Is Your Charity Ready for Planned Giving?

Recently I had the pleasure of presenting a workshop at the Nonprofit Resource Center of Texas on the subject of Planned Giving for the Small Development Office. Charities know they need to expand their fundraising programs to include planned giving options. When I initially began preparing for the workshop I was concerned about finding enough to talk about for three to three-and-a-half hours. As it turned out, I had plenty of information to share with the workshop participants! Although space does not allow me to present the whole workshop here, I would like to share some of that information with you.

The main objectives of the workshop were: As we began, I illustrated how planned giving fundraising differs from other types of fundraising in several ways. (1) Planned giving requires different solicitation techniques; (2) planned gifts tend to be more time and staff intensive; (3) these gifts are usually a donor's "ultimate" gift both in size and commitment; (4) measuring the success of planned giving programs is more difficult; and (5) planned gifts often have an increased legal aspect both to their creation and administration.

Certainly, starting a planned giving program has benefits for the charity, but it also provides more flexible giving opportunities and allows donors to participate in significant tax benefits. Donors are becoming more sophisticated about giving, and if one charity does not offer planned giving opportunities, the donor will often find another charity that does.

During the workshop, we talked in some detail about the types of planned gifts that most charities could begin to encourage without major changes in staff. Included in that category would be bequests, life insurance gifts, gifts of appreciated property, and (now that distribution rules are more charity friendly) testamentary gifts from retirement accounts. Charitable gift annuities, very popular with our older donors, are also an option for stable charities that can meet the state's requirements.

Probably the three most important points I tried to impress on the participants of the workshop, however, were:

Have your policies and procedures in place before accepting that first gift!
Knowing what you will and won't accept, what you can and can't administratively handle will protect you, your donor, and most important, your relationship with that donor. Spell out whom is responsible for each step of the gift process and who is responsible for making decisions.

Don't let the first visit your donor ever gets from your charity be from the new planned giving officer!
Planned gifts usually result from years of relationship building with your donor. This includes your special events and other activities, of course, but you should have an on-going program to periodically visit with your potential planned giving donors. If your development staff already does this, then bringing along a planned giving specialist when the time seems right will be more appropriate.

Hire a qualified person to initiate and run your planned giving program!
Hiring someone as your planned giving officer who has no planned giving experience and no background in finance, banking, trusts, or tax law can be pretty self-defeating. A planned giving program does not just "happen." Like any other important aspect of fundraising, it requires expertise, knowledge, and time to be successful. Consider hiring an experienced person part-time. You will more than get your money's worth.

If you would like to test your knowledge of planned giving by taking the quiz I provided to my workshop folks, email me, and I will be happy to fax or email you a copy. In the quiz, I ask some very basic questions related to planned giving. Let me know how you do!