Rich Hippie: Is this what fundraising looks like?
The other day, my wife and I were having dinner in one of the restaurants where we first fell in love with each other (in high school!). The meal was wonderful, and the patio was splendid thanks to a lovely Spring day's refusal to fade too quickly into a chilly evening.
As we were leaving, though, I became distracted by a nearby store called "Rich Hippie." It was next to a Starbucks, and beside a boutique called Haute Baby.
All three stores catered to the same demographic, but I think that the name of the first store said it right: people who long ago held deep values of social change and even revolution, but who have since grown up to make a lot of money and settle into a comfortable life ... perhaps, they believe, people who have since "sold out."
This is a fascinating demographic to me. As the Boomers approach retirement, we are all being flooded with ads from financial insitutions' that desire to manage this "rich hippie" wealth (anyone seen Dennis Hopper pitching Flower Power for Ameriprise Financial?). It won't be long before non-profits jump full-on into this trend... which many of us are already doing.
DISCUSSION: How do you think non-profits are preparing for the transition of this generation of philanthropists? And, more importantly, what will be the results?
On another note.... the Dallas Morning News recently ran this story on local fundraising extraordinaires, The Crystal Charity Ball:
And the best-dressed women in Dallas are...
Since Central Dallas Ministries is a recent recipient of their largesse (an award of over $600K), I will reserve any comments that I might make about this organization. Truthfully, they were all lovely people who were mostly a delight to work with. However, Charity Navigator's rating for them is most interesting:
The Crystal Charity Ball on Charity Navigator
