THE SUPPORTING BEHAVIOUR OF GENERATIONS TOWARDS NON- PROFIT ORGANISATIONS IN GAUTENG

Problem Investigated: Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are facing greater challenges than ever before. They have to compete with a growing number of other NPOs for donations and volunteers. Their traditional support from Baby Boomers is declining as this generation grows older and supports NPOs to a lesser extent than before. NPOs are therefore compelled to pay more attention to younger generations as a possible donor base and source for volunteers. It is therefore critical for an NPO that wishes to survive and prosper to understand the supporting behaviour of the different generations in order to successfully target them to grow the donor and volunteer base.


INTRODUCTION
Non-profit organisations (NPOs) often struggle to survive due to tight budgets, limited marketing skills, and a paucity of research to aid them in understanding their support base (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel, Boshoff & Terblanche, 2008:421).This intensity of competition is in part due to the increasing number of NPOs that operates in South Africa.During 2010, approximately 71 000 organisations were registered with the Department of Social Development, of which 20 948 are registered in Gauteng (Department of Social Development, 2010).These organisations compete for the same donor and volunteer base and end up receiving a smaller "cut of the pie" (Ranganathan & Henley, 2008:2).
Furthermore, individual factors such as the demographic, socio-economic and psychographic characteristics of donors affect the levels of donations made to NPOs.Age in particular is viewed as a critical demographic factor influencing how donors support NPOs.Consequently, donations to NPOs usually decline once donors reach the age of 65.NPOs therefore need to shift their focus from older individuals to the younger generations for donor support if they are to succeed (Blackwell, Miniard & Engel, 2006:245;Lamb et al., 2008:421&422;Schlegelmilch, Diamantopoulos & Love, 1997:20&24;Thornton, 2006:204).In order to attract younger generations and maintain existing relationships with older generations, it is necessary for NPOs to have a better understanding of their donors' supporting behaviour as this would enable them to develop more effective marketing campaigns (Nichols, 2004:167;Webb, Green & Brashear, 2000:300).This paper therefore aims at providing a better understanding of how the different generations currently support NPOs, and subsequently suggest strategies to successfully target younger generations to increase the donor and volunteer base.

Non-profit organisations
NPOs are defined as trusts, organisations, or voluntary associations of people that are established for a public purpose.Therefore, income and/or property generated are not distributed amongst members or office-bearers of the NPO, except as reasonable compensation for services rendered (Department of Social Development, 2008).NPOs strive to manage voluntary social actions by bringing people together to form mutually beneficial relationships with the purpose of producing goods and services that will benefit society (Clohesy, 2003:135).NPOs usually get involved with a number of activities in society including welfare and humanitarian causes, health care, land and housing, education and development, religion, cultural activities, conservation, environment and animal welfare, research and sporting activities (South African Revenue Service, 2007:53-58).
Interactions within the NPO environment are usually two-sided (Lamb et al., 2008:422).On the one hand, the NPO markets itself to donors and volunteers with the intention of generating support from them.On the other hand, support generated is allocated to the relevant beneficiaries (Briggs, Landry & Wood, 2007:30;Lamb et al., 2008:422).For the purpose of this study, the focus falls on the first activity of attracting support.While a number of studies have been done on how NPOs can effectively obtain monetary contributions from donors and how NPOs can involve more volunteers (Briggs et al., 2007:30), little has been done to investigate how different generations support NPOs.Before addressing the different generations under study, it is necessary to investigate supporting behaviour.

