Q: How many of your donors have an estate plan?
A: All of them. Your donors either have planned for the disposition of their assets or the government will decide for them after they die.
August is National Make-a-Will Month, so it’s the perfect time to encourage donors to (a) make a will and (b) include a bequest for your organization.
Most nonprofits don’t take full advantage of planned giving as a fundraising option either because they are too focused on immediate cash gifts, or they don’t feel equipped to ask for planned gifts.
But planned giving does not have to be complex (for you or your donor)!
Remember, 80% of planned gifts are simple bequests through a donor’s will. And most bequests are unrestricted.
So how do you begin?
- Start with why. Why should donors consider a planned gift? How will it benefit them? How will it benefit your organization?
- Start a legacy society. You might name it for a significant date or person in your organization’s history or the country’s history (e.g. the American Heart Association’s planned giving program is called the Paul Dudley White Legacy Circle in honor of a cardiologist who founded the organization.)
- Offer easy options. In addition to bequests through wills, remind donors they can also make your nonprofit a beneficiary of a retirement or life insurance plan. And don’t forget about donors who have donor-advised funds. They too can add your group as a beneficiary.
- Provide the language. Bequest language is simpler than you think. Make it easy for your donors by providing them with phrasing they can send to their lawyers or insert into their wills themselves.
- Send frequent invitations. Ask donors throughout the year in emails, letters and newsletters to consider joining the legacy society by making a planned gift commitment.
- Consider tools like “Free Will” to provide donors with the impetus to create a will, if they have not done so already.
- Show gratitude and recognition for all commitments. Remember all members of your legacy society…living and deceased.
