Tag Archives: philanthropy

Surf Your Planned Giving In 5 Steps

Ocracoke53/120701 -- Boogie boarding on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.


This summer’s vacations on Block Island, RI and Belmar on the New Jersey shore gave me a chance to watch surfers. They ride just ahead of breaking waves, staying in front of the cresting water. I’ve been in Planned Giving for 13 years, and I’ve been thinking: how can you surf your Planned Giving program and stay ahead of it?  I’ve got five ideas.

  • Have a fat pipeline of new prospects. Use direct mail reply devices to get people to self-identify as being interested in including your nonprofit in their estate plan, or wanting additional information on how to do it. These people are your newest prospects. Train all your fundraisers to identify prospects and bring them to you so you can work together to cultivate a planned gift. Fundraisers include your CEO, vice presidents, board and volunteers who are on the front line of the service you deliver. You want as many people as possible knowing the fundamentals of Planned Giving, sharing basic information with potential prospects and feeding leads back to you. When I teach our clients, we cast a wide net within the organization to bring in anyone who has contact with possible planned gift prospects.
  • Unburden yourself from distractions. Look critically at the time you spend that isn’t related to identifying prospects, cultivating prospects to become donors, closing gifts, and stewarding donors. These are your most relevant activities and they best enhance your value to your employer. When you’re not engaged directly in this work, you are distracted. What distracts you? Pro bono committee work; compliance filings; additional assigned duties; additional duties you volunteered for; office gossip; internal reporting; office politics; or other things? Whatever your distractions, get yourself out of as many as possible. You’ll be a more effective fundraiser and more valuable to your organization, which helps secure your future there.
    Businessman Surfing on Conference Table

  • Get out of the office. With more time to spend on relevant work, use it to meet prospects and donors. Fundraising is a relationship business, whether Annual Fund or Planned Giving, and the strongest relationships are built on face-to-face meetings. I previously had something to say on the value of meetings. Having a monthly goal will help. Get out of the office and meet people!
  • No excuses. Uncertainty around the estate tax. Recession. No direct IRA giving. Obama’s deduction cap proposal. I read about it and people tell me, how so many things are working against planned gift fundraising. There are legitimate reasons why you might not raise as much this year as you did last year or before. But I also read, and people tell me about, nonprofits that are still raising money and fundraisers who close gifts. Did you see the $100 million gift to Human Rights Watch this month? (HRW is a former client, but I had nothing to do with that gift.) Even if you can’t match last year’s giving, don’t give in to the excuses. Stay active, focusing on your most important activities (above).
  • Use social media. Use among the 50+ set is rising steeply and that has promise for Planned Giving. I am intrigued by the possibilities.

That’s what I’ve got for surfing your planned gift program and staying ahead of the wave. (I was not watching surf boarders solely from the beach, but also while I body surfed the same waves. I’ve got bruises from the boards to prove it. Next post: Avoiding surf boards in your Planned Giving program.)

Social Media & Planned Giving

Portrait of a senior woman holding a mobile phone and smiling Model Release: Yes Property Release: NA

NPR reports that penetration of social media among those 50 and over nearly doubled in just the past year. It’s still only at 42%, but it’s rising very steeply. That has implications for Planned Giving.

To be sure, you need to know your constituency. If it does not reflect the national trend, you don’t want to allocate time to an initiative that can be very time consuming. Your Facebook page and Twitter stream need constant attention–if you’re going to do them right–and proper social media practice goes well beyond those best-known sites. I leave the details of inaugurating a nonprofit social media presence to more august thinkers.

If social media has deeply penetrated your 50-and-over constituents, your Planned Giving program can ride that wave. There’s potential for sharing testimonials that will engage others; hosting webinars on financial and estate planning; reconnecting classmates at all education levels; virtual donor recognition; coordinating direct mail with web content; and lots of other creativity. Much of your pre-existing online presence may be appropriate for your PG constituency, and you can make them aware of what you offer in ways you might not have in the past.

I’m really interested in ideas you have, or things you’re already doing, with social media for your Planned Giving prospects.

European Reaction to the Buffett/Gates Challenge

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates gestures during a news conference at the 18th World Aids Conference in Vienna July 19, 2010.  REUTERS/Herwig Prammer (AUSTRIA - Tags: BUSINESS)

We all know Europe has a wide publicly-provided social and cultural net delivering much of what U.S. nonprofits offer. For that reason, charitable giving is regarded differently there.

A Der Spiegel interview with German multimillionaire Peter Krämer sums up the European sentiment pretty nicely, in a response to the Buffett/Gates $600 billion challenge.

Here’s an excerpt from the short interview:

Krämer: It is all just a bad transfer of power from the state to billionaires. So it’s not the state that determines what is good for the people, but rather the rich want to decide. That’s a development that I find really bad. What legitimacy do these people have to decide where massive sums of money will flow?

Taxes Don’t Motivate

Deductions, Taxes and Tax Day


Donors are not primarily motivated by taxes when they make their giving decisions. Rich, middle, or poor, we all have other considerations and motivations that trump the tax code’s financial incentives. This New York Times piece by Judith Warner, “The Charitable-Giving Divide” explores those greater influences.

I have always believed the Obama proposal to limit charitable deductions for high earners will not have the devastating impact on charitable giving that many predict. The decrease will be small and temporary.

History has shown that giving rebounds within a few years of depression, recession and tax code changes, then continues its gradual rise.

Nonprofit Radio for September 3, 2010: Talking About Your People

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

You can subscribe on iTunes and listen anytime, anyplace on the device of your choice.

Tony’s Guest:

Karen Bradunas, Human Resources consultant.

Talking about your people.

They are your most important asset: attracting, hiring, retaining, motivating, managing and removing.

Here is the link to the podcast: 008: People: Your Most Precious Asset

This Friday from 1-2pm this week and every week!

Top Trends. Sound Advice. Lively Conversation.

You’re on the air and on target as I delve into the big issues facing your nonprofit—and your career.

If you have big dreams but an average budget, tune in to Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio.

I interview the best in the business on every topic from board relations, fundraising, social media and compliance, to technology, accounting, volunteer management, finance, marketing and beyond. Always with you in mind.

When and where: Talking Alternative Radio, Fridays, 1-2PM Eastern

Sign-up for show alerts!
View Full Transcript