Supporting behaviour
The ways in which individuals support NPOs may include donations of time, money, blood or goods (Briggs et al., 2007:30;Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising, 2009).While this is often referred to as helping behaviour (Briggs et al., 2007:30), for the purpose of this study, these charitable activities are collectively referred to as supporting behaviour.As such, NPOs usually target donors and volunteers with the intention to obtain support from them (Lamb et al., 2008:422).Donors are defined as individuals, corporations, foundations or groups that support NPOs by donating gifts that are valuable to them, such as money, goods or blood (Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising, 2009).Volunteers on the other hand, are defined as individuals who work for NPOs without receiving any compensation for the work done (Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising, 2009).
Individuals usually engage with NPOs on different levels of involvement.At a low-level involvement, individuals renew membership to a supporter's group, give small donations or sign a petition.On a moderate level, individuals tend to sign monthly debit order forms or volunteer time on a monthly basis (Hibbert & Horne, 1996:6-8).High-level involvement involves donating a considerable amount of money or time to an NPO, sponsoring a child, or changing religion (Hibbert & Horne, 1996:6-8).
People furthermore donate (money, goods or blood) for various reasons.People donate because they:  feel strongly about the cause;  want to give back to the community;  want to give to others who are less fortunate;

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng  are required to do so by their employer;  feel better about themselves;  react to the illness of a family member, friend or co-worker;  feel it's the right thing to do;  give out of habit;  do so out of religious tradition (for example: tithing);  are of the opinion that it enhances their social standing; and  experience a reduced feeling of guilt (Andreasen & Kotler, 2003:199&200;Blackwell et al., 2006:306;Gladden, Mahony & Apostolopoulou, 2005:19;Kottasz, 2004:11-13;Lemmens, Abraham, Ruiter, Veldhuizen, Dehing, Bos & Schaalma, 2009:73-74;Riecken & Yavas, 2005:577).
Donating money and goods is not the only way NPOs seek support.Volunteers donate their time and are crucial to the success of NPOs.They help to keep the NPOs' expenses down, and provide a platform for citizens to get involved with a cause that they care about (Briggs et al., 2007:28).Volunteers spontaneously choose the activities that they want to be part of, knowing that there is no financial gain involved (Andreasen & Kotler, 2003:217-218).NPOs that are dependent on volunteers often struggle to find voluntary workers and cannot really pick and choose whom they take.As with their profit-driven counterparts, NPOs rely heavily on marketing and Human Resource (HR) management tools to recruit volunteers (Wilson & Pimm, 1996:29).
Whilst there are specific reasons why people donate, there are also several reasons why people volunteer.These include:  it allows them to help others;  it helps people to help themselves by advancing their own job prospects and skills;  it enhances peoples' relationships with their friends;  it allows people to receive positive regard from others;  it makes people feel better about themselves; and  it allows people to escape boredom, personal problems and alienation (Andreasen & Kotler, 2003:225;Tschirhart, Mesch, Perry, Miller & Lee, 2001:426;Wilson & Pimm, 1996:25-27&30-31).Riecken and Yavas (2005:574) furthermore profess that various demographic, socio-economic, and psychographic characteristics also influence whether and how much people donate.Donor behaviour is changing and the most important variables that play a role here include gender, age, family life cycle, household income, level of education, importance of religion and whether a person volunteers or not (Schlegelmilch et al., 1997:15).When considering age, it is evident that donations increase as donors become older, but tend to decline once donors reach the age of 65 (Schlegelmilch et al., 1997:20,24).It is therefore necessary to specifically uncover the role of age in the supporting behaviour of NPOs.

Generations and their supporting behaviour
Age is probably the most important segmentation base to use when dividing the target market into smaller, more homogeneous groups (Macchiette & Roy, 2001:266).It also forms the foundation for the theory of how the generations affect marketing, as it indicates the unique norms and values of the different generations (Andreasen & Kotler, 2003:149;Macchiette & Roy, 2001:266).Understanding the different generations, allows marketers to predict the types of products and services that will be bought and consumed by each (Blackwell et al., 2006:245).
Different authors use different names and different periods to describe each generation.However, in the end generation theory should be viewed as a form of generalisation, without sharp and fixed boundaries between the different generations (Codrington & Grant-Marshall, 2005:18;Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:125).While six generations have been identified in recent history, for the purposes of the study, the focus falls on Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y as defined by Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2010:125-135).

