The Art of Planned Giving Acquisition

Hi fundraiser!

If you’re anything like me, you love seeing the donations roll in.

My passion for fundraising began when I was a face-to-face canvasser.  I was a top performer and would regularly bring in hundreds of dollars in monthly donations every week.

When us high-achievers start in Planned Giving, we want to see fast results. 

This leads to jumping in to get as many “hand raisers” as possible. (Hand raisers are donors who have said they’ve left a gift in their Will, or they’re considering one.)

But Planned Giving is unique, and this mentality leads to missed opportunities.

Far too often, I see fundraisers rush to do a Planned Giving survey and pop the question: 

“Will you consider leaving a gift in your Will to our charity?”

But you wouldn’t ask someone to marry you without having a strong relationship with them first.

Of all the charitable gifts a donor can make, a gift in Will is closest to marriage. It’s the donor’s deep commitment to your cause. You're listed in their final wishes, alongside their family and loved ones. 

And when a donor tells you about a gift in their Will, you’re committing to be in a relationship with them for the rest of their life!

So let’s start acting like it.

Before you launch your survey, Will writing campaign, online ads, or other acquisition tactics, you need to warm up your audience with Planned Giving messages. 

This content needs to focus on your Planned Giving “why” rather than the “how” or tax benefits of giving. Your Planned Giving case for support should guide your messaging across all your channels.

Your goal is to help donors understand the impact they can make with a Planned Gift. Then when you finally “pop the question”, they will be ready to answer - inspired and informed!

Just like how running an email fundraising campaign to a cold list won’t be successful, your Planned Giving audience needs to be warmed up too!

Learn more about how to cultivate your audience with Multichannel Planned Giving in last week’s blog - linked below!

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