The attitudes of donors towards non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Gauteng, South Africa: A generational perspective

Individual factors such as the demographic, socio-economic and psychographic characteristics of donors affect the levels of donations made to non-profit organisations (NPOs). As such, it is necessary for NPOs to have a better understanding of their donorsʹ psychographic characteristics and more specifically, their attitudes as this would enable NPOs to develop more effective marketing campaigns. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y towards NPOs and towards supporting NPOs in Gauteng, South Africa. Both exploratory and descriptive research designs were used in this study. Quota sampling was used to select respondents from the target population in the three generations under investigation. Overall, respondents have a positive attitude towards NPOs and supporting NPOs. At the end, however, no significant differences exist between the generations in terms of their attitudes towards NPOs and towards supporting NPOs; however, small positive correlations were evident for all three generations between their attitudes towards NPOs and towards supporting NPOs.