Generate Seniors’ Generativity Now

People donate higher amounts if asked to pledge a charitable donation in the future than if asked to give right now. As a result, charities can find it advisable to put off the collection date. However, this temporal discounting of donation amounts applies from the perspective of the charity, too. Getting money sooner is better than getting money later, everything else being equal.
     Good news, then, from Ryerson University researchers which finds that this temporal discounting among donors fades markedly as the donors get older. Senior citizens show fewer differences between donation-now and donation-later amounts than do younger adults. The researchers’ explanation is that as we age, our generativity—concern about future generations—grows, resulting in greater altruism and willingness to donate now.
     Seniors like to give their business to retailers who are compassionate, and they like to view themselves as generous. One dynamic behind this is a desire to leave behind a legacy of love. Maybe behind this, in turn, is a calculation of what will be required on the résumé submitted at the Pearly Gates.
     The increased generosity does not appear to be due to greater net worth or lower cognitive abilities as people age. And the fading of the temporal discounting applies only to charitable donations. As it comes to spending money in other ways, older adults still show a willingness to devote larger amounts when the due date is in the future than when approaching soon.
     When soliciting older potential donors, the advice to charities is to ask for the money to be contributed now, not later.
     The range of the request counts, too. In a field study based at France's ESSEC Business School, a request for a small amount increased the willingness of the person to make a donation at all, and the larger the greatest amount in the same request, the higher the eventual donation. In a solicitation containing a scale of suggested contributions, a range of $5 to $1,000 would serve better than one of $20 to $500.
     Still, there is a boundary condition to the change in temporal discounting with charitable donations: The degree of altruism levels off at about age 75 and decreases somewhat thereafter. With the older old, then, the size of donations is likely to be highest with planned giving, in which the donation is made via a trust or will which will be activated in the future.

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