Senior citizens are just as technologically smart as younger people. They are purchasing and donating money. In fact seniors are leading the way in donations according to news reports hitting the television waves this week. Most people, no matter what their age, now prefer to make charitable donations online, according to a new study of more than 17,500 donors. What’s more, two-thirds of donors said they want all their communications to be electronic.
The survey by Cygnus Applied Research, in Chicago, found that more than half of donors who are 65 or older now prefer to make their gifts online, with much higher percentages of younger donors saying the same. It was the first time in the three years the survey has been conducted that a majority of donors in all age groups said they preferred to give online.
If you thought that our grandparents were not paying attention. It appears that they are.Here are some stats on the growing group[.
- 36.3 million — The number of people 65 and over in the United States on July 1, 2004. This age group accounts for 12 percent of the total population. Between 2003 and 2004, 351,000 people moved into this age group.
- 9.7 million — Estimated number of people age 65 and over who are military veterans
- 29 percent — The highest percentage increase among counties in the 65 and over population between 2000 and 2003. This distinction belongs to Douglas, Colo. Following Douglas were Collin, Texas; Prince William, Va.; Fort Bend, Texas; and Henry, Ga. (The findings pertain to counties with minimum populations of 100,000.) The five largest numerical gainers over the period were Los Angeles, Calif.; Clark (Las Vegas), Nev.; Orange (Anaheim), Calif.; Maricopa (Phoenix), Ariz.; and Miami-Dade, Fla
Archives of Internal Medicine found more senior citizens (aged 65 and older) are participating in monitoring personal health records online than young adults aged 18 to 35.
The study measured participation in implementing the use of personal health records online. According to the American Health Information Management Association, a personal health record (PHR) “is a tool that you can use to collect, track and share past and current information about your health or the health of someone in your care. Sometimes this information can save you the money and inconvenience of repeating routine medical tests. Even when routine procedures do need to be repeated, your PHR can give medical care providers more insight into your personal health story.”
The study’s authors reviewed 32,274 people who had adopted (they termed them “adopters”) using a PHR, and found 27% were “high users” who had logged into their personal health records over ten times in the previous two years. Out of those “high users” 41% (the majority of the high users) were between the ages of 51 and 65 years.
