Tag Archives: planned giving

BOOst Your Major Gift Asks With Planned Gifts

Image courtesy of Pink Sherbet Photography, Creative Commons license
Image courtesy of Pink Sherbet Photography, Creative Commons license

A strategy to improve your major gift solicitations: include planned gifts.

When you ask a prospect for a major gift, include a planned gift. It can be as simple as a bequest in the will; as middle-of-the-road as a charitable gift annuity; or as high-end complex as a charitable lead trust.

You’ll have to beat off the gifts with your broomstick!

The Planned Giving addition adds a dimension to your solicitation. Now you have more to talk about if your prospect balks at the outright ask. You can reduce the outright ask and add more to the planned gift.

It’s best if you don’t add dollar-for-dollar because the planned gift won’t mean cash to you until the donor’s death. The exception is a lead trust, but those are quite rare. Instead, add to the planned gift the future value of what you’re not getting outright. Here’s a future value calculator.

You’ll have more to negotiate around. The negotiation dance is one witch is critical after your ask.

The added planned gift can also act as a straw man. It’s harder for your prospect to turn down both the major gift and the planned gift. Gutting the planned gift out of the solicitation–like a pumpkin becomes a jack-o-lantern–makes it more likely the major gift remains intact.

The greatest success I’ve seen with this arises because you’ll have more variables in your solicitations. There’s more to talk about and listen to.

Talk half as much as you listen and you’ll have bewitching successes with your major gift solicitations.

P.S. This is part of October’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival, Major Gifts Tricks and Treats, hosted by Claire Axelrad.

Don’t Believe This Planned Giving Myth

Image courtesy of h. koppdelaney, Creative Commons license
Image courtesy of h. koppdelaney, Creative Commons license

“We have Planned Giving covered.” I hear it from CEOs, EDs, VPs, directors of development and board members. With “Planned Giving” as part of someone’s title, they’re confident the work is getting done.

They’re mistaken.

Unless it’s the full title and sole responsibility.

When Planned Giving is paired with any other job, as in “Director of Annual & Planned Giving” or “Director of Planned & Major Gifts,” the planned gift part will get short shrift. (Even if it’s the first responsibility in the title, which really means nothing.)

Every other method of fundraising has more immediate deadlines and payoffs. Let’s face it, planned gifts routinely take 15 or more years to realize cash to your nonprofit. A field like annual giving not only has quicker payoff, it has monthly production goals. In the fourth quarter it may have weekly goals.

Planned Giving won’t get the time it deserves competing against deadlines like that for the fundraiser’s scarce time.

The mistaken belief is that if PG represents half the title, then the person who wears the title is spending 50% of their time on it. I’ve never seen that. Planned Giving typically gets about ten percent. (Check out “4 Reasons Planned Giving Is A Jealous Mistress.”)

I once saw a job title which combined corporate, foundation and planned giving. With the strict deadlines and timelines around corporate and foundation giving, Planned Giving didn’t have a chance. The organization agreed when we looked at their outcomes, and they hired me to help them.

Don’t deceive yourself thinking Planned Giving is covered merely because it’s part of a title.

The reality is you’re leaving money on the table.

 

Can Planned Giving Prospects Reply On Your Reply Card?

Happy birthday note

When my mom turned 78 over the summer she got the birthday note above from a 70-something friend of hers. The writing gets me thinking about the design of Planned Giving reply cards so that your elderly prospects can use them.

It’s timely because we’re in year-end mode.

The thoughtful note is written by a shaky hand that requires extra space to be legible. That means your reply cards need to have lots of vertical and horizontal space if you’re asking people to fill in their name, address, etc.

The best practice–and the one I urge my clients to adopt–is to send personalized reply cards. The name and address are laser printed, either after the card is printed in bulk or at the same time.

But you may ask prospects for their email or phone, even on a personalized card. Leave lots of space between lines (horizontal) and make the space large vertically.

If a mail house prepares your postal mailings, personalizing reply cards adds to your expense. Where you hopefully had a double match, between outer carrier envelope and letter, you now have a triple match. That costs more. (I say “hopefully” because no Planned Giving letter should be addressed to friend, sir or madam, or anything other than the prospect’s name. I said a lot more about writing letters in two posts for GuideStar here and here.)

If you prepare your mailings in-house or can’t afford the expense of the triple match, design your reply card with plenty of space for elderly hands that may be afflicted with arthritis, nerve damage, be painful, shake or just need lots of room to write.

This is but a small part of focusing on the needs of your Planned Giving prospects and donors.

It will be appreciated.

I Love Planned Giving

Young Energetic Seniors (YES) at St. Matthew's parish on Long Island
Young Energetic Seniors (YES) at St. Matthew's parish on Long Island

 

Late last month I was reminded how much I love Planned Giving when I visited a senior church group on Long Island, outside New York City.

These folks were nearly all over 70, all retired and a delight to be with.

I love the company of older people and it’s one of the big reasons I love Planned Giving. When you do this type of fundraising you get the privilege of hanging out with our elders.

They go to more doctor appointments than anyone would want; they’ve got aches and ailments and a few have serious diseases; all of them have lost friends and family; they don’t know the future of Medicare or social security; and they worry whether Obamacare is good or bad.

All that on their shoulders and our elders are still fun and relaxed!

They haven’t lost spirit. What an inspiration! They are a joy to share time with.

This group of young energetic seniors calls itself YES. I love that.

When I was a director of Planned Giving at two colleges I had more contact with older folks. Meetings and calls several times a week. As a consultant there’s less direct donor contact and I miss the frequency.

Nonetheless, I love Planned Giving.

Thank you to the YES group for reminding me.

Nonprofit Radio for October 4, 2013: Thriving In Today’s Economy

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

Listen live or archive:

My Guest:

Joy Hunter Chaillou: Thriving In Today’s Economy

Joy Hunter Chaillou

 

Joy Hunter Chaillou is co-author of “Nonprofit Investment and Development Solutions.” We’ll talk about today’s economy and how to succeed in it with your investments and fundraising. And how the two are connected.

 

 


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