3 Practical Steps To Boost Planned Giving Activity

In this article I will try to compare planned giving to stubbing one’s toe.

This may be a stretch, but hear me out.

Nearly every nonprofit we’ve worked with has expressed something akin to:

 “I know we should focus more on planned giving than what we currently do. But we just don’t have time to make it a priority.”

But as soon as you spend a little time – truly a relatively small amount of time for the average nonprofit today – on your planned giving strategy, you’ll suddenly see it everywhere.

You will see planned giving present itself as an opportunity for a long-term donor who has been giving modestly but consistently, and yet could make a significantly larger give through their estate.

You will see planned giving conversations present themselves as part of discussions about “blended” gifts when working through a capital campaign.

You will observe planned giving offering great ways for donors to make significant gifts without a big outlay of immediate cash or stock, often attractive during volatile financial markets.

You will see planned giving as an important leg of the stool for your organization’s longer-term sustainability, with plenty of research to back that up. 

That’s how planned giving is like your stubbed toe. After you do it, you notice every time it comes around again …but without the pain.

As I was reading the New York Times this month, an article about estate plans caught my eye. It was a reminder to me about the importance of everyone having an estate plan, and yet only about two-thirds of households with people aged 70+ have a will (as of 2020).

We find that many philanthropy professionals really do well at soliciting a planned gift, and yet they struggle with how to initiate a conversation about planned giving with a prospective donor.

I feel like an interesting approach to take with this NYT article is to reference it when starting to talk about planned gifts with a potential PG donor. 

"You know, I was reading a New York Times article recently about estate gifts. Sure, we all know they're important, no doubt about it! But I was surprised to read that only two-thirds of 70+ year-old households have a will.”

"Whether through a will or through a designated beneficiary of a retirement account, for example, there are a lot of ways to take good care of both loved ones, as well as organizations and causes we care a lot about too"

Let’s do a check-up on how your own planned giving practices are going recently. Here are three tips we share this May for our peers in the field of philanthropy:

• First: Commit to dedicating just 1 hour each week to planned giving. It doesn’t feel like much, but for most nonprofits 1 hour each week is significantly more than is currently allocated to planned giving, and would make a notable impact.

• Second: Identify 5 PG prospects you'd like to meet with by July 4th. More than likely, these are donors already within your donor base who have been giving regularly for the past 5-10+ years, even if at a relatively modest dollar amount.

• And, finally, check your own preparedness: Take care of yourself and make sure your plans are in-place as well. It’s important for us to take care of our own directives also.

We are always here to continue the conversation. Whether planned giving, feasibility study, capital campaign counsel, development strategies …we’re always up for a conversation. Just drop us a note!

Michael Pettry, Principal

Michael@capefletcher.com

Cape Fletcher Associates

www.CapeFletcher.com