Even though most development professionals understand the pyramid of giving and know that planned gifts sit at the top, many organizations never get a planned-giving program established because something else always seems a higher priority. But a few simple steps can help even the smallest organization get started. 1) First, recalculate your existing personnel budget, allocating a portion or percentage of the chief development officer’s time (and salary) to planned giving. Consider starting with 5 percent or 10 percent. Naturally, that means delegating or eliminating activities now taking that portion of the job. Build it into the job description. Add a similar amount of
Alexander Macnab
We all want to have development programs that produce gifts at the top of our donor pyramid, but that rarely happens without a broad base of annual support. For years, experts such as David Barnes and others have been telling us that the number of donors you will have at the top of the Pyramid of Giving tomorrow depends a gret deal on the number of first-time donors you acquire today. And while we all know that’s true, many don’t put that advice into practice and mail enough pieces or conduct enough e-mail or phone campaigns to build our base of support. Here are
