Let’s Talk About Love
I’ve been in the planned giving marketing industry for 25 years, and for 25 years I’ve been saying that planned giving is a people business. If you love people, you will go far in planned giving (and in your career).
Estate Gifts Do’s and Dont’s
Estate gifts, also known as planned or legacy gifts, are a vital component of many nonprofits’ fundraising strategies. Soliciting bequests or estate gifts can significantly impact an organization’s financial sustainability and long-term success. However, soliciting estate gifts requires a delicate and thoughtful approach to ensure that donors feel respected, valued, and inspired. Here are some essential Dos and Don’ts to guide your nonprofit’s fundraising and planned giving efforts.
Are You Sending Out Death Brochures?
That canned “planned giving newsletter” you’re paying for is viewed by your recipients as a “death brochure” and is going right into the trash. Spend your money wisely. (By Tom Ahern)
Who Asks Who? Trends in Data Sourcing
From a fundraiser’s point of view, or course, a perfect world would include all prospects coming directly to the fundraiser or her organization for advice on giving. But numbers indicate fewer potential donors are seeking advice from NPOs and their personnel. They are turning instead to legal and financial professionals.
“Entry-Level Organizations”: Wave of the Past?
Recently I read online somewhere the following: [A nonprofit] is seeking a planned giving advisor. This is a junior position for a fundraiser with 3 or so years of experience who wishes to move into planned giving. Focus is on bequests, CGAs, and marketing.
Experience Proves: You Never Know
I was lying on the beach with my wife a few years back when a client buzzed through my cellphone, declaring in a sorrowful voice, “I’m going to have to apologize to all of them. In fact, I am writing the apology letter now.”
`Worse Than No Blog At All? Bad Blogs Prove “Something for Nothing” Never Happens
You’ll find it up there at the top of the list of disillusioning truths: “There ain’t no free lunch.” It’s true in fundraising, of course; but it can be obscured by the endless parade of miraculous “next big things” that tend to put our common sense out of focus. For example, the seemingly limitless marketing possibilities offered by the Internet have charmed some planned giving fundraisers into the mistaken belief that this new miracle vector will do their job for them. Make no mistake: With planned giving on the Internet as with anything else, lack of effort and commitment translate directly into lack of results,
Planned Giving: Simple Stuff or Just for Harvard Lawyers?
How do you view planned giving? Is it simple, or complicated? One of the biggest misunderstandings I see in the non-profit world is the mistaken belief that planned giving is complex and mysterious.