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng Baby Boomers were born after the Second World War between 1946 and 1964, and they represent the largest generation in American history (Bakewell & Mitchell 2003:99;Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:127-128).They have higher levels of education than the preceding generations, causing them to have higher levels of income (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:128).Baby Boomers are optimistic, self-centred, confident, idealistic, and driven (Blackwell et al., 2006:443;Codrington & Grant-Marshall, 2005:43;Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:128).They tend to have dual-career households, but are entering the "empty nest" phase of the household life cycle, which leaves them with more time and money to spend on themselves (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:128).With retirement fast approaching, the Baby Boomers are turning to products and services that can help them look and feel young again (Reisenwitz & Iyer, 2009:91).
From an NPO perspective, Baby Boomers tend to support causes that they are associated with: their churches, the educational institutions that their children are attending, the arts that they are interested in, and the health and medical organisations that look after them (Nichols, 2004:165).Baby Boomers are a good potential target market for bequests (Magson & Routley, 2009:333-335).
In terms of the non-profit environment, members of Generation X take time out to initiate relationships with NPOs and often research various causes before contacting them (Nichols, 2004:167).They tend to prefer supporting causes that centre around the broader community and that address social concernsincluding famine, homelessness, violence, care for the environment and economic aid for third-world countries (Codrington & Grant-Marshall 2005:52;Nichols, 2004:165).Compared to Baby Boomers, the Generation X group prefers donating time rather than money, and they are therefore a good market to approach for volunteering (Burns, Reid, Toncar, Anderson & Wells, 2008:100;Reisenwitz & Iyer, 2009:100-101).
Generation Y represents people who were born between 1977and 1994(Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:132-133).While the Generation Y teens are at school, the late teens and "twenty-somethings" are either part-time or full-time students at a tertiary institution or entering the world of work (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:133).With higher levels of education, higher levels of income can be expected from this generation (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:133).The members of Generation Y are presentable, confident, self-reliant, emotionally and intellectually expressive, innovative, curious and very optimistic (Burns et al., 2008:103;Mi & Nesta, 2006:417;Reisenwitz & Iyer, 2009:92).They are open-minded, know what they want out of life, and are willing to figure things out for themselves (Codrington & Grant-Marshall, 2005:56-63;Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2010:133;Mi & Nesta, 2006:416).The members of Generation Y are caring individuals who show great concern for the community and the environment in which they live (Codrington & Grant-Marshall, 2005:63).As a result, members of Generation Y are very active in their communities (Burns et al., 2008:100).As with Generation X, this generation prefers supporting NPOs that focus on the broader community (Nichols, 2004:165).Generation Y members get involved in society through recycling, volunteering, educating friends and family about social and environmental causes, and donating money (Cone Incorporated, 2006:3).This generation is keen to support cause initiatives, and, like Generation X, takes time out to initiate relationships with NPOs (Nichols, 2004:167).

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng In terms of volunteering, Generation Y shows an even greater tendency to get involved with volunteering than the other generations (Burns et al., 2008:103).A study conducted by Reisenwitz and Iyer (2009:100) states that Generation Y is more likely to get involved through volunteering than donating money, and NPOs can expect this tendency to continue.Getting involved in the community is important to younger people, and they see it as part of their work-life balance (Reisenwitz & Iyer, 2009:93).
Based on the literature presented above, the following alternative hypotheses are formulated for this study:  H 1 : There is an association between the different generations and their preferred methods of supporting NPOs. H 2 : There is an association between the different generations and the frequency with which they support NPOs. H 3 : There is an association between the different generations and the type of NPOs that they prefer supporting. H 4 : There is a significant difference between the levels of agreement that the different generations assign to their reasons for supporting NPOs.

