This year, I will lead or be part of nearly 25 public and private studies that examine the public’s—and, in particular, younger populations’—interest and participation in social issues and movements. Many of these are attempts to better understand their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in the hope that brands or causes can inspire more interest and engagement in their issues of interest.

Every year, though, I like to think not about how we ask the questions but about how we can build a better understanding of the individuals who answer them, particularly their biases—because a respondent’s cultural or socioeconomic background,  current economic situation, or any number of experiences may influence their responses.

Most studies lack this level of understanding. We spend time and resources asking questions without getting to know the person behind the responses.

Researchers tend to strive more to understand people by race/ethnicity, whether they are employed and how much they earn. These are basic factors known to affect people’s attitudes and behaviors, but there’s so much more to consider before we can fully grasp why someone is willing to engage in and support cause campaigns.

Today, more influences are at play than we realize. Here are three that I am actively looking at during our screening and audience analysis:

Caregiving

More than 53 million Americans are caregivers, and nearly one in five provides unpaid caregiving services to adults with health and functioning needs. On average, this is 23 hours of unpaid caregiving support a week. That’s a part-time job without income, usually for people already working full-time jobs to advance in their careers and contribute to family finances, often while also caring for children. We cannot ignore the impact of this growing trend on generosity and social movement participation as the general population ages.

Education

The average college student is 26.4 years old; 50.5 percent attend school exclusively full-time. This means that more students are older, and half are in school part-time while working and/or taking care of families. Given these shifts, in our questions about behavior and cause participation, we need to ask more than the typical “Do you have a college degree?” We need to ask, “Are you currently taking classes? If so, how many classes, and are you working full-time, acting as a caregiver part-time?” and more. This information will help us truly understand not just a person’s willingness to engage in social issues, but their actual capacity to do so.

Debt

More than 64 million Americans have credit card debt, $5,221 per person on average. This number can and will increase as families struggle to pay for food, medicine, and rent or mortgage as they face high inflation and other challenging economic conditions today. Even when people want to participate in social movements—and so many do—economic conditions can dampen enthusiasm and capacity as Americans work to manage financial hardships.

Does all this mean that every issue will feel the effects of education, caregiving, and debt? No. But to understand the people behind the actions and continue to grow its constituency, every nonprofit should be aware of the demographic and economic conditions that may impact involvement.

Americans are seeing their roles, responsibilities, and financial burdens grow and affect their ability to give generously of their time or money. We cannot ignore this truth. We can, however, view it as an opportunity to further innovate and design opportunities that take our constituents’ lifecycle changes into account.

Therefore, before you ask the next person to give, plan an event, or join your board, seek to learn more about their background to gauge whether they have the time and financial capacity to make such an endeavor possible. Ultimately, this new perspective can help your nonprofit’s fundraising and marketing team align requests with appropriate expectations that meet the individual where they are on their own life’s journey.

Derrick Feldmann (@derrickfeldmann) is the founder of the Millennial Impact Project, lead researcher at Cause & Social Influence, and the author of The Corporate Social Mind. See Derrick’s related articles in Philanthropy News Digest, “Nurturing a community for the greatest impact” and “Creating symbiosis between marketing and advocacy.”