Scott Rodin, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Consultant
If you’ve ever sorted your donor file by age, you know the feeling. The names at the top have stood with your ministry for decades. The list thins out fast as you scroll toward anyone under 40, and almost nobody is under 30. Somewhere in the back of your mind sits a question you’d rather not hear at your next board meeting: Who will carry this mission when our most faithful supporters are gone?
When Paul wrote to young Timothy, he saw a version of this problem from the other side: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,” he urged (1 Timothy 4:12). Paul knew the older believers in Ephesus would be tempted to size Timothy up by his age and miss what God was doing through him. Two thousand years later, we’re tempted to do the same with Gen Z. We see their phones, their student loans, and their spot at the very bottom of our donor file, and we decide we already know who they are.
The first principle of our Taking Donors Seriously® (TDS) fundraising system is that “people give to people they know and trust.” The trouble is, it’s hard to build trust with someone you’ve already misjudged. So this year, The FOCUS Group commissioned research to find out what’s really true about Gen Z and generosity. Some of what we found surprised even us.
Here are five common beliefs about Gen Z. As you read, decide whether each is myth or fact:
- Most Gen Z adults don’t make room for charitable giving in their budgets.
- Gen Z is reading the Bible less than any generation before them.
- Gen Z is about to become the next generation of major donors.
- Gen Z finds it easier to build real relationships online than in person.
- The best way to engage a young donor is a personal visit from your president.
Do you have your predictions ready to go? Let’s start with the first one.
Most Gen Z adults don’t make room for charitable giving in their budgets.
MYTH: The first is a myth, and the numbers aren’t even close. According to GoFundMe Pro’s research on Gen Z donors, 57% plan for charitable donations in their yearly budget. Forty percent cut back on their own spending so they can give, and only 30% say they would cancel a donation if money got tight, the lowest of any age group. Gen Z – the generation with the least financial cushion – is the most committed to keeping its giving promises.
That’s easy to miss when you’re looking at gift sizes. We tend to assume small gifts mean small commitment, but with Gen Z it’s often the reverse. Their gifts are small because their incomes are small, not because their hearts are. This is the fourth TDS principle at work: “Giving is a way of life.” For many young adults, generosity is already a habit. It just hasn’t connected with your ministry yet.
Gen Z is reading the Bible less than any generation before them.
MYTH: This second statement is also a myth. Barna’s State of the Church 2025 found that weekly Bible reading among Gen Z jumped from 30% to 49% in a single year, well above Boomers at 31%. The generation many of us had written off as post-Christian is opening the Book.
There’s an important nuance, though. Barna also found that confidence in the Bible’s accuracy continues to slide, especially among younger adults. As Barna’s David Kinnaman put it, “Engagement is outpacing conviction.” Gen Z is curious, not settled. For a ministry, that’s an opening rather than a warning. Young adults are looking for people who can help them connect what they’re reading with how they live and how they give. Few organizations are better positioned to walk with them in that than yours.
The other three statements are equally fascinating to unpack. Each one shapes a practical decision: who you focus on, how you first reach out, and what happens when you finally sit down together.
We’ve decided to unpack these more fully in a free webinar that’s happening 11am ET Friday, November 6. We’d love for you to join us by registering here.
Before then, here are two things you or someone on your team can do this week:
1) Find the Gen Z connections you already have. Pull the names of your five youngest donors, and add any children or grandchildren of longtime supporters you’ve met. Next to each name, write down one thing you know about what that person cares about. If most of those lines stay blank, you’ve found your starting point. Remember, people give to people they know and trust.
2) Get a different perspective. Ask one Gen Z person in your life a single question. It could be a staff member, a volunteer, or your own grandchild: “If you’d never heard of us, how would you find out about a ministry like ours?”
Bring those names and that answer with you to the webinar. They’ll make everything we share more useful.
Gen Z won’t replace your faithful longtime donors next year, and they don’t need to. But the young adults building generous habits today will shape Christian giving for decades to come. Your donor file may be thin at the bottom, but the generation behind it is more generous and more spiritually curious than you might expect.
I’d love for you to join us on Friday, November 6, at 11am ET / 8am PT for “Engaging the Hearts of Gen Z Donors.” We’ll cover the remaining three myths plus practical steps your ministry can take now. [Register here]
Sources:
GoFundMe Pro: How Gen Z is redefining generosity
Barna: Bible Reading Trends, State of the Church 2025
About the Author
Dr. Scott Rodin is Chief Strategy Officer & Senior Consultant at The FOCUS Group and has spent nearly four decades helping hundreds of ministries and organizations grow in leadership, fundraising, and strategic effectiveness, with reach spanning the U.S., Canada, the Middle East, and beyond. A former seminary president and author of fourteen books on stewardship and generosity, Scott brings both theological depth and hard-won practical wisdom to the work of kingdom leadership.
We’ve been privileged to help many organizations be more effective in their fundraising by learning and implementing relational fundraising principles in their work with donors. Want to talk?