PROBLEM STATEMENT, PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES
Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are facing greater challenges than ever before.They have to compete with a growing number of other NPOs for donations and volunteers (Ranganathan & Henley, 2008:2).NPOs are also compelled to pay more attention to younger generations (Generation X and Generation Y) as a donor base and source for volunteers.This is in part due to the fact that their traditional donor and volunteer base, namely Baby Boomers' support is declining as this generation grows older (Reisenwitz & Iyer, 2009:91).As a result, NPOs need to start focusing on the younger generations (Generation X and Generation Y) for support and accordingly develop strategies to attract these younger donors (Schlegelmilch et al., 1997:24).But doing so is not an easy task, as there is limited research available on how the different generations support NPOs.Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how the different generations currently support NPOs.
Thus, the primary objective of this study is to investigate how Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y individuals currently support NPOs in Gauteng, South Africa.
In order to attain the primary objective, the following secondary objectives were formulated:  Uncover the different methods in which the different generations support NPOs. Determine how frequently the different generations support NPOs. Identify the type of NPOs that the different generations prefer supporting. Establish the reasons why the different generations support NPOs.

METHODOLOGY
The study is quantitative in nature and a descriptive research design was followed to collect the data.In order to inform the questionnaire design process, five informal expert surveys were conducted with the marketing or fundraising managers of NPOs situated in Gauteng.A self-administered questionnaire was subsequently designed and pretested.By doing this, face and content validity of the questionnaire were established.In other words; does the questionnaire seem to measure what the researchers intend it to measure, and does it include the right questions to obtain the necessary information?
The target population included all Baby Boomers (i.The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng White).Due to the absence of a sampling frame, the researcher had to provide direction in terms of who qualified to participate in the study.A sample size of 200 respondents per generation was proposed.The researchers made use of trained fieldworkers to select respondents and field the questionnaire.Personal interviewing, in the form of in-home and intercept interviewing was used to obtain the necessary data from respondents living in Gauteng.Non-probability sampling was employed to select the sample.Quota sampling was used to ensure respondents from each generation were included, while convenience sampling was used to fill each quota.In the end, the researchers had 602 useable questionnaires.
The questionnaire was designed and pretested amongst the experts who participated in the surveys, as well as amongst a representative sample of 30 respondents.The questionnaire consisted of six sections, but for the purpose of this paper only the first three sections were considered.The first section of the questionnaire included two screening questions to determine whether the respondents qualified to partake in the survey -prospective respondents were asked whether they had donated in the past year and whether they fell within the relevant age brackets.Subsequently, the questionnaire included a section to determine the demographic profile of respondents, and another section investigated the respondents' current supporting behaviour.
Predictive Analysis Software Statistics package (PASW version 18) was used for data analysis purposes.
Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the relevant variables in terms of counts, frequencies, means, standard deviations, as well as top box and low box scores.In terms of hypotheses testing, parametric tests were used since the sample size was large enough (n = 602) and the distribution of results for the dependent variables subjected to the testing all fell within the acceptable limits of normality.
The Pearson chi-square test of independence was used to measure whether there is an association between two variables, and the one-way ANOVA test was used to determine whether significant differences exist between the three generational cohorts (Malhotra, 2007:442, 505).The researchers relied on a 95% confidence level.A subsequent 5% level of significance or p-value of 0.05 or less is thus indicative of a significant association between variables, or a significant difference between at least two of the generations with regard to the particular variable tested.Once significance has been established, Cramer's V measure of association can be used to indicate the strength of the association and the posthoc tests, Scheffe and Dunnett's T3 are used to determine the generations between which significant differences exist.Scheffe is suitable when equal variances can be assumed, and Dunnett's T3 when equal variances between the groups cannot be assumed.The homogeneity of variance test indicates which post-hoc test to use (Eiselen, Uys & Potgieter, 2007:121).

Sample profile
Although a sample size of 200 respondents per generation was proposed, 181 Baby Boomers (30.1%), 183 Generation X (30.4%) and 238 Generation Y (39.5%) respondents participated in the study, leading to a total of 602 useable questionnaires.

