Tag Archives: planned giving

“Planned Giving Saved Our Ass”

 

Image courtesy of Myxi, Creative Commons license
Image courtesy of Myxi, Creative Commons license

“Planned Giving Saved Our Ass.”

That’s what a client reminded me last week. I’ve been helping the college capture planned gifts since 2004, and Planned Giving saved them four times in the last six years.

Saved them from what? Shortages in unrestricted cash. Lots of planned gifts are unrestricted—especially bequests.

We’ve been promoting long-term planned gifts together for nine years. After several years the long-term arrives, and it comes in the form of immediate-term cash.

You see, people die irrespective of recession, unemployment and stock market values. When your charity is part of hundreds or thousands of estates, some of those donors will die each year. I guarantee it.

That’s the double-edged sword of Planned Giving. We don’t want our donors to die, but when they do there’s a gift for our important work.

How many will die in a year and how much cash will result, that’s uncertain. After you’ve got unrestricted Planned Giving income for three to four years, you can look to that history for your average and median, which isn’t skewed by very large gifts. Those numbers will give you an estimate of what you can look forward to each year.

Caveat: It’s enormously unwise—reckless even—to budget for planned gift revenue, unless you’ve got many years of history and fancy finance and actuarial pros looking over your data. It’s too speculative.

All you have is a rough estimate, which is some comfort. Not for accounting, but there are other forms of comfort than spreadsheets.

I’m only talking about unrestricted planned gift income. There’s restricted money too.

If you’re not promoting planned gifts, get started. The sooner you start, the sooner your long-term will arrive.

There Is No Shortcut To Getting Planned Gifts

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Lim, Creative Commons license
Photo courtesy of Jeremy Lim, Creative Commons license

 

Planned Giving is soliciting gifts from estate and retirement plans, and there’s no way to close them quickly. I’ve seen suggestions to the contrary lately and I sternly disagree.

There are plenty of quick (and cheap!) ways to promote Planned Giving. Here are a dozen:

  • Put a sidebar in your next newsletter to promote giving by will
  • Drop a buck slip in your next mailing about giving by will—or IRAs for those over 70 1/2
  • As you promote IRA giving, use the December 31 deadline to create urgency
  • Send an email blast to your board about the IRA deadline
  • Drop in a buck slip that tells the short story of someone who gave by will or IRA
  • Planning your annual report? Put in a sidebar to encourage planned gifts
  • Keep these sidebars short! No more than 125 words
  • At your next event, put in two (literally) sentences about giving by IRA by 12/31
  • The second sentence is, “Give us a call if you’d like to know more.” As the calls come in, refer to my IRA article linked above.
  • Planning your year-end mailings? Squeeze this check-off onto the reply card: “I’d like to know more about including you in my will.”
  • Make space for this check-off too: “I’ve included you in my will or other estate plan.” Remember to thank your new donor!
  • For the flap on all your reply envelopes, a new check box: “Send me info about including you in my will.”

My fast promotion ideas will not get you gifts fast.

Nothing will.

Planned gifts are part of your prospects’ large plans for the future. You don’t get into those plans from an email blast. You might get into them from six email blasts, spaced appropriately.

Want more ideas for Planned Giving promotion?

Get Going On Planned Giving from GuideStar
6 article, year-long Planned Giving series from GuideStar (just as relevant now as it was in 2010)
7 Tips For Small Shop Planned Giving from Claire Meyerhoff
8 Tips To Get Your Planned Giving Going from Karen Signoracci Suero

Planned gifts take a lot of time to close because lots of personal factors are in play. What would it take for you to put a charity in your will—alongside your spouse, children and grandchildren?

Don’t confuse—or let others confuse you about—quick promotion and quick gifts. The former is eminently doable in Planned Giving.

Quick gifts? Ignore the hype. They’re impossible in Planned Giving.

Promo shot for the Nonprofit Boot Camp with host Jamie Bristow-Lavoie

Nonprofit Boot Camp Interview

Promo shot for the Nonprofit Boot Camp with host Jamie Bristow-LavoieIn May I was a guest on Nonprofit Boot Camp with host Jamie Bristow-Lavoie.

She and her team at NonprofitMatch1.com put together a collection of interviews as the Boot Camp and I’m included. There’s also Bob Penna who’s been a guest on Nonprofit Radio.

Jamie and I talked about the importance and timeliness of Planned Giving and Charity Registration. Here’s the audio interview:

That was back in May. Do you feel like I do, that summer is flying by?

I am enjoying it–and that’s reassuring–but it feels like the days have had only 14 hours. I feel like I’m owed time that passed without me in it.

