There’s no one-size-fits-all Planned Giving

There’s a lesson I’ve learned in nearly 11 years of fundraising: no 2 charities are identical, even when they look similar on the surface.

For example, I’m currently working with 2 fantastic charities on 2-month intensives to build their first formal Planned Giving programs.

I grow Planned Giving programs from the ground-up. That means I leave no stone unturned.

We start with the systems, procedures, and institutional knowledge to fundraise from all major gifts of assets:

- Gifts-in-Wills (where 80-90% of our focus lies)

- DAFs

- Securities

- Life Insurance

- And sometimes some other cool ways to give like flow-through shares for Canadian charities or IRA roll-overs for American ones.

(I call this the “Program Architecture”)

These two charities both started on March 1st. It’s been interesting to see how even though the baseline structure of the service I’m providing is the same, their needs are different.

One has been fundraising from DAFs for years. In fact, most of their individual giving comes from DAFs, so we didn’t need to spend time there. Instead, we focused on refining how estate gifts are administered and how to confidently speak with donors about gifts-in-Wills.

The other? They’re confident with their donors, so they only needed a basic script and structure for legacy conversations and they were “good to go”. However, they were struggling to understand DAFs and incorporate them into their fundraising, so that’s what we've been focusing on.

And this is how done-for-you support works. Whether it’s 2, 6, or 12 months long, the work is tailored to each nonprofit. Every engagement starts with a comprehensive audit, analysis, and plan to ensure we’re focusing on the right projects for each charity.

This is a new way to provide Planned Giving services. Typically, nonprofit marketing agencies sell set projects such as a survey, letter, or brochure. If you have a Planned Giving expert on your team who determines one of these services are right for you, then it can work well.

But if you don’t? You risk investing in projects that aren’t the right fit.

And this applies to those of you who aren’t looking to work with a consultant or agency.

When fundraisers dip their toes into Planned Giving for the first time, they often copy other charities - but that charity likely has key differences from yours. This means that what works for them might not work for you.

So how do you start Planned Giving and design a program for your specific charity?

Start by learning Planned Giving best practices (you can check out ​my past blog posts​). Don’t invest heavily in any project until you can articulate why it fits your charity’s needs and specific situation. If you take a careful and strategic approach, you’ll be on your way to Planned Giving growth!

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