Current supporting behaviour
This

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng 1.0 The majority of the respondents prefer donating money (69.8%), followed by those donating goods (66.6%) and doing volunteer work (36.4%).The respondents are more inclined to support NPOs on a monthly basis (42.5%), followed by a tendency to support NPOs on an annual (42.0%) or bi-annual basis (36.2%).The majority of respondents tend to get involved with NPOs at a low level (68.6%), while 23.8% of respondents are involved at a moderate level and 7.6% at a high level.The respondents indicated that they prefer supporting the same NPOs every time (40.0%), while 37.2% sometimes support one NPO and sometimes support other NPOs.Most respondents provide support in one way or another to NPOs that care for children (52.8%), followed by 48% who support religious organisations, and 30.7% who support health care organisations.The NPOs that received lower levels of support in the previous year were those involved in arts and culture (5.1%), research (2.2%), and land and housing organisations (1.8%).

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng 276 Acta Commercii 2011

Reasons for supporting NPOs
A number of possible reasons for supporting NPOs were stated and respondents were asked to indicate on a five-point Likert scale, where one is 'strongly disagree' and five is 'strongly agree', the extent to which they agreed with each one of the reasons.The results are summarised in Table 2.

Hypothesis testing
This section provides the findings with regard to the four hypotheses formulated for this study.

Hypothesis 1
The first hypothesis focuses on whether associations are evident between the three generations and their preferred methods of support, namely donating money, donating goods, donating blood and volunteering.
The cross-tabulations are presented in Tables 3, 4 and 5 respectively, and subsequently significant associations between the different generations and particular methods of support are indicated.For donating goods, significant associations between this method and the different generations could not be uncovered and a cross-tabulation is therefore not presented.The results of the Pearson chi-square test of independence indicate that there is a significant association, (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 9.188; small effect; Cramer's V = 0.124; p-value = 0.010) between the generations and donating money to an NPO.Generation X is significantly more likely to donate money to NPOs than Generation Y or Baby Boomers.There is an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 11.479;small effect; Cramer's V = 0.138; p-value = 0.003) between the generations and donating blood.Generation Y is more likely to donate blood than Generation X or Baby Boomers.

The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng
There is an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 16.631;small effect; Cramer's V = 0.166; p-value = 0.000) between the generations and doing volunteer work.Generation Y is more likely to do volunteer work than Generation X or Baby Boomers.
Based on these results, Hypothesis 1 is partially supported, since there are associations between Generation X and supporting NPOs by donating money , as well as between Generation Y and donating blood and Generation Y and supporting NPOs by doing volunteer work.

Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 2 focuses on whether there are significant associations between the different generations and the frequency with which they support NPOs.Tables 6 and 7 contain the relevant cross tabulations followed by a discussion of the significant associations that could be uncovered.The results of the Pearson chi-square test of independence indicate an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 19.555;small effect; Cramer's V = 0.180; p-value = 0.000) between the generations and supporting NPOs once a week.Generation Y is more likely to support NPOs once a week than Generation X and Baby Boomers.The results of the Pearson chi-square test of independence indicate an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 6.850; small effect; Cramer's V = 0.107; p-value = 0.033) between the generations and supporting NPOs once a month.Baby Boomers are more likely to support NPOs once a month than Generation Y and Generation X.

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng Based on the results presented above, Hypothesis 2 is partially supported since there are associations between Generation Y and supporting NPOs once a week, and between the Baby Boomers and supporting NPOs once a month.

Hypothesis 3
Hypothesis 3 aims at determining whether significant associations exist between the different generations and the types of NPOs that they prefer supporting.The Pearson chi-square test of independence was used to test this hypothesis and a number of associations between the generations are evident.The cross tabulations pertaining to the associations are illustrated in Tables 8, 9 and 10.

