You Don’t Need Endless 1:1 Meetings to Do Planned Giving Well

I’ve noticed some Planned Giving advice going around that can be harmful to charities early in their Planned Giving journey, so I want to address it head-on.

It’s the belief that Planned Giving donors should always be treated the same as major gift donors - with 1:1 meetings and calls as the top priority. 

This is harmful for two reasons:

One - there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for donors - especially Planned Giving ones.

Planned Giving donors are not always your typical major donors. Most are middle class and donate small cash gifts in-lifetime, but can give very large bequests with their assets that have increased in value. (i.e. a house in Toronto that was bought in the 90’s.)

That means many are not used to - nor comfortable with - being “wined and dined”, or even having regular 1:1 phone calls with charity staff. As a Planned Giving Officer at a mid-sized charity, it was a regular occurrence to be told by donors “I’m not special, stop trying to meet with me” - despite them leaving as much as half their estate to the charity. 

Does that mean you shouldn’t try to meet with Planned Giving donors? Absolutely not! Ideally, start the relationship by reaching out 1:1 and offering meetings and calls. (At that same PG Officer job I had donors that LOVED our biannual 1:1 teas and regular phone chats.) And ALWAYS call donors who tell you about a gift in Will.

But listen to what the donor communicates to you - and have systems in your database to note those preferences (so donors don’t have to share it again with every new hire!)

Two - the belief that Planned Giving donors require lots of 1:1 touchpoints can lead fundraisers to overwhelm - and not do any Planned Giving fundraising.

If you’re a fundraiser at a medium sized charity, you’re pulled in many directions - and you likely don’t have a “planned giving person” on your team.

If you’re barely keeping up with your major donor file, an expert saying you MUST cultivate all your Planned Giving prospects through 1:1 interactions is overwhelming. You might just throw your hands up and think “why bother?”

The truth is Planned Giving fundraising is different from major gifts - and you can create an effective program that builds relationships primarily through 1:many communications (and it can be even more personalized if you use automations with powerful segments! Handwritten cards can be automated too with certain companies - and they look and feel like the real thing.)

(And you can even get an expert to set this up for you. They’ll create a program you can run in as little as 2-6 hours per month. (This is what I specialize in at Full Potential Fundraising with my done-for-you services).)

Regardless, when seeking out Planned Giving advice, professional development, or services, pay attention to the background of the fundraiser or consultant and ask “do they have experience working with organizations of my size?” 

Planned Giving fundraising looks different at large foundations and universities - the strategies they use with a multi-person Planned Giving Team (who can go on tons of donor meetings) will be different than how you’ll do Planned Giving with a Director of Development, a coordinator, and one or two gift officers (or even just a sole fundraising director!) 

My message to you is this: if you have loyal donors, you can run a successful Planned Giving program! It’s simply a matter of getting the right-sized strategies for your organization and capacity.