ask for a bequest, and a single bequest is routinely worth more than a donor's entire lifetime of annual gifts. If you have loyal donors over 60 who have given for five or more years, they're your planned giving prospects. Ask them. Most are waiting to be asked.

2. Build relationships with the next generation now

Don't wait until your Boomer donors stop giving to start cultivating their children and grandchildren. Invite them to events. Put a few of them on an advisory board. Offer volunteer roles that come with useful contacts. The return shows up over decades, not quarters, which is exactly why it has to start this year.

3. Add channels beyond the mailed newsletter

If your primary donor communication is a printed newsletter mailed quarterly, you're invisible to most donors under 50. You need an email sequence, a social presence, text messages people have consented to, and a donation page that works on a phone. None of this is new. It's the minimum.

What the Organizations That Capture Their Share Do

The nonprofits and political organizations that will capture their share of the $12 trillion have three habits in common:

1. Their donor records track family ties, so the note on the 28-year-old volunteer says she's the daughter of a $10,000 annual donor.
2. They take gifts the way the donor wants to give them: online, a DAF grant, appreciated stock, or a line in the will.
3. They report outcomes in plain nouns: meals served, cases closed, doors knocked. A 30-year-old donor reads the outcome and skips the audited financials.

The Oldest Boomers Turned 80 This Year

This isn't a 20-year problem. The oldest Baby Boomers, born in 1946, turned 80 in 2026, and the transfer is already underway in any file with a donor over 75.

The money will move either way. Whether any of it lands with you depends on whether your $10,000 donor's daughter has ever heard from you.