95.0% 5.0% 100%
There is an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 6.183; small effect; Cramer's V = 0.101; p-value = 0.045) between the generations and supporting disaster management organisations.Generation X is more likely to support disaster management organisations than Generation Y and Baby Boomers.There is an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 6.920; small effect; Cramer's V = 0.107; p-value = 0.031) between the generations and supporting health care organisations.Generation X is more likely to support healthcare organisations than Generation Y and Baby Boomers.

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng There is an association (χ 2 (1, n = 602) = 6.348; small effect; Cramer's V = 0.103; p-value = 0.042) between the generations and supporting religious organisations.Baby Boomers are more likely to support religious organisations than Generation Y and Generation X.
Based on the results, Hypothesis 3 is partially supported, since associations were uncovered between Generation X and supporting disaster management and health-care organisations, and between Baby Boomers and supporting religious organisations.

Hypothesis 4
To test Hypothesis 4, the researchers made use of the one-way ANOVA test to determine whether significant differences exist between the levels of agreement that the different generations assign to their reasons for supporting NPOs.In all four instances reported here, the homogeneity of variance test indicated that equal variances can be assumed.Scheffe's post-hoc test was therefore used to flag the generations between which the significant differences exist.The following findings were apparent:  There is a significant difference between the means of the generations when it comes to the statement 'I like giving something back to the community' (p-value = 0.005).Scheffe's post-hoc test indicates that significant differences exist between Generation Y (mean = 4.22) and Generation X (mean = 4.46), as well as between Generation Y (mean = 4.22) and Baby Boomers (mean = 4.44). There is a significant difference between the means of the generations when it comes to the statement 'Due to the illness of a family member, friend or co-worker' (p-value = 0.003).Scheffe's post-hoc test indicates that significant differences exist between Generation Y (mean = 2.39) and Generation X (mean = 2.82), as well as between Generation Y (mean = 2.39) and Baby Boomers (mean = 2.79). There is a significant difference between the means of the generations when it comes to the statement 'It is part of my organisation's corporate social responsibility initiative' (p-value = 0.001).Scheffe's post-hoc test indicates that significant differences exist between Generation Y (mean = 2.40) and Generation X (mean = 2.88), and between Generation Y (mean = 2.40) and Baby Boomers (mean = 2.77). There is a significant difference between the means of the generations when it comes to the statement 'Religious tradition' (p-value = 0.019).Scheffe's post-hoc test indicates that a significant difference exists between Generation Y (mean = 2.97) and Baby Boomers (mean = 3.34).
Hypothesis 4 is therefore partially supported, since Generation X and Baby Boomers are significantly more positive than Generation Y about supporting NPOs as a means to give something back to the community; due to the illnesses of family, friends and co-workers, and as part of their organisation's corporate social responsibility.Baby Boomers are also significantly more positive than Generation Y about supporting NPOs as part of their religious tradition.Table 11 summarises the results of the hypotheses testing, whether they were accepted or rejected, as well as the main findings of each.

Accepted or rejected Main finding
H 1 : There is an association between the different generations and their preferred methods of supporting NPOs.

Partially accepted
There are associations between Generation X and supporting NPOs by donating money, as well as between Generation Y and donating blood and supporting NPOs by doing volunteer work.H 2 : There is an association between the different generations and the frequency with which they support NPOs.

Partially accepted
There are associations between Generation Y and supporting NPOs once a week and between Baby Boomers and supporting NPOs once a month.
H 3 : There is an association between the different generations and the type of NPOs that they prefer supporting.

Partially accepted
Associations were uncovered between Generation X and supporting disaster management and healthcare organisations, and between Baby Boomers and supporting religious organisations.H 4 : There is a significant difference between the levels of agreement that the different generations assign to their reasons for supporting NPOs.

