7 Facts to Persuade Leaders to Prioritize Planned Giving

Building a healthy planned-giving program takes time, effort, and a smart strategy. But nonprofits that succeed can reap big benefits. According to a report by FreeWill, a company that provides free online estate-planning tools, the average size of bequests made on its platform from 2017 to 2019 was nearly $80,000.

Lisa Sargent, founder of an eponymous fundraising consultancy, includes this stat in the “Bequest Giving Fact Sheet” she created for the recent Chronicle webinar, How to Boost Your Planned Giving Program. Use these facts to help persuade your nonprofit’s leaders — and motivate your team — to invest in marketing this form of giving.

Says Sargent, “You can take it to your board and say, ‘Eight out of every 10 [legacy] gifts are made by a will or trust. We have these existing communications — can we start to work this message in?’” If your trustees and executives are skeptical, she says, “When things start to roll, you’ll see decision makers say, ‘Wow, this is actually pretty cool,’ when they watch the legacy gifts come in.”

To ensure long-term success, it’s critical to nurture your relationship with these supporters, she says. Even if someone makes a planned gift to your group today, she cautions, “if you don’t steward it properly, they may just change their will [later].”

Sargent advises groups to keep promoting this method of giving — and emphasizing benefits to donors — to make sure that doesn’t happen. For example, you might remind supporters that they are creating a legacy and ensuring your important work continues for years to come.

For more details on how to include planned gifts in your communications, read Sargent’s marketing tip sheet, follow her on Twitter (@lisasargent2), and watch the Chronicle webinar on this topic.