How To Create A Legacy Giving Donor Journey

As a Planned Giving Officer, I grew my portfolio by >30%, representing over $5 Million in future estate revenue.

And I did it on what I call “easy mode” – every fundraiser’s dream, right?

I don’t mean that I had fewer donors to manage or less responsibilities, rather I knew exactly what needed to happen next with every donor in my portfolio.

And I did it all with systems (also known as “SOPs” or “standard operating procedures” – i.e. documented step-by-step processes).

Often when we talk about SOPs we think of the administrative part of our work; data and CRMs. But systems will also take your relationships to the next level.

I’ve written about how legacy giving requires a balance of annual giving and major giving fundraising principles. (​Read more on that here​). SOPs are the engine that makes it all possible.

Here’s how:

Start by mapping every part of your donor’s journey towards making a legacy gift. Often it looks something like this:

1. Donate once

2. Donate again

3. Probably donate and/ or volunteer for several more years.

4. Consider a legacy gift

5. Intend to make the legacy gift.

6. Make the legacy gift.

7. KEEP the legacy gift in their Will for their lifetime.

Important caveats: Your path may look different depending on your cause. For example, I’m working with a performing arts charity that includes their long-term patrons in their legacy journeys. Also, donors don’t always follow neat, linear paths like the one illustrated above. But by mapping these “steps”, you can create systems that support relationship-building, regardless of how a donor engages with your cause.

Each step of the legacy giving journey needs to have its own system (i.e. SOP). This ensures you’re strategically building relationships with your donor over decades.

That means there’s no debating about what to do to move a donor along. Everything is planned and can be implemented consistently, even during busy seasons. Even during staff turnover.

Your donor journey SOPs will be unique to your cause. In the earlier stages, it will overlap with your annual giving program. For example, for step 1(donate once), you’ll want to have excellent stewardship through a variety of mediums (thank you calls, mailed and emailed updates, etc).

This shows how integral your overall fundraising health is to get those gifts-in-Wills. NOTHING can be in a silo here.

However, as donors move along in their journey, your activity will look like more traditional “legacy giving fundraising”.

Here’s a simplified SOP for “4. Consider a legacy gift”.

1. When donor indicates they are considering, mail them the “why brochure”.

2. Call the donor 4 business days after the mailing. Attempt 3 times, send an email each time in addition to your voicemail – after live call or first attempt, email PDF version of the brochure.

3. Send 2 cultivation touchpoints per year (with no legacy giving ask).

4. After one year send “next steps” brochure. Offer meeting and follow up at least twice.

5. After two years mail tailored follow up with reply device. Offer meeting, generally following up at least twice, or as appropriate for each donor.

6. Continue checking in every year after through a variety of mediums, offering meetings and generally following up at least twice, or as appropriate for each donor.

Another benefit of these SOPs is your KPIs will become much clearer.

Are the steps in the SOPs implemented consistently? Are the follow-ups happening? How’s the quality of work within each step? And, of course, are donors moving along in their journey? If not, where are they getting stuck?

AND your SOPs make it easier to scale your legacy giving fundraising.

You don’t necessarily need a high-level legacy giving expert to do ALL your gift-in-Will fundraising. Instead, the expert can set up the systems, train other fundraisers to implement them, and monitor their progress.

(And if you don’t have a legacy giving expert in-house,​ I’m here for you​).

While setting up SOPs is a lot of work to start, that work pays off 10x. Once they’re in place, the rest of the work feels like “easy mode”.

You won’t spend time second-guessing your tactics, you’ll find it easier to time-block, and you can measure your progress.

I’ve seen it in the 15 charities I’ve worked with over the past 5 years - these systems are game-changers.