Planned Giving

Here's a simple approach to planned giving that any organization can — and should — implement RIGHT NOW. The returns on your investment of time and energy can be simply amazing!

Because it costs more to raise philanthropic money during a recession, nonprofit hospitals and other institutions who are willing to invest in fundraising personnel and emphasize major gifts and planned giving in their well-rounded programs will weather the current fiscal crisis in America, according to a “State of Philanthropic Health Care Address” released by William C. McGinly, Ph.D., CAE, president and chief executive officer, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP).

We'd like to introduce SOFII to those of our readers who don't know about it and share some of the fundraising efforts that have made it into the site's Best of the Best Showcase.

The ACLU's Leading Freedom Forward campaign transformed the organization's mind-set and major- and planned-giving strategies.

Bruce Makous and Michael Rosen provided five steps to turn your direct-marketing program into a major- and planned-gift program.

The traditional (and frankly easy) way to evaluate a direct-mail fundraising program is to determine net revenue and the number of donors you keep, gain and lose. A mature and well-managed program invests in acquisition, ends the year with more donors and, if really good, achieves an overall higher average gift to boot.

Asking questions and educating prospects about ways to make gifts are the hallmark of our jobs as fundraisers. In this article, we list 10 key questions you need to ask donors and prospects in order to begin the cultivation process. We also discuss important points about listening to and processing information gleaned from the answers.

This whitepaper introduces you to:

• Seven essential steps to launching a successful planned-giving program
• 10 things you must know about planned giving
• The seven deadly sins of planned-giving strategies
• How to make planned-giving donors feel special
• The privacy pitfalls inherent in planned giving and how to avoid them

INDIANAPOLIS, November 2, 2009 — Gender does not generally predict whether someone who donates to charity is likely to leave a charitable bequest in his or her will, according to a study released today by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

October 26, 2009, The Telegraph — Barbara Crichton and her mother Susie know the distress and expense that can be caused by a disputed will. Their close friend, Beatrice Southwell, 91, wrote a new will shortly before her death, which was contested by the Crichtons, who wanted her original will reinstated. They were not successful.