Guest Author
By Alex Counts & Maya Rajani
Back in the early days of the India Philanthropy Alliance, we began having annual retreats after having established a high level of trust among the leaders of organizations that had previously viewed each other as competitors. Tantalizing opportunities and unnerving threats to our community were discussed openly.
One of the ominous trends we explored was the aging of our donors in the United States. We receive around $125 million from thousands of individuals each year, most of whom are older than 50; many are in their 70s and 80s. We acknowledged that the nonprofits sitting around the table had failed to effectively engage younger donors and volunteers. This reality was part of a larger problem: according to an influential study by Dalberg titled “Putting Our Money Where Our Hearts Are” that was published in 2018, the Indian American diaspora contributed roughly one-third as much as the American public did on average, after adjusting for income.
India-focused charities responded to this finding by upgrading their fundraising efforts. As a result, giving overall among the diaspora has increased dramatically over the last six years. According to a follow-up survey by Dalberg titled “From Closing the Gap to Setting the Standard,” Indian American donations grew from $1 billion to $4-5 billion between 2018 and 2024, a remarkable achievement.
But might this growth simply be the last gasp of generosity from our aging donor pool? We hope not. In order to ensure that this windfall is sustained, we have been engaged in a crash course to learn how best to engage younger donors. As a result, their attitudes, aspirations, and preferences have been influencing our organizations and the wider philanthropic landscape in profound ways.
We have learned that young donors have different expectations of nonprofits than earlier generations, which include:
Voice and Representation. Traditionally, many nonprofits have expected younger donors and volunteers to be “seen but not heard.” Few have been asked to give input on organizational priorities. Fewer still have been invited onto governing bodies, such as boards of directors. IPA has encouraged the establishment of young professionals’ chapters, such as those that American India Foundation, Children’s Hope India, and Pratham USA have pioneered. We have gone one step further and determined that organizations involved with IPA have a member of the board of directors under 35 years of age. Many have already complied.
Direct Contact. The next generation, many of whom were born in the United States, wants and deserves opportunities to see and engage in the work of charities they support. For a direct service organization in their community, this is often easy to arrange. But in the case of organizations that do their life-changing work in India, it is more challenging. As a result, we believe that a renewed emphasis on organizing internships, fellowships, as well as in-person and tech-enabled virtual field trips is essential. It is also effective if those who do site visits — as well as longer service learning efforts — are given platforms to report to their peers about what they have seen and done.
Modern Styles. The self-congratulatory aspects of many diaspora-oriented fundraising events strike many younger donors as off-putting. So is the tendency to force attendees to sit through long speeches delivered by those who write the biggest checks.
Those under 50, and especially supporters in Gen Z who are under 30, expect tech-savvy convenings characterized by spontaneity, unpredictability, audience engagement, mission-centered activity, entertainment, and above all, fun. Nonprofits that tweak their offerings to reflect these sensibilities are benefitting.
Holistic approaches. Younger donors don’t tend to think in silos. They expect an organization working on an issue such as early childhood education to do its work in ways that, for example, benefit artisans and the environment through choices related to procurement. In other words, they value not just what a nonprofit does, but how it does it. They want the organizations they support to address the interrelated problems confronting society as best they can.
Collaboration over isolation. We have realized that younger supporters often prefer to give and raise money in social ways, such as by holding small events with cultural elements, convening giving circles, and organizing peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. We have adjusted our approaches accordingly.
The priorities of the next generation were aptly summarized by Alia Sani, a young professional who has continued a family tradition of donating to Children’s Hope India since she was a child: “For my generation, giving feels most meaningful when we can see its tangible impact — understanding where resources go, who they reach, and how lives actually change. We desire proximity and accountability.”
Over the next twenty-five years, there will be generational transfer of wealth in the United States of around $120 trillion. A disproportionate amount of that will be received by third and fourth-generation Indian Americans. In addition, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that rarely does a week go by when an under-40 Indian American doesn’t sell a company in Silicon Valley for tens of millions of dollars.
Considering these demographic trends, the case for nonprofits meeting younger professionals and entrepreneurs where they are and involving them meaningfully in their work is clear. In fact, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha are the key to ensuring the sustainability of leading nonprofits. Those who actively engage them, rather than expect them to “wait their turn,” will thrive in the years ahead.
The stakes are higher than ever. Poverty rates and climate risks are rising again in many parts of the world. The fourth India Giving Day campaign (www.indiagivingday.org), which culminates on March 13, 2026, is an excellent opportunity to put these ideas into action and to further embed them in organizations seeking to thrive in the twenty-first century.
For more details, visit indiaphilanthropyalliance.org.
Alex Counts is the executive director of the India Philanthropy Alliance, which announced its formation publicly for the first time in the Stanford Social Innovation Review; the author of four books (including his acclaimed midlife memoir Changing the World Without Losing Your Mind); and an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He is also the founder of Grameen Foundation and AMC Consulting.
Maya Rajani, a former management consultant, serves as Treasurer and a member of the executive board of Children’s Hope India. She brings to the CHI board expertise in strategic planning, corporate development, finance and marketing. Prior to CHI, Maya served as the Vice Chair and Treasurer on the Board of the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation for many years and on the Board of Buckley Country Day School.
