When Talking about Cash Gifts is Tough, Talk Planned Gifts Instead
I was at a board meeting this week, where everyone was looking around the table at each other wondering what we could do to raise more money for the organization. I couldn’t help but think about the webinar we are hosting here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide on Monday on starting a planned giving program — where you ask your supporters to include your cause in their retirement and estate plans, creating a much more stable, long-term source of revenue.
The down economy is actually a great time to start having these conversations, if you aren’t already. Right now, many donors are very wary of parting with cash, but they still believe in your cause – maybe more now than ever. Planned gifts are seen as the “painless” way to help. Put it this way, is Donna Donor more likely to write a check for $5,000 or to consider making your organization the beneficiary of the IRA that’s lost half of its value in the last year? This is the perfect time to think about ways to communicate with your loyal donors about planned gifts.
The key word is “loyal.”
That’s the beauty of doing some planned giving marketing right now. You don’t have to reach everyone, just your most loyal (and usually friendliest!) supporters. We know that most loyal donors don’t make a planned gift simply because they are never asked. Another benefit is that anyone, regardless of income level, can make a planned gift. Wealth and demographics alone are not the best predictors of a planned gift. Loyalty to your cause and your organization are. For example,over 40% of bequests are made by people 55 and younger.
Within the next 15 years, over $6 trillion dollars will be passed from one generation to the next. If you leave planned giving out of your fundraising communications, you will be leaving gifts on the table – or forfeiting them to another charity. And continuing to have those same board meetings month after month, year after year, where everyone wonders who is going to come up with the next idea to raise a few thousand dollars. Get a planned giving program rolling now and, in the long-run, it’s likely to produce some of the largest contributions your organization will ever receive.
If your interest is piqued, join Claire Meyerhoff and me as we get some great tips from Viken Mikaelian, one of the brightest names in the Planned Giving universe on how even small nonprofits can start a planned giving program. Viken is the brains behind the hugely successful VirtualGiving.com and PlannedGiving.com and has helped create planned gift marketing programs for many national charities. Viken will share his steps to take to identify “loyal” donors and to reach them with your planned giving opportunities. You might be surprised how willing your donors are to talk about significant contributions that don’t require writing a check today.
Join us for “You Had Me at Bequest: How to Start a Planned Giving Program for Your Nonprofit” on Monday, March 23, 2009 at Noon Eastern (9:00 a.m. Pacific). It’s $35 or included with your All-Access Pass. Get the details and register. (Pass holders, login here to RSVP.)
Unfortunately, someone from our org can’t make the webinar but we’ve been struggling with this for a while. We are a cancer advocacy organization, and no matter how many ways we’ve turned it over, it feels tactless so we haven’t tried. Many of our supporters are terminally ill, so it feels like we’re saying, “since you’re going to die soon anyway…” when of course that’s not what we mean. Here we are fighting to keep them alive, and then on the other side of our mouths we’re talking about their deaths.
Would love to find some resources of how other patient/disease-focused organizations do this.
Hi Judi — I think you have your answer right in your question — it’s not about their death, it’s about their life’s legacy. The approach is not “we want your money when the cancer finally kills you off” but rather “would you like to leave a legacy that helps others fight this disease (or however you would use the money)?” What better way to empower someone who has been struck with an illness than giving them a way to fight it after they are gone. You absolutely have to change your mindset and focus on the benefits for others and the donors role in making that progress through the gift. Today’s webinar we just did on Taking the Fear Out of Fundraising would help with that mindset shift too.
Hi Kivi – I’m really excited about this webinar! Fancy Cats Rescue Team has been considering this but I just don’t have any idea how to get started. As the potential recipient, do we need to consult a lawyer or accountant to set anything up on our end to be able to properly receive these gifts? Or do we just go out with the ask? And I’d love to know if Viken has any contacts in the Northern VA/DC area who might be willing to give a (free???) seminar on this topic for our donors/supporters.
Hi there
I certainly would want to join that program, and I hope it would give more benefits, and hopefully turn out very successful.
Thanks for the link
Richard