Partially accepted
Generation X and Baby Boomers are significantly more positive than Generation Y about supporting NPOs as a means to give something back to the community, due to the illnesses of family, friends and co-workers, and as part of their organisation's corporate social responsibility.Baby Boomers are also significantly more positive than Generation Y about supporting NPOs as part of their religious tradition.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
NPOs are experiencing a decline in donations from Baby Boomers, which mean that they need to shift their focus to the younger generations, and thus develop marketing strategies to attract these as donors and volunteers (Schlegelmilch et al. 1997:24).In order to do so, it is important that NPOs have a better understanding of the donors' current supporting behaviour.Since there is little research available on this topic, this study sets out to uncover the differences between the generations in terms of the different methods in which they support NPOs, how frequently they support NPOs, the type of NPOs that they prefer supporting, and the reasons why they support NPOs.
Looking at the kind of support that the generations prefer giving, NPOs get an indication as to the type of support they can ask for in their communication strategies.Since there is tendency amongst the generations to prefer making monetary contributions, it is suggested that NPOs ask respondents to donate money.
In terms of the respondents' level of involvement with NPOs, the results reveal that the respondents are more inclined to get involved with NPOs at a low level through activities such as making small donations, and volunteering on an ad hoc basis.However, when asked how often they support NPOs, the respondents indicate a tendency to support NPOs on a monthly basis.This provides NPOs with the opportunity to ask donors to sign monthly debit order forms, thereby increasing their level of involvement with the organisation.
Knowing which types of NPOs the different generations prefer supporting, gives NPOs an indication as to who their target market is and consequently whom to approach and how to communicate with them.NPOs that take care of children can approach any one of the three generations as the respondents indicated a preference to support these types of NPOs.Even though this is the case, NPOs will need to

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The supporting behaviour of generations towards nonprofit organisations in Gauteng decide on which generation they want to focus and accordingly put a strategy in place that will lead to the highest return for their investment made.Furthermore, the respondents are more likely to support the same NPO every time they provide support, thereby showing that they are loyal to the NPOs that they support.NPOs should therefore nurture the relationship they have with their donors if they want to receive future support from them.Donors support NPOs for various reasons.Knowing the reasons that motivate donors to support NPOs, give NPOs an indication as to the approach that they should use when asking for support.Considering the results, it is suggested that when NPOs approach donors they should show how the support that they are receiving is helping their beneficiaries who are less fortunate.It is a message of hope.When an NPO's main target market is either Generation X and/or Baby Boomers, it is suggested that NPOs communicate how the support they are receiving is helping to uplift the community.Furthermore, Generation Y and Baby Boomers have most probably experienced more illnesses of family, friends or co-workers and this could serve as motivation for them to support a particular NPO.This also provides NPOs with an opportunity to encourage them to not only support the NPO, but also the family member, friend or coworker in need.Generation X and Baby Boomers are also more inclined to support NPOs as part of their organisation's corporate social responsibility, which presents NPOs with a number of opportunities to partner with profit-driven organisations and get involved through cause-related marketing campaigns or volunteering initiatives.Baby Boomers furthermore see supporting NPOs as part of their religious tradition, which presents NPOs with further opportunities to partner with religious organisations.
When looking at the purpose of this paper, i.e. to obtain a better understanding of how the generations currently support NPOs, it is evident that the results give NPOs a good indication as to whom to approach when asking for support.The results furthermore reveal what type of support can be asked from whom, how frequently support can be asked for, and what drives people to support particular NPOs.Using this information, NPOs are able to compile a suitable marketing message that is aimed at the generation they want to target.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
In conclusion, NPOs are experiencing a decline in donations from their older donors and thus need to shift their efforts towards the younger generations.Consequently, NPOs have to obtain a better understanding of the supporting behaviour of the different generations under study in order to approach them more effectively.Based on the results obtained, it is evident that differences exist between the generations in terms of their supporting behaviour.As such, NPOs need to take these differences into account when approaching the different generations in search for their support.
section provides an overview of the different means by which respondents have supported NPOs in the past year, how frequently they have supported NPOs in the past year, and in what ways the different generations are involved and the type of NPOs (compiled from the classification provided by the South African Revenue Services (South African Revenue Service, 2007:53-58) each generation prefers supporting.