Good luck being a new Prophet. Back in the 1990s, a few entrepreneurial professors prophesied that nonprofits would be the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars in a massive generational wealth transfer, much of which was supposed to reach nonprofits by 2017.
Well, that story was milked for many years (probably for profit, not prophet) while the predictions never came close. Click here to see a prior article on the topic.
So, why am I back with my own predictions?
Well, the demographic numbers are not pretty for the United States. But, they are for planned giving (just not on the time table of prophiteers referred to above).
Just take a look at this age 65+ percentage of population chart:
Red means emergency – and the entire country is going red (i.e…super aged) by 2030.
So, there will be a wealth transfer. How much, who knows?
But it will be a lot and nonprofits who will be losing perhaps the greatest giving generation in history (the Baby Boomers) need to pivot toward planned giving very quickly if they want to maximize their opportunity for building their endowments (i.e…large sums not in the operating account).