PlannedGiving.com - Planned Giving

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What’s scarier than your 401k statement? Writing a year-end appeal to your donors and supporters in this economic climate, that’s what.

Some of my non profit friends are telling me that they’re not putting a year-end letter in this year’s budget. They know donors are experiencing a cash crunch, and they don’t want to make them feel even more jittery. Read more »

From Cheryl, in Ohio: “Our Director is telling us to cut back our planned giving marketing program. My instinct is to tough it out.  I have to justify my budget and could really use some support.” Read more »

We recently heard of a non profit mailing out its annual report with a notice inside that read “In an effort to keep our costs low and use our resources to provide more food, we have reduced the size of our Annual Report. Please go to our website for a list of donors, volunteers and community partners.”

Now come on, how can you make this mistake? This type of thinking is a common form of scarcity mentality that many non-profits have to shake off! Read more »

Practice thinking like your prospect.

Who are they? What do they care about? What are their hopes, fears, dreams? What are their deepest desires? Read more »

Over 72% of Americans prefer their information via US mail. However, the best way to communicate is through online and offline integration. Read more »

Have you ever wondered why your newsletters are not getting a good response?

Because chances are they are not even getting read. Read more »

One of my favorite questions is “What do you know today that you didn’t know yesterday?”

About your organization, your peers, your donors, your prospects, about your work, how a peer has been extraordinarily successful, about annual giving, planned giving, even about yourself?

If you spend 15 minutes a day learning something special, in 365 days you will be ahead of everyone else.

A prospect recently asked me whether they should do “research-based planned giving” — popular buzzwords in our industry these days.

“What are the stats these days? Any research?”

Sure, we can all do research.

What’s the question about planned giving that we want answered by research? Are our donors going to die? Will the government get a substantial portion of their assets if they don’t make other arrangements?  At what age do they stop giving? Read more »

You can’t believe how hard it is for people to be simple, how much they fear being simple. They worry that if they’re simple, people will think they’re simpleminded. In reality, of course, it’s just the reverse. (~ Jack Welch, CEO General Electric.)

In business and in life, there is a tendency to think more is better. And I have sometimes fallen into this trap myself.

But as I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I have made a u-turn. My goal is not to know everything about a topic, but the most important things to know. If a question is raised where I do not know the answer, I know where I can get it.

I focus on the critical few and not the insignificant many. Read more »