Why Boomer Women matter for charitable causes
Who are Boomer Women?
The Boomer generation are those people born between 1945 – 1965, aged between 57-77 years old.
We are talking about the generation who created youth culture in the 60s and 70s. A generation who are diverse, and whose diverse experiences have created very different mindsets and decision-making processes.
Some are grandparents, others never had children. Some work full-time, others are fully retired. Some still have their parents, others lost them a long time ago.
Regardless of their experiences, they have been a fascinating group to engage and look to understand.
Why are Boomer Women important for charities?
After reaching out to the sector to better understand priority audiences, we heard a strong and clear message. Despite Boomers often being a strategically prioritised audience within a charity, the level of insight and understanding of this audience is often lacking depth. Boomers are typically identified as one homogenous group and some of the biggest (and often wildly inaccurate) assumptions are being made about this audience.
Here are 5 reasons why Boomer Women are an important audience:
1. They are living longer and living healthier:
By 2040, a quarter of us in the UK will be over 60. We’re living longer and living healthier. We’re working longer and retiring later. But our stereotypes of ageing are stuck in the last century. Our model of social care is broken and our approach to innovation isn’t working. As Madeleine Albright put it, “We’re taking 21st century challenges, evaluating them with 20th century ideas and responding with 19th century tools.”
(The first few pages of the future of ageing report also have some useful scene setting stuff if you need it.)
2. Women control the money
It's estimated that the Baby Boomer generation currently controls around 80% of UK private wealth. By 2025 60% of the UK's private wealth will be in female hands (chiefly widows hands - men die younger). This is the first time in history that women have controlled the purse strings.
(For more information on in the intergenerational wealth transfer, the FT have a great article here)
3. They want to give now, not after death
But unlike the War Generation, Boomer women want to see the impact of their generosity and philanthropy in their lifetimes. Not after their death. They’re focused on ensuring the future of their grandchildren over and above their children (academic paper here backing up that research). But charities are still planning and banking on legacies being the product that continues to deliver in the next decade.
4. They are not the stereotypes of the past, nor are they all the same
We tend to lump Boomer Women into one segment. This is over 12m people with wildly different life experiences and expectations. The Golden Girls and the most recent season of Sex and the City are the same age. Boomers were the generation who cemented the transition from childhood to adulthood as 'adolescence'. They're now reframing and rethinking our perception of 'old age' and the transition to retirement - gerontolescence. Gerontolescence is a time of self-discovery and exploration. They're changing their relationships, their jobs, their homes and their style. But we're still lumping this group together with older audiences, making mass generalisations about their interests, technology use, aspirations and lifestyles.
“We're marketing them incontinence pads and Parker pens. When what they want are sex symbols and the latest fashion trend. Skydiving. Not stairlifts. Iris Apfel and the GrimeGran. Not Michael Parkinson and Vera Lynn.”
5. Although they may “retire” in their 60s, they want purpose & meaning
Many are retiring, or dropping down to part-time jobs. Family is important, but they still want that sense of purpose and meaning. They have had careers in business and public sector, and they still want that feeling of being important and contributing to society - beyond being a child carer. They may be older now, but they are not done with living.
Whether it is volunteering, campaigning or giving; there are many ways we could be better tapping into this audience. And if we don’t challenge our perceptions, we are at risk of losing them by continuing to innovate and market based on old stereotypes and banking on products delivering based on previous behaviour.
That is why getting under the skin of Boomer Women during this programme has helped participating charities to really get to know this audience, while unearthing powerful insight that will hopefully unlock the potential to build new and disruptive products and approaches.