Jamie Bristow-Lavoie, thank you very much for inviting me to Boot Camp! You’re a fun drill sergeant.

A Charity Did What Charities Do

No Smoking Guns courtesy of David King on Flickr
No Smoking Guns courtesy of David King on Flickr
Last week The New York Times exposed Beth Israel Medical Center’s fundraising operation as it became public through documents related to a will challenge by distant relatives of Huguette Clark, a wealthy woman who lived her last 20 years in the New York City nonprofit hospital. She died in 2011.

From the Times’ account, I see very little wrong and nothing egregious. New details may emerge and I’m analyzing what’s known today based on the linked article. (I’m much more interested in where the story ends.)

Ms. Clark was a major gift prospect, as she should be. She lived in the hospital for a long time and had her faculties.

Fundraising staff researched their prospect and the CEO was actively involved. All CEOs should be engaged in major gift fundraising. They wrote memos to each other and to the file.

It’s true: people inside charities routinely talk to each other about fundraising prospects and donors. They keep records in databases and paper files. They hold strategy meetings to manage relationships.

That’s what charities do.

It’s what they have to do to get gifts so their doors stay open. It is the way fundraising gets done in the charity business.

Surprisingly, the Times article lacks this context. There’s no commentary from a person with knowledge of fundraising practices to say, presumably, that there’s not much in this story that’s out of the ordinary.

What I didn’t like is the unprofessionalism of some notes and the unbridled exuberance that led a staffer to use seven exclamation marks to announce a gift of a painting. And there are snarky comments, too.

Those instances were poorly judged and thoughtless. Not illegal. Not unethical. Just thoughtless.

Never put in writing something you wouldn’t want the person you’re writing about to read. Keep your notes factual.

My greatest interest is the last paragraph of the Times’ article. Within 20 days of signing her first will, which did not include Beth Israel, the CEO met with Ms. Clark three times. Three weeks after the last of those visits she executed a new will with a $1 million bequest for the hospital. That’s the will under dispute.

Now we’re squarely in my territory, Planned Giving.

  • Did an attorney prepare the wills?
  • Did the same attorney prepare both?
  • Were they executed in compliance with New York law? (The first will is dubbed “sparse.”)
  • Were the attorneys recommended by the hospital?
  • Did hospital staff have meetings with the attorneys?
  • Who paid the attorneys?
  • How many people were in the three meetings with Ms. Clark?
  • What was said?
  • How did she react?
  • Did other staff meet her between the two wills?
  • What did they say and how many people were in those meetings?

Nearly everything leading up to the first will is business as usual, as far as we know.

For me, the end of the story begins the most interesting inquiry.

Planned Giving Is Part Of Your Fundraising Team

Image courtesy of lumaxart on Flickr
Image courtesy of lumaxart on Flickr
Fundraising is a team sport and Planned Giving should be a team player.

Whether you’re a devoted Planned Giving officer or a solo fundraiser occasionally talking to a PG prospect, you can support the bigger effort in several ways.

Ask for annual appeal gifts. When you meet a prospect or donor, or have a “meaningful contact” of any sort, thank them for their annual gift. If appropriate, ask for an increased gift. For the person who doesn’t participate, ask why. Perhaps you can overcome their objections to giving annually.

Ask for help with corporate giving, corporate sponsorship and foundation giving. If your prospect is connected, inquire about possibilities. If they’re with a company–and after coordination with the appropriate gift officer, if there is one–ask about corporate support. As you prepare for a meaningful contact with someone who sits on a foundation board or has a private foundation, consider what might be a good funding match and raise that possibility with your prospect.

Share relationship info back at the office. A meaningful contact almost always yields new information: unknown relationship; a new grandchild; a home for sale; recent illness; a stock windfall or loss; business news; extended vacation; a new car. Whatever you find out gets entered into your relationship management database and shared with those who need to know. Data points are valuable to relationships and you need to preserve them.

Share info with administrative services staff. This won’t apply at smaller shops. If you expect a transfer of stock by DTC or cash by wire, let the staff know in advance what to look out for. DTC transfers come without easily recognizable identifying information, like the donor’s name. If your staff knows to expect 50 shares of Apple, you’ll make their job much easier when it arrives. Wired cash comes with identification, but let those supporting your work know you’re thinking of them. I guarantee they’ll thank you.

Share your knowledge. If you’re a Planned Giving pro, lead in-house training. You want as many people as possible leading you to potential prospects, so explain over a brown bag lunch who makes a good prospect and how to ask if suspects have included the organization in their long-term plans. Train other gift officers, program officers and receptionists–every person who has contact with potential donors.

Your Planned Giving work should support the entire fundraising team.