Planned Giving

Bequests and other legacy gifts are “the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” one expert says. Here are six ways to create a thriving planned-giving program or bolster your existing strategy.

Historically Black colleges and universities should build up their planned-giving programs and focus more on seeking federally funded grants, according to a panel discussion at the conference, which also described successful fundraising drives.

The number of donors using DAFs is growing fast, but it can be hard to find and cultivate them. Here’s advice from several experts.

Topics included planned giving, donor-advised funds, and new research into ways to retain donors and boost their giving.

The plan would likely bring about more charitable giving, philanthropy experts say, although some tax analysts caution that the plan is still too vague for people to know its impact on donors.

Bequests and other planned gifts provide a significant source of revenue for nonprofits. Yet many donors don’t include charities in their will simply because they were never asked, says Lisa Sargent, founder of an eponymous fundraising consultancy.

While donor interest in bequest and other deferred gifts is up, charities are cutting planned-giving programs’ budgets.

A nine-year examination of giving found that LGBT donors were very open to the idea of making a donation through their wills. It also found that women were more likely to ask about the diversity of a charity’s leadership and trans people were most likely to confine their donations to LGBT groups.

The Life & Legacy program includes coaching, training, and incentive grants to ensure that legacy giving becomes a norm in Jewish philanthropic culture.

Many fundraisers are hesitant to bring up planned giving during the pandemic, but experts say that might be a mistake. Some charities have seen a steep increase in bequest commitments and other legacy gifts.