1)  Begin with your board – Planned giving can be complicated and confusing, and it can often take a while before you see success. It’s important for your board to understand what the development of a planned giving program means and what it will take to do it well. Having board buy-in is critical since board members are often the best people to ask to support your planned giving effort first. Undertaking an internal, board-focused planned giving campaign will help to educate your board members about the process of making a planned gift and make it easier for them to communicate the benefits to potential donors.

2)  Create policies and procedures – Receiving a bequest is a great honor that should be celebrated. Having the appropriate planned giving policies and procedures in place ahead of time can help prevent conflict and uncertainty when a gift is received. Click here for a list and description of the policies and procedures your organization should have in place before undertaking a planned giving program. Don’t wait until that $50,000 bequest is announced and your program managers begin to fight over where the money should be allocated. 

3)  Be patient and market, market, market – It can take years for a donor to build a strong enough relationship with your organization to want to make a planned gift – and it can take several more years before your donor meets with their lawyer or financial planner and actually puts a planned gift in place. Therefore you must be patient and continually market your planned giving program. Include a check box on your donation envelopes that allows people to request more information about planned giving, have information on your website about the benefits of becoming a planned giving donor to your organization, and share stories of other planned gifts you have received in your newsletter. Think creatively about how using planned gifts can allow your donors to make a larger impact in the future than they might be able to make right now, and find ways to talk about planned giving with your most devoted, long-term donors.

Make sure to ask your donors to share with you if they have decided to include your organization in their estate plans so that you can acknowledge their gift appropriately and ensure that you have a clear sense from the donor how they would like their gift directed. Finally, if you have a donor who is considering making a planned gift and they do not already have either a legal or financial advisor, recommend that they speak with one. For more information and resources check out:  http://www.leavealegacy.org/ or http://www.wpgc.org/resources.aspx.

Filed under: Major Gifts, Planned Giving by Kate Cox on November 5, 2009